JUSTIN R. WOLF




My writing


Architecture | Green Design | Energy Efficiency 

In addition to my content strategy practice, I work as a freelance journalist covering green building trends, regenerative design, and energy policy for a variety of media outlets, including Green Building Advisor, Fine Homebuilding, Metropolis, Architectural Record, ENTER magazine (AIA Minnesota), and others publications. 

AIA Architect •

Deaf education design in the spotlight at AIA25

Robert Nichols, Assoc. AIA, is the chairman and co-founder of the non-profit World Deaf Architecture (WDA), an organization devoted to bringing together deaf and hard of hearing architects, designers, and educators for the purpose of professional networking and career development. In a Wednesday session at the AIA Conference on Architecture & Design® 2025 in Boston, “Deaf Education Design: How to Create a Learning Building,” Nichols helped attendees understand the emerging concept of deaf educat...
Green & Healthy Maine HOMES •

Rain screens: What they are and when to use them

Dan Kolbert, a high-performance contractor and homebuilder in Portland, says that forgoing a rain screen will likely decrease the lifespan of the cladding or sheathing and prematurely age the paint job. “Condensation or bulk water can get stuck between the siding and the house with no easy way to escape,” he says. While a lot of builders will stop short of proclaiming rain screens essential, Kolbert says that if you’re re-siding your house, particularly with wood siding or shingles, adding a rai...
AIA Architect •

Low-carbon concrete solutions are showing high potential

Cement and concrete have built entire civilizations, according to the Portland Cement Association (PCA), the major trade group that represents U.S. cement manufacturers. They're not wrong. From Roman aqueducts to interstate highways, the Parthenon to Habitat 67, concrete defines so much of how we navigate and consider our built environment. And in recent history, it has also wrought terrible harm on our natural environment. A quick scroll down PCA's site reveals how the association has pivoted t...
Green & Healthy Maine HOMES •

Air control: The balance of airtightness and ventilation

By Justin R. WolfThis is because we can’t smell it or see where it gathers, lingers and escapes. Hot or cold, dry or humid, a healthy home controls not just temperature, humidity and airborne contaminants but the movement of air as well. And there are other related factors to consider.An airtight home has been properly sealed top to bottom, creating a continuous air barrier (also called a “continuous air control layer”) from the cracks that exist between the concrete foundation and mudsill (or w...
Metropolis Magazine •

Envision Resilience Participants Design for Vulnerable Coastlines

The roster of participating schools changes each year. The 2024 cohort comprises teams from Cornell, Harvard, Yale, University of Buffalo, University of Maine at Augusta, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and University of Toronto. “It’s all about communicating to these communities how they might reimagine futures under rising sea levels, urban heat, increasing stressors on housing and economies and the like. We use design to catalyze those conversations,” says Claire Martin, En...
Metropolis Magazine •

Taisugar Circular Village is a Model Case Study for Circular Economies

What truly sets TCV apart from other examples of eco-housing collectives is BaF’s thoughtful use of circular design principles. The housing blocks are made of prefabricated modular parts, which heavily reduces material waste during construction. Further, balcony facade systems, designed and installed like a curtain wall, comprise precast modularized panels that are interconnected with simple nuts and bolts; modular, prefabricated hollowed core slabs make up the floor system. Also of note, every...
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Contact me to inquire about other writing samples, including ghostwritten articles, website copy, and special projects.

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Art Criticism | Art History

Gallery Crawl •

“Remember That You Will Die: Death Across Cultures” at the Rubin Museum of Art

Memento Mori is the Latin-Christian maxim translated as “Remember that you will die.” It is altogether sobering and, in some perverted sense, comforting; it’s an epitaph for the masses—commoners and kings alike. It is also the subject of the ’s latest offering, of the same name, and although said offering is a modest one, this exhibition is, quite literally, breath-taking.
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