Stephen Jacob Smith

dlvr.itWhy clean energy opponents in Michigan are backing a climate activist for CongressWilliam Lawrence helped found the Sunrise Movement. Now he's running against data centers — and large-scale solar.

11h

Literally a Sunrise Movement cofounder: “Lawrence has criticized [Michigan’s solar preemption law] — he said in a radio appearance that wind and solar critics have ‘some good points’ and that the state solar preemption has allowed utilities to ‘build mega projects without community buy-in.’”

Grist@grist.org

Why clean energy opponents in Michigan are backing a climate activist for Congress

12h

It’s the market saying it wants you to repeal the Height Act

U. S. Commission of Dark Arts 🧱🗃️@jgbollard.bsky.social

What everyone is seeing is a consolidating into class A space, while market-movers like law firms shifting to Trophy spaces with thinner plates and high ceilings. Many are teardowns of the nasty floormaxxed buildings on prime real estate, now obsolete.

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Marco Chitti

@chittimarco.bsky.social

Replying to @chittimarco.bsky.social

Like, in Montreal, we have three sets of lights per intersection for local streets in the lowest traffic urban environment, but zero adaptive signal management. Traffic lights for the Stone Age.

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Marco Chitti

@chittimarco.bsky.social

Replying to @chittimarco.bsky.social

My obsession with traffic signals' overdesign stems from the fact that they are relatively simple objects, and the bloat in their size and specs that burdens our built environment is particularly easy to see. Also, a symbol of the "quantity-over-quality" approach to design typical of NA engineering

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Marco Chitti

@chittimarco.bsky.social

Depicted: Traffic signals' poles in Magog (QC), Utrecht (NL), Helsinki (FI), and Stockholm (SE). In case you're still wondering why traffic signals have become so expensive to build in Québec.

A fun fact about elevators: it’s always 2% (or 0%) of total hard costs. Developers scale the number of elevators they buy to meet this number. Developing a six-unit apartment building? In Switzerland the elevator is like $50k so it fits within the 2% and they include it. In the US it’s $175,000…

Matt Darling@besttrousers.bsky.social

"Percent of income spent on housing" continues to be a sort of silly metric. 1.) It's almost always ~33% 2.) When it's not ~33% it's generally because of a subset of the population is not working (ie, the Florida numbers are because there are retirees without "income")

…and it doesn’t and they don’t. Developing 100 units? In the US that’ll get one, maybe two elevators. In Switzerland they’re cheap so they’ll break the site up into separate point access blocks and buy eight elevators.

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Michael Andersen

@andersem.bsky.social

U. S. Commission of Dark Arts 🧱🗃️

In other words: this should be a legal place to put a modern electric elevator

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com

On Tue., Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. ET, I'm presenting my IBC proposal to a committee work group (one of many) to allow elevators to open into exits if dwelling units are also allowed to open directly into them. Essentially it would remove the "corridor penalty" for adding an elevator to a single-stair...

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

@jgbollard.bsky.social

dcarchcenter.orgDesignDC: Architecture as a Tool for Change | DACOctober 27–28, 2026 | MLK Library Conference Center + Around Washington, DCArchitecture is shaped by change and has the power to shape our city in return.On October 27 and 28, AIA|DC’s annual conferen...

Tomorrow's the day for me and @stephenjacobsmith.com talking about single-stair and the future of design review in DC. Tickets are getting scarce.

...building up to four stories that isn't otherwise required to have a corridor. Presentation (docs.google.com/presentation...), formal proposal (docs.google.com/presentation...). If you are able to attend and speak in favor of it, it would help – the code insiders are pretty opposed to the concept.

Meeting link here: teams.microsoft.com/meet/2653980... Comments in favor would be helpful if you have a professional or volunteer (YIMBY) interest in the specific topic of three- and four-story elevator buildings. Email if you'd like to attend and speak in favor, stephen@centerforbuilding.org

I was so excited to ride the new Acela, until I got to my assigned seat and realized it is mostly windowless, and the person who controls the window is gradually lowering it :-(

22h

Ask for a few weeks ago, about half the time I try to join a Teams meeting, I get this error message. How does this make any sense? Why would you ban some orgs from joining a meeting, but allow randos "without an account" to join? Does this happen with other people?

lloydalter.substack.comThe Stone Demonstrator shows us how to build for a New Stone AgeWhy grind up rock to make concrete when you can use natural materials like wood and stone?

22h

*As of a few weeks ago

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Sam

@samd.bsky.social

23h

TWU be like “Hochul is MAGA because she doesn’t support our MAGA union” in reality, they’re just mad at Hochul because she refused to expand the union’s expensive handouts and make-work jobs funded with taxpayer $$

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Lloyd Alter

@lloydalter.bsky.social

It's a new Stone Age in London, with stone apartment buildings and a stone demonstrator exhibit showing how it's done. Because it is silly to grind up limestone, cook it, and then add water to turn it into... stone. We could be doing a lot more of this in Canada- we are made of rock.

trib.alMajor transit union launches ad blitz ripping Hochul as so 'toxic' that Dem pols are running from herA major labor union has launched an ad blitz ripping Dem Gov. Kathy Hochul as so “radioactive” and “toxic” that midterm candidates from her own party want nothing to do with her.

