(photo credit: hedgehog94)
 

(Photo credit: white78/Adobe Stock)

In 1988, two physics professors began discussing the scientific components that might lead to better energy efficiency in building construction. Bo Adamson from Lund University in Sweden and Wolfgang Feist from the Institut für Wohnen und Umwelt in Germany had read the research, dating back to the 1970s, that suggested it was possible to construct a low-energy building that was designed to exploit passive solar technologies and establish a comfortable indoor temperature with a low-energy requirement for heating or cooling. 
 

A funny thing happened on the way to the pandemic; people stayed home. Of course, the practical reason for this trend was to stay away from crowds, some of which were composed of people who were ill and didn’t even know it. However, many clouds of sad stories have silver linings!
 

Despite the fervent requests by companies for employees to “come back to the office,” for many, the genie that escaped from the bottle (or cubicle) during the COVID pandemic is not returning any time soon. Working from home (WFH) is still wildly popular. 
 

One of the best-known buildings on The University of Texas at Austin campus, Gregory Gym, was built in 1930, making it almost 100 years old today. Its unique appearance is partially the result of the style and color of its brick, made by a young company located 200 miles north of Austin, near Fort Worth, called Acme Brick. 
 
The story of Gregory Gym became part of the folklore of the Texas Longhorns.
 

Pop culture aficionados might find it interesting to learn that the first official reference to a “man cave” occurred in a best-selling book in 1992. In the extremely popular “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,” author, John Gray casually references a man retreating to his “cave” to unwind and relax. The term captured the imagination of both genders and catapulted the cave into home design glory! 
 

The jury in the “court of home design” seems to have returned a verdict on the prediction about Zellige tile made in this space a few months before 2024 officially arrived. Every year, the Acme Brick “What’s Hot” list uncovers one or two products that seem to have arrived from nowhere and suddenly are on the computer screens of interior designers around the globe.