We've all been there: holding some item in the checkout lane, irritated to be buying it because we really only need it this once. But we inevitably whip out the credit card, use said item a handful of times at most, and then push it under the bed or into the garage to be forgotten. Waste of space. Waste of money.

It’s difficult to know where to begin when describing the Chicago-based real estate business of Abraham McClurg and Annie Coleman. Even their website betrays a bit of their split personality. What’s consistent about their work, though, is its remarkable transparency around their greater goal of making space for local artists and musicians to live, work, perform, exhibit, and enrich their community. Evidence of this service motivation is found in their proactive approach to working with coops and co-housing, as well as the transformation of their own office into an exhibition gallery.

In our quest to mitigate damage to the planet, we often turn to sleek, shiny emblems of technology such as solar panels, hybrid cars and wind turbines.

Alive Structures is a unique landscape design firm, grown out of the recent interest in increasing green spaces in urban environments and the long-term ben