Real egress overkill in Taiwan – two stairs, one with a vestibule and the other inside an elevator lobby, despite only having 17 floors (single-stair height in China and much of Europe) and being made entirely of concrete with a balcony for nearly every *room*? www.archdaily.com/1187401/dunh...

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Sam

@samd.bsky.social

The MTA’s primary union is spending a ton of money to try and swing the vote against Hochul (the most pro-transit governor in generations) When Hochul wins by double digits anyway, I hope she remembers this and plays hardball with the union on efficiency improvements like OPTO and automating IBX

New York Post @nypost.com

Major transit union launches ad blitz ripping Hochul as so 'toxic' that Dem pols are running from her

dailyhive.comThis is Vancouver's first housing proposal under the new single-staircase rules | Daily Hive | UrbanizedThe housing project at 2150 West 16th Ave. is the very first proposal under the City of Vancouver's new single-egress staircase rules.

Late October in NYC and I’m still seeing mosquitos every day…I can’t believe we have the technology to kill these fuckers and we’re letting them roam free.

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Bryn Davidson - Lanefab

@lanefab.com

B2 Arch proposes a rental single stair building at ~3 FAR. Lots of 2 and 3 br units. All corner units. Quite dense at ~2.9FSR (vs our 1.6 FSR prototypes)… I’m hearing that ~2.8 fsr is where rental pencils at the moment. Glad to see a project moving ahead. dailyhive.com/vancouver/21...

@moinmybackyard.bsky.social

Currently, the fourplex and the stacked triplex are under the IBC, and the rest are under the IRC. If the draft proposal that has momentum at the ICC passes, this specific fourplex will move into the IRC but the triplex will remain in the IBC because it has more than two stacked units.

California YIMBY@cayimby.bsky.social

A fourplex can face the same building code as a 200-unit complex, which adds engineering studies, delays, and design fees. Congress for New Urbanism says legalizing small plexes does less without code reform. www.cnu.org/publicsquare...

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Mo Zhu

- On Thurs Oct 29 @ 1pm ET/10am PT, - @willskud.bsky.social of CBNA will present a code change proposal ... - to the ICC's G13 "middle housing" committee's Fire working group. It will increase the allowable size of exterior windows on residential buildings, which is important for dense urban lots.

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

alex block ⚽️

@alexblock.bsky.social

Replying to @stephenjacobsmith.com

I watched a Grand Designs episode with a modular house to replace a rotting cottage; 1/3 of the episode was about verifying no bats were nesting in the old roof

urbangreencouncil.orgCase Study Collection: Room Heat Pumps for Multifamily Retrofits - Urban Green CouncilHow do room heat pumps perform once they’re installed? Explore our room heat pump case studies.

These things are worse than facade-mounted minisplits in every way, except that they allow the DOB to not reconsider their ban on facade-mounted minisplits. They’re the same tech and basic concept, it’s just that they’re less secured (balanced rather than bolted on to the facade), and…

Pete Sikora@petesikora.bsky.social

NYC Local Law 97 requires large buildings to slash pollution over time, which leads to energy efficiency. Now, we’re starting to see huge progress as heat pumps reduce energy use by 90%. 🎉 90% (!!!) ✅ lower energy bills ✅ good jobs ✅ less pollution www.urbangreencouncil.org/room-heat-pu...

…they’re less efficient because they rely on cracking open a bunch of inefficient double-hung windows, and you need one exterior unit per room.

The major objections were both that it would threaten UNESCO status (infill argument) and that it could harm the bats (greenfield argument). These seem contradictory and like they could be used to kill literally anything?? Site is here by the way: www.bbc.com/news/article...

Sam@samd.bsky.social

the UK is just cooked. seems like every boomer there has taken up NIMBY as their retirement hobby because god forbid people have access to affordable groceries

The thin one are point access blocks. You can see the stairway bulkheads from above. Unfortunately by the time elevators came along, they got too expensive to break up into blocks. And unlike Europe and Asia, we never developed a modern, competitive elevator industry that could bring prices down.

Chris Goldammer@floorarearatio.bsky.social

Residential buildings in NYC With the largest interior yards. The Dakota is in 25th place.

There were a few exceptions in Manhattan though with elevators. The Belnord and London Terrace come to mind (both achieved with two interior stairs but in very different ways – the former with palatial units and second service stairs and elevators, the latter with short double-loaded corridors).

Stephen Jacob Smith reposted

Enforce the Fares

@enforcethefares.org

Free transit activists love to claim that most (or all) of LA Metro's fare revenue is canceled out by collection costs. It's not true.

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