Siren Song – The New Lure of City Living
Published by Green by Design on August 17, 2009
By Richard Manning. As an architect and sustainability consultant, I work on many green building projects. Unfortunately, the fast pace of design and construction projects coupled with work travel doesn’t often give me a chance to visit the finished building.
FlatPak and the PreFab Four
Published by Martha Danly on April 22, 2009
Let’s face it, I’m a little obsessed. After an only so-so experience living in a prefab house many years ago, I’m now awakening to the wonderful potential of today’s modern prefab home brought to us by such designers as Ray Kappe, Jennifer Siegel, and Charlie Lazor.
Lloyd Kahn: In Praise of the Hand-Built Home
Published by Martha Danly on April 01, 2009
A 73-year-old Californian, small and wiry, who is: an active surfer, skateboarder, and runner; who, without formal architectural training, installed a living sod roof on the first house he built back in the 1960s—four decades before living roofs became darling icons of the green movement.
Barefoot Dreams in the Dead of Winter
Published by Green by Design on March 24, 2009
In my opinion, radiant floor heating is one of the most efficient means of heating your home. As is commonly known, heat rises; that said, radiant heating (which operates from the ground up) will heat a home more evenly, efficiently, and cost effectively than other types.
Healthy Home Corner: We Shape Our Buildings…
Published by Paula Baker-Laporte on March 23, 2009
The creation of a home is by no means a simple act. Thousands of decisions will go into that process, based on cultural values that may be stated or unstated. A home that is constructed to be the largest space for the least amount of money will look, feel and act…
Keeping the Cold Out with…Blue Jeans?
Published by Green by Design on February 06, 2009
Many people are unaware that the blue jeans worn by your favorite celebrities may end up in your walls. No, not as trophies from an auction house, but as insulation to keep out the cold.
When Less Is More: Overhauling the Appraisal System
Published by Martha Danly on January 22, 2009
We all have something that gets our goat. Something that’s just not right and needs to be fixed. For David Gottfried, owner of the greenest home in America, the property appraisal system is broken and needs overhauling now.
Shooting for Net Zero: Not Stopping Till He’s There
Published by Martha Danly on January 18, 2009
Of all people, we’d expect David Gottfried to max out on alternative energy and water conservation. After all, he founded the U.S. and World Green Building Councils, and his Oakland, California, home recently earned the highest-ever LEED Platinum certification and GreenPoint Rating.
Make Every Inch Count, but Leave Room for 30 Buddhas
Published by Martha Danly on January 13, 2009
Efficiency. Not a word that usually makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside. Yet David and Sara Gottfried have applied the genius of “and” by making their award-winning home welcoming, comfy, and highly efficient.
A Sense of Place: Home, Street, ‘Hood, City, Country, Planet
Published by Martha Danly on January 12, 2009
In citing the top three factors that drive real estate valuation, the universal drum beat ‘Location, Location, Location’ has been around forever. For sure, location is a big part of the green home, but to create the greenest of homes we need to step it up a level.
Green from the Inside Out
Published by Martha Danly on January 11, 2009
David and Sara Gottfried’s Oakland, California home is the ne plus ultra of green by design. Based on its LEED Platinum certification and GreenPoint Rating, the recent restoration of their 1915 Craftsman house has generated the highest green scores of any home in the United States. Their property is off-the-charts green.
Truly, the 10 Most Frequently Asked Questions at the Nolalu Eco Centre
Published by Hubert Den Draak on December 23, 2008
When my partner and I designed and built the Nolalu Eco Centre, the largest solar-and-wind-powered straw bale facility in Ontario, we did it to accomplish something positive on behalf of the planet
Smith & Fong’s PlybooPure Tops the Charts—Their Grass Is Greener
Published by Lily Korhonen on December 07, 2008
Unless you’ve been living in a dirt-floored cave for a decade, you already know that bamboo is a great, green alternative to hardwood flooring. Classified as a grass, bamboo can grow as much as 12 inches a day, and after being cut, will renew itself in as short a time as three to five years—much [...]
Democratizing Design—A Big Idea Whose Time Has Come
Published by Martha Danly on December 01, 2008
Charlie Lazor is a polymath. That’s not name calling, but high praise for a man who brings insights from many disciplines to the modern prefab home.
Green…With Envy
Published by Joe Gillach on November 30, 2008
This is a story about disappointment and, yes, envy. About what happens when green idealism crashes into the limitations of a movement that is still groping its way forward, leaving many people like me perplexed and terrified in equal measure.
The Real Cost, The Real Deal
Published by Martha Danly on November 21, 2008
Michelle Kaufmann is the real deal. Recent winner of the Social Venture Network’s 2008 Innovation Award, Michelle is known for her prefabricated green home designs that brilliantly balance our need for sustainable design, beauty, and affordability. For Michelle, there’s no need for tradeoffs when operating within the right set of principles.
Plugging Your Wallet Holes: Turn Energy Losses Into Gains
Published by Hubert Den Draak on November 11, 2008
There we were. Our first winter in our straw bale home, gloating over its super-efficient R46+ insulated walls—that’ll keep those cold Canadian winters out! But winter came, and at night the house cooled off more quickly than we expected. So what gives? Turns out, our windows were the culprits. Pretty quickly we learned that windows [...]
Milk Paint—Safe, Green, New & Old-Timey
Published by Lily Korhonen on November 10, 2008
Shopping list: skim milk for my cereal, whole milk for my coffee, chocolate milk for the kids, milk paint for the walls…
FlatPak: Elegant?…Check. Simple?…Check. Green?…Check.
Published by Calvin Ahlgren on November 07, 2008
The notion of the FlatPak house seems so simple that it strikes me, as first-time observer, with forehead-slapping “what-took-so-long?” wonder.
Local Hero—Sim Van der Ryn Looks for Answers Close to Home
Published by Martha Danly on November 03, 2008
Bearing a simple cloth sack of Asian pears from his garden, Sim Van der Ryn arrives at my door for lunch today. He gazes around the house and immediately we discover a connection—the designer/builder of my place turns out to have been one of his students, Paul Korhummel.
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