Passivhaus Trust’s Post

A very interesting episode on the future of #HighStreets and #TownCentre from #LEDConfidential. Some key takeaways I drew from it: 💬 We need to have an honest conversation with residents and stakeholders about the future of high streets. The nostalgia of 1950s bustling town centres are not likely to return when the current demand is for cheap goods delivered to your door the next day. 🏛️ To affect real change, the discussion, resources and direction of town centres and high streets needs to be at scale rather than smaller, localised, town by town interventions. Have a listen here: https://lnkd.in/erHb3AA4 #highstreet #placemaking #economicdevelopment #towncentres #citycentres #futureofhighstreets

PODCAST: As of 2024, about 500 skyscrapers are under construction worldwide. Why are we seeing the skyscraper building boom? Which countries are home to the most high-rises? What are the economic and technical limitations of constructing buildings that reach toward the clouds? Jason Barr, professor of economics at Rutgers University and author of “Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers,” and “Cities in the Sky: The Quest to Build the World’s Tallest Skyscrapers,” joins the program to discuss. #raapodcasts #ireipodcasts #ireocpodcasts

PODCAST: As of 2024, about 500 skyscrapers are under construction worldwide. Why are we seeing the skyscraper building boom? Which countries are home to the most high-rises? What are the economic and technical limitations of constructing buildings that reach toward the clouds? Jason Barr, professor of economics at Rutgers University and author of “Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan’s Skyscrapers,” and “Cities in the Sky: The Quest to Build the World’s Tallest Skyscrapers,” joins the program to discuss. #raapodcasts #ireipodcasts #ireocpodcasts

Our co-founders, Alex Hartman and Peter Smyth, were recently featured on the Self Storage Income Podcast with AJ Osborne. They cover key topics that drive success at White Label Storage: - The strategies that turn underperforming facilities into top performers. - How we achieve high occupancy rates and increase revenue across our portfolio. - The importance of aligning management with the long-term financial goals of facility owners. If you’re serious about maximizing your #selfstorage business, this conversation is a must-watch. #SelfStorageOwners #selfstoragemanagement #whitelabelstorage #selfstoragesuccess https://lnkd.in/e4D54pxh

Discourse about design is sorely missing the perspective of bald, bearded, bespectacled bros, so Andy Polaine and I fill that gap in our discussion with a kind of 'state of design' talk, touching on: "the death of UX", the shift of design in-house, the perils of poorly-managed agile and digital transformation, the product manager glut, the broad acceptance of mediocrity, design leaders as suboptimal advocates for design, design hypergrowth as Zero Interest Rate Phenomenon, the need for a credible, advocacy-oriented professional organization, the need for entry-level designers, certification for design, how UX/Design is taught in the wrong spaces, shifting the lens of design away from artifacts and towards policy and regulation, how YouTube urbanist-pilled my 15yo son.

The latest Power of Ten episode is up. My guest Peter Merholz and I talked about the state of the design nation (particularly relevant given that recent Robert Fabricant article), why Product Managers have a quality problem, why so many orgs are quite happy with mediocrity, the lack of a professional association and accreditation for design, and much more. Enjoy it here, on YouTube or soon on the podcast feed: https://lnkd.in/er_eZfMm

Interesting and insightful discussion about the state of UX with two industry veterans. I think sometimes as designers we talk too much about the past, what made us successful yesterday, might not make us successful today. Our industry is constantly changing, and we need to keep on learning and evolving our mindset and approach for a new professional phase in which designers are not the only ones who can talk about the user and the product experience. This is particularly challenging for design leaders. Design and business leadership are two separate skills. Leading a design team is one thing, and it’s not for everyone. Being a business leader is a different job that requires a different skillset, and that's a real challenge for many of us. It’s not easy, we need more of these discussions.

Take a look and listen at this Podcast featuring Peter Smyth and Alex Hartman. This is great information if you are new to the self storage industry or just interested in learning how White Label Storage can help transform your self storage business. #Podcast #SelfStorage #WhiteLabelStorage

We were pleased to be involved in this week’s “Keighley 2024” episode of Grand Designs, showcasing Kara’s and her husband Johnny’s self build journey to provide a wheelchair accessible, family home. France+Associates, alongside Adam Thomas, were involved as access design experts and provided advice and insights to the Grand Designs production team. F+A were recommended to the production team by the Spinal Injuries Association. Together we highlighted the lack of accessible homes in the UK, the many challenges of designing and project managing an accessible home, and the pitfalls in the construction industry. One significant issue emphasised to the production team was the challenge of balancing the creation of functional, practical spaces into a beautiful, individual home. This challenge was showcased superbly in Kara and Johnny’s self build journey, as Kara described it in last night’s episode that she wanted “style and function to marry up”, wanting to avoid it “looking like it was designed for the NHS”. It was wonderful to see the project come together, being a brilliant example of an individually designed and accessible dwelling, with Kara emphasising the importance of her new home, noting that “the building gives me freedom”.💜 F+A are specialists in creating homes that promote freedom. We have numerous project examples where we have understood our clients’ needs, by carefully designing + project managing homes that have proved to be a platform for our clients to be able to rebuild their lives. Our homes are after all designed for life. 🏡 #FranceandAssociates #MyHouseMyHome

The Overhead Wire podcast with Jeff Wood "Narrow the Lanes!" Nighttime design includes not only lighting but complete design of cities at night the way we naturally do for the daytime. It was revelatory to have conventional thoughts debunked by Shima Hamidi in the description of her report: A National Investigation of the Impacts of Lane Width on Traffic Safety - collecting data for 1,100 #streets - not only that narrowing streets can create more, safer space for bikes and #pedestrians but also the complex factors of design. She includes contextual design factors, trees, obstacles, and amenities. Another grain of wisdom: "design features first, then speed limits" This is the kind of thinking I wish nighttime designers (AKA, #architects, #landscapearchitects , #lightingdesigners , #transportengineers, #mobilityexperts, #transportationgeeks, etc) would DO! Fatima Terin Street Plans Camilo Urbano Carlosfelipe Pardo Emily Weidenhof François Hoehlinger Nick Mesler, PE, TE