Repurpose and Reuse

Repurpose and Reuse

My family and I recently moved and decided to jettison a lot of the belongings we had been hoarding for years. The hoarding was, consciously speaking, unintentional. However, we had also consciously avoided dealing with the excess items we owned. And once we addressed...
The Incredible Benefits of Rain Gardens

The Incredible Benefits of Rain Gardens

As its name suggests, a rain garden is a garden that is irrigated primarily, if not exclusively, with stormwater runoff; even in a drought and in areas where it does not rain that much. And this is because native, drought-resistant, and xeriscaping are utilized to...
Flooding versus Drainage

Flooding versus Drainage

Although homes are not living organisms, they do require care and attention. However, we often ignore our homes until something goes wrong and the need for maintenance is evident and immediate repairs follow. For example, the other day, after returning from a long...
Life without Cars

Life without Cars

In recent years, the San Francisco Planning Department has taken the stance to eliminate parking in many new housing development projects. In other words, many of the new multi-family residential buildings currently under design or construction in the City will not...
Room Additions and Utilities

Room Additions and Utilities

As demand for housing increases, which causes home prices to continue to climb, more and more people continue to look into remodeling their existing homes, adding rooms or converting them, and building accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on their existing properties. All...
Living Walls as Retaining Walls

Living Walls as Retaining Walls

I saw a sticker about civil engineers a long time ago, which read: “Civil engineers always try to ‘pave’ the world. At the time, I was fresh out of college and understood what that barb meant. As civil engineers, we are trained in calculus, statics,...
Climate Change and Civil Engineering

Climate Change and Civil Engineering

It should be no surprise to anyone that climate change is a reality and that our world is being impacted by it. However, it is surprising how we often, if not always, ignore the overall effect of climate control and do not take it as seriously as we should. Droughts...
The need for more rooftop gardens

The need for more rooftop gardens

The current housing crisis across California and the legislature is pressuring cities to allow more and taller residential buildings are creating even denser neighborhoods and cities. In San Francisco, for example, which is surrounded by water on all three sides and...