Biohabitats

Hotel Magdalena in Austin, TX, has set an important?standard in sustainable hospitality by receiving a 2024?Austin Green Awards. This?recognition emphasizes the hotel’s?commitment to environmentally friendly practices and its proactive approach to addressing?social and health needs in an urban environment.?? ? Located in the heart of Austin’s South Congress neighborhood, Hotel Magdalena, in collaboration with?Bunkhouse, is the first mass timber boutique hotel in North America. The mass timber wood structure honors the history of the site including the former 1950s Austin Terrace Motel – previously constructed of exposed heavy timber beams and columns in the mid-century modern aesthetic. The design team sought to reference this history and material aesthetic by creating warm, inviting structures. ? Hotel Magdalena’s design is a direct response to contemporary environmental challenges.?The 5-building, 89-key complex was designed around the existing Live Oak heritage trees, which become the focal points for outdoor gathering spaces and private suite gardens. All rainwater on site is collected in underground cisterns and used to meet all irrigation demands for the landscape. By designing inviting outdoor spaces and selecting wood as the primary structural and finish material, guests are drawn to connect with the landscape and internal courtyards. The deeply shaded porches and outdoor terraces foster a unique guest experience that recalls the lake houses and natural artesian springs found in the Hill Country surrounding Austin.? ? Project Team:? Bunkhouse,?WGI,?StructureCraft,?Architectural Engineers Collaborative,?Integral Group?,?Mazzetti,?Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, Inc.,?BAI,?Biohabitats, Seifert Murphy Dallas, #Cosper,?#EngineeringPlus,?#AustinPermitService?&?#WJE.? ?? LF Team: David Lake, Sophia Razzaque, Melina Phillips, Michael Britt, Jef Snyder, Todd Wascher, Grace Boudewyns, Dan Mowery, Sam Vonderau, Pavan Iyer, Sara Todavchick, Kevin Hyun.Edited?

DEADLINE EXTENDED! The Ohio Stormwater Conference and the Partnership for River Restoration and Science in the Upper Midwest (PRRSUM for short).?are collaborating to host a session focused on just River Restoration and Science.?We are looking for speakers who would like to speak on this topic! Abstracts are due NOVEMBER 27th - see here: https://lnkd.in/gdcytX4z More info about the conference: https://lnkd.in/gEx_JEif More info about PRRSUM: https://prrsum.umn.edu/ Photo: White Egret in a stormwater basin in Central Ohio #Streamrestoration #Midwest #Engineering #Ecology #OhioStormwaterConference #UMSRS Biohabitats

We loved celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Wild & Scenic Designation for the Grand River this week! Hearing from experts on the status of the watershed's diverse flora and fauna speaks to the success of the program in protecting riparian areas along the Grand River and building resiliency in the watershed as urbanization grows. Congratulations to all who have worked to protect the Grand River over the last half century, and thanks to Ohio Department of Natural Resources & The Nature Conservancy in Ohio for hosting such a great event!

The Ohio Stormwater Conference and the Partnership for River Restoration and Science in the Upper Midwest (PRRSUM for short).?are collaborating to host a session focused on just River Restoration and Science.?We are looking for speakers who would like to speak on this topic! Abstracts are due November 27th- see here: https://lnkd.in/gdcytX4z More info about the conference: https://lnkd.in/gEx_JEif More info about PRRSUM: https://prrsum.umn.edu/ Photo: Falls of the Ohio River at Sunset #Streamrestoration #Midwest #Engineering #Ecology #OhioStormwaterConference #UMSRS Biohabitats

