Sip Coffee Inc

A cat with mostly black fur except a white patch on his face, chest, and paws. He has some tan colors mixed into his darker fur. He sits on an antique brown leather and wood stool. Sunlight illuminates him from behind. Trees can be seen out of focus in the background outside the large glass window.

Unobtanium! Appreciate this, Michael. You were the one to introduce biochar & industrial wood block floors to our bldg vocab & both of which will get appled on this project. On many days when it did feel unobtanium, your relentless work on straw & hemp were an inspiration to keep pushing forward

Concrete is emissions heavy part of building (8% global ghg). Other feedstocks that contribute to its envt footprint: sand (dredged) & gravel (quarried). This project shows it's possible to significantly reduce emissions, create large reuse opp for ♻️ glass, while exceeding strength requirement (psi)

C-Crete Technologies' Portland cement-free binder leverages industry byproducts like slag from the steel industry for an 80% reduction in ghg emissions vs typical Portland cement.

A blue steel bodied wheelbarrow sits beneath a concrete truck to be filled before being placed in the formwork.

A view of formwork to cast concrete into reveals a complex series of interconnected panels, steel shoring, and wood. At the top of the photo a first floor steel beam is visible. Finished concrete can be seen at the bottom. Dirt is piled to the left of the formwork.

#FridayFirst underpinning foundation concrete pour while using:
-0 Portlnd Cement
-100% post consumer ♻️ glass sand
-100% post consumer ♻️ granite aggregate

Using C-Crete as the greener binder w/ slag (steel industry byproduct) we've lowered the emissions from typical concrete by 80+%

There are the rare (handful) companies producing biochar from sewage. Are there any companies currently producing biochar from urban trash? Biochar from say dog poop at the city dog park would actually be awesome (same for sewage/biosolids, city trash), but it's still rare vs that from compostables

What a bounty all that works brings 🌼

There really is something about dahlias 💜. Fond memories of the merlot-colored ones from the family garden

Us: we're going for a reclaimed timber hempcrete fachwerk look
Contractors: have you considered drywall?

A dezeen website screenshot showing a photo of a dyed hempcrete exterior application in hues of pink, orange, and white. In the article photo a person walks in front of the wall, which has black wood framing members and the text "THE VOICE OF URBAN NATURE". There are walkways separated by plants in front of the hempcrete instalation. The photo credit is Jorn von Eck.

Yes to exposed, colored hempcrete. This photo was a planning inspiration for our project

How do hemp blocks compare on cost to hand cast & blown in where you are? When we evaluated blocks the cost was not competitive with hand cast or blown in (which was surprising!)

A large steel window frame without glass is captured inside a metalworking studio workshop. The frame is white with a red section in the center. The red section is two operable pieces, while the 14 true divided lites are fixed.

“Your desire to be near to a window is your desire to be close to life!” – Mehmet Murat ildan

DMV what is stopping us from doing this? Why are we letting Philly have all the fun?!

In addition to the housing angle, data centers are going to be like a cross between highways scarring the urban fabric, vacant big box stores that are hard to repurpose & the orphan wells of gas ops. Bad for the built envt given the limited upside

Showing yourself grace when saying no/ not right at this moment/ I'm not best suited for this is important to protect against the kind of burn out that causes one to not show up to the things we're meant to do & want to do. An essential part of resilience

An area of future basement with two gray steel beams bearing in the masonry wall above a copper pipe and existing concrete footer. The footer sists on historic fill like brick rubble and beneath that a dense clay. You can visually see the color change from whitish grey to dark grey to reddish to brownish as you go down the column. 3 pieces of glass polymer rebar run up and down the wall. A ladder sits to the far right and a level just to the left. All of these tools help ensure that the rebar is placed in a way that will lead to a good concrete pour.

An area of wall being excavated underneath two steel beams and the existing concrete footer reveals many fallen bricks. There was less compact clay and dirt here, making the area less stable to excavate and place the rebar as planned. A construction light illuminates the area, and the back of the excavator can be seen with the classic Bobcat logo.

Renovations in older structures require a willingness & ability to pivot when the unforseen obstacles arise in ways that may run counter to your goals, like maximizing space. Today the heavy brick fill area became unstable & rather than try to underpin, a wall will be poured in front of the footer

Transforming city waste into biochar is great vs landfill. Reductions in cement emissions, the worst emissions contributor in concrete, a ubiquitous part of the built envt is sorely needed. Skeptical the industry would adopt a change to mixes of 5% when slag & fly ash can replace 50+ & 25+%?

