Date Occurred: 16 1118   Attended an urban gentrification research presentation by Center for Urban and Regional Affiars - University of Minnesota (CURA). As an architect involved in improving the quality of housing in the metro area, it is my goal to improve the quality of housing for all income levels and work not to force lower income area residents out of areas where they now live. In the best cities, all income levels have ready access to afforable housing and city public and private amenities like groceries, restaurants, parks, health care and public transportation. The quality of amenities obviously varies for income levels, but since all income levels benefit from having the other income levels, improving baseline conditions supports all. The following is sourced from the CURA website: "Due to increasing housing costs and stagnant incomes for low and moderate income families in Minneapolis, fewer and fewer neighborhoods are affordable to the typical Minneapolis household. The period between 2000 and 2014 saw the number of neighborhoods that were affordable to the typical renter in Minneapolis drop by 35%. Renters of color saw more extreme drops in affordability with the typical Black renter household not able to afford the typical apartment unit in any Minneapolis neighborhood by 2014 without being housing cost burdened". Author Professor Edward Goetz, CURA Director. I participated in the post-presentation discussion and networking.

Date Occurred: 16 0926   Attended new Passive House residence ERV installation presentation by Zehnder America representative Kevin Rapp. Zehnder manufacturers a quality ERV system with plug-and-play ERV, duct manifold, duct work, diffusers and other HVAC system components.

Date Occurred: 16 0608   The Energy Connection assembled a series of presentations on building and building component air-tightness. Effective and less effective methods of sealing ducts to meet duct air-tightness requirements, including tape, mastic, duct seal and aeroseal were discussed. The Energy Conservatory (TEC) provided a demonstration of blower door tests to assess whole building air-tightness.

Date Occurred: 16 0620   We presented a residential workshop to South Minneapolis residents on "Making Energy Improvements when Remodeling", also called Deep Energy Retrofits. To better prepare homeowners for energy improvement projects, we discussed building science in a simple way so they could make informed decisions when working with an architect or builder. Educated clients make better decisions which can help make their homes more comfortable, healthier and more energy efficient in a cost effective way. It can also help them from being sold something that won't help or that creates new problems. We discussed the insulating and moisture transport characteristics of building materials used in wall, roof and foundation assemblies. As well, we discussed quality levels in selecting replacement windows and doors. We answered homeowner questions on a range of existing and new home construction issues.

Date Occurred: 16 0429   David and Jill Thiel, designers, builders and year-round gardeners with Thiel Gardens, invited several clients and I to tour their urban garden facility in South Minneapolis. We were doing research for a new home that would have an attached greenhouse, a large attached root cellar and a large outdoor garden that would allow my clients to produce and store most of their food supply. With a winter greenhouse and outdoor raised beds, the Thiel's raise a variety of micro greens and herbs year-round. David designed and built their winter greenhouse with a great blend of intuitive design skills and hands-on construction ability. David and Jill were very helpful and gracious in describing how their winter greenhouse gardens systems worked; from plant selections, passive heating, heat storage, and summer shading, to how gardening worked into their daily living schedule. The micro-greens were lush, beautiful and very tasty in our April tour. Thank you! Their greens are sold  at several local stores. Please check them out at http://thielgardens.com.

Date Occurred: 16 0407   Manny Umpierre and Rick Umpierre, Logix Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF) representatives, gave a hands-on ICF formwork installation class. Held around the state, Logix puts on classes for clients and trades on how to design ICF formwork installations, estimate order quantities, lay out, cut, assemble and brace ICF formwork. We also practiced steel rebar reinforcment placement and discussed the importance of correct concrete pouring and what an installation crew would look like throughout the process. Working with structural engineers for reinforcement sizing and concrete mixes and then concrete suppliers rounded out the discussion. I attended with a client who was planning on self-performing footing and foundation wall installation for a "near" Passive House quality home with Passive House quality house foundations. The home also had insulated foundations at an attached greenhouse to manage greenhouse temperatures, exposed concrete foundations for a root cellar that sought contact with the earth, and "standard" foundations for a garage and screen porch. Manny and Rick did a great job presenting the information. I left with a better understanding of ICF and how to design a building with ICF. Though not my area of expertice, and this is not a professional recommendation, I left feeling ready to install and pour an ICF system with an understanding of what my learning curve would look like. Contact Logix at rick@logixicf.com or manny@logixicf.com for more information. Check us out at http://logixicf.com/pro-link-search/designers, select  the map of Minnesota and then Minneapolis. Note:  This is not a professional recommendation of Logix. Anderson Sustainable Architects is open to reviewing all ICF manufacturers and selects products and manufacturers based on client and project needs, product quality and manufacturers support, among other things.