About

In 2016, business partners Carol Campbell, Douglas Weinstein and Eric Schwartz realized there was a great white space in the media centered around the emerging high-performance building and performance home industries. No one seemed to be following the advancements in building sciences and product innovations.

Architecturally, the AIA was embarking on their 2030 Commitment which had the vision and expectation that all buildings would be net-zero energy compliant by 2030, as well as the realization among architects that buildings needed to be more resilient in order to stand up to increased severity in weather patterns. Additionally, passive home design was entering the lexicon along with a general consensus that reducing embedded carbon was an underlying principal that everyone in the design-build trades would have to buy into.

From the builder’s perspective, they were tasked with constructing these buildings and were being supported by visionary manufacturers producing fire-resistant cladding materials, all-electric heat pumps, tankless water heaters, energy recovery ventilation and other advances in the underlying infrastructure of commercial buildings and residential properties. The future was clear to see – the all-electric, net-zero energy, decarbonized and detoxified homes of the future. Better, more resilient, healthier, with low-cost energy and long-term savings for the homeowner and commercial building owners.

What we saw back then was that no one was covering the underlying sciences and technologies of these performance buildings. You couldn’t go to one website or magazine and see coverage spanning all of the design-build trades – architects, builders, designers, property development, system integration. And so we created Technology Designer for just that purpose.

Over the years we have seen the emergence of so many fascinating innovations – smart paint that absorbs air pollution, engineered timber products made out of rice hulls, window treatments that reject 97% of UV light penetration, intelligent lighting, induction cooktops, and many more exciting product advances that bode well for the future of performance buildings.

And from our own roots in the consumer technology industry, we’ve seen how important it is for technology designers to become a part of the design-build team and sit in at the earliest discovery meetings. Let’s face it, smart home technology is behind every wall, floor and ceiling! But over the years we’ve seen our own industry aspire to, in the words of one of our most revered companies, Sonance, aspire to: We make products Designed to Disappear.

The integration of advanced building sciences and technologies impacting performance homes continues to evolve. Now more than ever, it is the collaboration of design-build teams that align to explore, concept, architect, build, design and integrate the many variables that exist in order to deliver homes and buildings so advanced than similar spaces just 10 years ago that it takes our breath away.

Explore Technology Designer and learn about these incredible spaces. There is a role for every trade in this brave new world. Get engaged, collaborate and grow your business in becoming a partner in performance building design-build.