An area that is partially enclosed by black panted wood slats organized in a grid like fashion keeps firewood dry and provides protection for a heating and cooling system to the upper right. Towards the bottom of the frame is a patterned walkway of reddish-pink bricks in half and full lengths. These were all reclaimed from under a slab, and are all of antique age having served as structural fill prior to ther repurposing.

The white arm of a mini excavator has pulled hundreds of pinkish-red whole and partial bricks from the dirt and clay they were covered in. Above the area being excavated two grey steel beams are visible where they bear in a masonry wall. The tread of the excavator rests on a pile of bricks. All of these bricks are part of the historical fill, which was at that time anything from rock and brick to scrap metal and glass bottles.

Always surprises in old bldg reno: today’s was yards of antique brick. Finding reuse opps live is tricky, but we've found people for tons of materal. In today's the salvage friends we met along the way, someone from the 2nd floor days is taking near all the brick having used the last round so well

Ann Arbor's highest and best use graphic for glass recycling shows an up/down arrow next to a scale of interim or end uses from most preferred at the top to least preferred at the bottom. There is a photo of a small pile of broken green and amber glass and the ♻️ symbol. In order from most to least the scale reads: -Refillables (Reuseable bottles & containers) -Returnables (Bottle Bill collection) -Recycled into Glass Containers -Recycled into Insulation -Recycled into Aggregate -Used as Landfill Cover -Trash in Landfill Source: https://www.recycleannarbor.org/divisions/material-recovery-facility

The frame of highest & best use can be helpful re: ♻️. You see it in lots of fields: a lot can be zoned single family or for an 8 plex. This parking spot can be free 2 hour parking or house planters and a community parklet. This glass bottle can be reused or turned into fiberglass. WRT glass' 2nd act

The base of the tread of a Bobcat mini excavator is submerged in a pool of muddy water. A few bricks are visible.

The steel toothed bucket of a Bobcat mini excavator is raised against a backdrop of muddy water. A pool of water can be seen in the upper center of the frame. A handful of bricks and river rocks are also visible amid the soaked clay.

From Sunday scaries to Monday's rude awakening: when the stormwater pools inside the building. Was that old sewer buried under the slab actually active? Surely there's an Effin Birds for this

Every business (producer) has choices about packaging products. Some are cheaper up front, but have longer tails wrt their lifecycle costs. We choose compostable packaging (paper straws, pla cups & bags) & reuseable glass w/ deposit. There's 0 conventional plastic except reusable coolers, tables

To scale to be meaningful humane welfare standards (just like with clothing) becomes a concern in a way it's not w/ hemp, straw, cork, recycled glass

Maybe every time it's said (or thought by the rest of us 🤭) it's us wishing we had the nerve to build a version in our cities 💚

To make progress we're going to need all types of thought styles & approaches

The lol at the end of that was 🤌. But fr, a lot of structures are far more permissive & we need to try some novel legal theory. Like any active + public transit + green infra gets 30 day shot clock & no extensive consult; net zero bldg gets no far, set back, massing. Just a green bldg & infra boom

...or externalities were properly priced. When building unsustainably remains cheap (from framing to glazing to facade) most will choose that path

Prices also remain high for sustainble options b/c of entrenched BAU methods. Lightweight slag concrete w/ recycled aggregate/sand wouldn't look astronomical in price (by comparison) if economies of scale were there b/c code shifted

Arrive more clear headed too b/c of the exercise + fresh air

This. Maybe it costs a little more to buy beverages in glass. We take back our glass cold brew growlers, sanitize them & reuse them until they break (extremely rare) hundreds of times req less virgin sand & embodied energy. To scale businesses need credits or cost of procuder waste responsibility

Not conceding all other types of recycling incl glass, cardboard, aluminum -- still solid streams -- are meaningless. We are the beneficiaries of glass ♻️ in our building materials & food containers. Plastic yes is quite a different story sold on a lie & worked only when imported by others at scale

Watching regional transpo mtg where exurban locality reps fight to increase transit funding b/c they don't see the level of benefit of closer in jurisdictions is all too common. Yet they want more highway funds. Same wrt localities w/in state but outside metro area saying there's no benefit to them