It's the return of Plant of the Week! This week is brought to you by Biohabitats' Landscape Designer Emma Podietz. Please welcome to the stage, the incomparable, the legendary, Elderberry (???????????????? ????????????????????)! ???????????????????? ???? ?? ?????????? ?????????????????? ??????????, ???????????? ???? ?????????? ??????????????. ????????????????????????... -Are very common, which is awesome, because they’re amazing! Some people describe them as weedy, don’t listen to those people. The more elderberries, the merrier. -Grow as tall as 6-8’ and form dense thickets. They are great at competing with invasive species and grow quickly. -Favor wet environments and can live in consistently wet soils but tolerate a wide variety of soil conditions. -Are very cold hardy. -Flower in the summer, with characteristic white umbels. The berries are dark purple and can be harvested in August. Sorry, too late for 2024. -They are monoecious so you only need one plant for a bountiful harvest. -This plant is delicious and has a lot of medicinal properties. Elderberries have been around North America for a long time. Fossilized seeds found in Appalachia go back as far as 16,000 years (!). Indigenous North Americans managed land for elderberries, such as with the use of controlled burns to maintain canopy openings. There is also the European elderberry (???????????????? ??????????) which grows in North America too, and hybridization is common. ???????????????????????? (???????? ???????????????? ?????? ????????????????) ?????? ???????? ?????? ??????! ~*Medicinally*~ -Hippocrates described elderberries as part of his “medicine chest” in 400 BC. -Indigenous North Americans have long used elderberries for respiratory illness, to reduce fever, and for eye ailments. -Elderberries have antiviral properties that make them good for respiratory ailments – people used elderberry for COVID after shortages of Tamiflu. ~*Nutritionally*~ -Vitamin-rich (A&C, phosphorous, potassium, iron) -Canes come up each year, prune off old canes (more than 3 years old) to keep the fruit flowing. -Big old bunches of fruit make elderberries easy to process – You get approximately 6,000 calories per hour of harvest/processing labor (remember this one in the apocalypse!) -You can drink elderberry leaves or dried berries as a tea, you can make jam, wine, or syrup, but don’t eat too many of them raw! The European variety (???????????????? ??????????) contains cyanide-inducing glycoside, and often hybridizes with the American variety (???????????????? ????????????????????) which does not contain the toxin, but it’s hard to tell when hybridization has occurred. Cook them to 180 degrees Fahrenheit or ferment them to break down the glycosides. -You can propagate them by cutting a >1ft hardwood stalk in winter and burying all but a few inches in the ground. Learn more https://bit.ly/3USvoD3!

2024 Austin Green Awards Winner (3/5): Hotel Magdalena Submitted By: Lake|Flato Architects “This project brings excitement to an industry that doesn’t do a lot of new, sustainable things, from the general care it took for water, energy, and low carbon hotel design, including mass timber, and a beautiful landscape design. At this scale it’s a perfect fit.” Additional Team Members: Bunkhouse, MYCON General Contractors, Inc., Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, Inc., Integral Group, Architectural Engineers Collaborative, StructureCraft, WGI, Mazzetti, Biohabitats, BAI, Engineering Plus, Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.

When Rachel Katzman said she wanted to develop a special engagement setup for a project, I said that I’d been dreaming of creating a portable outreach kit-of-parts for years and would love to be involved. I helped brainstorm and conceptualize what would become the “Mobile Project Hub” (painted by Saba Hamidi). That’s about the extent to which I was involved in the Reimagine Middle Branch project, but I’m nevertheless so proud of all the work that soooo many people put into developing this robust plan for connecting communities—the product is a worthy recipient of a 2024 American Planning Association Planning Excellence Award. Well done to the considerable team: City of Baltimore , Parks & People Foundation , Baltimore City Recreation & Parks , South Baltimore Gateway Partnership , Field Operations , Mahan Rykiel Associates, Inc., Toole Design Group , Public Mechanics , Design Jones LLC , Waldon Studio Architects , Kofi Boone , Assedo Consulting , The Urban Studio , Moffat & Nichol International , Biohabitats , Dharam Consulting https://lnkd.in/e_8Ka4nq

If you're attending #SAMESBC24, you could win $500 for the environmental nonprofit org of your choice! Stop by the Biohabitats booth (#1062) and the Moffatt & Nichol booth (#941) to learn more!

Looking forward to presenting at Greenbuild this week! . . Come learn about the various attitudes and perceptions to adopting and using onsite water reuse technologies. My co-presenters and I will discuss that successful sustainable design requires the implementation of both engineering and psychology.

If you're attending #SAMESBC24, you could win $500 for the environmental nonprofit org of your choice! Stop by the Biohabitats booth (#1062) and the Moffatt & Nichol booth (#941) to learn more!