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Tools for managing, learning, designing
By Deborah Snoonian, P.E.

BuildingGreen Suite
BuildingGreen
www.buildinggreen.com
(for Windows and Macintosh)

The BuildingGreen Suite online service cross-references product information, case studies, and articles about sustainable building practices.

Publisher of the GreenSpec Product Directory and Environmental Building News (EBN), BuildingGreen has retooled its electronic resources to make them more comprehensive and user-friendly. Its new Web-based subscription service includes access to the GreenSpec Product Directory, current and all past issues of EBN (more than 12 years’ worth), and a database of more than 60 case studies. Even better, all the material is cross-referenced, so that users can, for example, see if a product in GreenSpec has been mentioned in an EBN article. Users can navigate the site and search for content by CSI section, LEED credit, topic, location, and other criteria. The tool is aimed at mainstream architects who are seeking to become fluent in green building principles.

Architectural Imagery
Bisazza
www.bisazza.com
(for Windows only)

Architectural Imagery software turns an image into a mapping of mosaic tiles that are made by Bisazza, the Italian glass company.

Bisazza, an Italian glass-mosaic company, has developed specialized software that allows designers to transform any type of image into mosaic format. The software takes a digitized image and “pixelates” it into a mapping of mosaic tiles with specific sizes and a color mapping, according to the dimensions specified by the designers. Then Bisazza custom-produces the tiles to order. Recent installations include murals at Detroit’s Metro Wayne County Airport (pictured at left), where more than 800,000 tiles were used for a large mural.

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