Design Around People. A Good Building Follows.

The Building Science Podcast

The Building Science Podcast

Excuse Me, Your Building Is Leaking

Join Kristof and friend of the podcast, Keith Simon, as they talk with Duane Jonlin, who knows more about Seattle and the state of Washington’s energy code than just about anybody out there as they discuss air leakage testing, energy code, and what Austin can learn from Seattle.  

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What The Heck Is HOMEChem?

This week’s episode features an interview with Corbett Lunsford on the HOMEChem experiments that were being conducted alongside the filming of a brand new, building science focused show called Home Diagnosis TV (be on the lookout for that). Of course, we're really excited about the potential of Indoor Air Quality education coming to the masses. It's the future fulcrum point of housing and health care.

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5 Principles Of A Healthy Home

Health is the new green - this message is seemingly everywhere these days. It's clear that a shift is underway in the way we think about our homes and buildings. A quality building does more than just use energy efficiently, it needs to provide for the occupants. This means recognizing that our clients will spend their time immersed in the air we create for them and that indoor air is a dominant exposure. Now is the time to get clear on how our homes and buildings relate to health, comfort and well-being and, more importantly, what to do about it. 

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Locavore Dirt Construction?

In this episode of the podcast, we interview Brad King of Earthbound Builders in Austin, TX. Brad is the brains and brawns behind applications of locally abundant, natural, minimally processed, low embodied energy building materials. His company is endeavoring to make natural building materials part of the main stream building processes rather than a custom, "hippie" solution.

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Use Your Tools - The New COTE Tool Kit

This week’s episode features a conversation with Corey Squire and Tate Walker about the Committee On The Environment's new Toolkit. It's a resource-rich document that helps firms and projects of any kind measure their progress against benchmarks of sustainability without restrictive prescription pathways, while keeping outcomes at the central focus. 

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Welcome To The Filtration Station

Today we talk about one of the most important building science topics that many folks don't know enough about - air filtration. It’s a crucial infrastructure element for a healthy home and good indoor air quality. Who knew there was so many important considerations for this often overlooked and ignored component of our industry?

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Let's Get Legal-ish

When we think about building science, we're thinking about systems and the unseen forces that contribute to the success or failure of a building. Some of the largest and most complicated systems and unseen forces in the AEC industry are the contracts that make or break a project. Join Kristof as he interviews construction attorney, Joe Basham, on all things funky and legal in the AEC industry.

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Dirty Socks & Your HVAC Coil

So what do dirty socks have to do with the lungs of our homes and buildings? Listen to this episode to learn more about smelly biofilms, probiotic cleaners and the tip of the thermodynamic spear - the all-powerful, but often-ignored HVAC coil. 

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Architectural Yogurt

Put on your microbiology hats, folks. This episode of The Building Science podcast will dive into the great unseen world of microorganisms all around us inside our buildings down to the level of the ecosystems that grow on our HVAC coils. We're truly at a time when the health sciences and the building sciences are becoming more closely related than ever before and the future is a weird, wonderful world of intersectional and interdisciplinary scientific inquiry. Join us as Kristof interviews, Graeme Marsh about the weirdness of biofilms that you can't even see right before your very eyes. 

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Our Homes, Our Health

It's normal these days to pay attention to what we eat. But what about the steady diet of air we breathe and soak ourselves in?  The impact of homes on health somehow manages to stay below the radar. Even our language is a bit evasive. Why do we say "sick building syndrome"? The buildings aren't sick, the people are. 

This episode is a step toward helping this important topic get some long-overdue and much-needed attention. Join us for an interview with Bill Hayward and Carl Grimes that took place at the 2018 IAQA Conference in Chicago, IL. as we discuss the Hayward Healthy Home Score. We hope you enjoy, take the quiz yourself, and share with your friends and families. 

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Forget What You Know About Buildings: An Interview With Kiel Moe

In this episode, Kristof interviews Kiel Moe of Harvard's GSD about the energy flows and multiple re-thinkings necessary to change the future of construction and design. You may remember reading about Kiel's inspiration to us at Positive Energy in our blog post about the thermally active surface system we installed in our office, compliments of the fine and wonderful people at Messana and SpacePak. This episode is definitely headier than most of ours, so buckle in and be ready to hit pause, rewind, and take notes if you need. We couldn't be more thrilled that he stopped by the office to chat. 

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The Secret Life Of Concrete

Concrete is everywhere. We all see it every day but what do we really know about concrete? This seemingly simple material is any but simple. Listen and learn about the past, present and future of this evolving technology. Prepare to have your mind blown in this episode of the show as we explore the incredible history and composition of concrete with Matt Carlton and Lee Lawrence of WJE. You'll never see concrete the same way again.

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Design & Construction In Humid Climates

Yes. We're going to have a chat about humidity. If you live in a heating dominated, dry climate you might be thinking "what good is this for me to hear?" and I wouldn't blame you. But frankly, the more we know about humidity, the better we can understand how things work without it too. So dig in and think about how moisture affects the things we design and build. In this episode of The Building Science Podcast, we’ll explore the potential upside and downside of designing and building in humid climates.

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