Comments on: UK Eco-house Sold for world record £7.2m!

By: woodduck

woodduck — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:32:19 +0000

I have to agree with hmmarquard’s comments that the price along puts it in that category of the 3rd or 4th or 15th home for some flashy entertainer who wants to buy into the green buzz world–green homes like this are just unfeasible for the rest of us lowly types, and until the rest of us lowly types can afford green homes, the few $$$$$ ones aren’t going to change much here on Earth, are they?

By: hmmarquard

hmmarquard — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:10:29 +0000

Bart Bohac, you’re right on in all of your commentary!

To say I am not fond of this design would be an understatement. I can’t comment on the “green-ness” as there doesn’t seem to really be any info on what is green about it other than spatial flexibility (although hosting a party and having a family vaca don’t seem like totally incompatible uses that need extra flexibility designed in).

Any “house” that sells for that much is disgusting to me. Especially if it is yet another 3rd or 4th or 15th “home” for some big bucks entertainer who wants to buy into the green buzz world.

By: RichardMillington

RichardMillington — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:25:32 +0000

We don’t have mosquitos here in the Cotswolds, or at least I don’t think we do BJ.

Still, what an amazing house. Must try to find out some more information about it.

By: greg.org

greg.org — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:22:24 +0000

this house will be built and that check will clear as soon as the Eiffel Tower gets its new addition. Seriously, this sounds like the most unsubstantiated piece of PR fluff in the world. Uncritical worship of developers’ and architects’ renderings and claims is an embarrassment of the whole design blogosphere.

And while I’m not an expert in laminated timber, I can say that throwing around breathless judgments about sustainability and longevity without a link or reference to supporting evidence really does not help the site’s credibility, either.

A 7-million-pound house will stand for a couple of hundred-plus years, if only because it cost so damn much. OTOH, it’s hard to reconcile a thousand years of timber building with the silly idea that laminated timber will somehow “stay beautiful longer.”

By: BJ

BJ — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:33:03 +0000

I can’t help but wonder just how pristine this “nature reserve” will remain once the new celebrity owners spend their first spring in a mosquito infested swamp. ;-)

By: Carbon Offsets Daily

Carbon Offsets Daily — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:25:28 +0000

Making green look good is helpful way to tap into mainstream imagination. It doesn’t seem like the most ideal design for high-density living…

By: BartBohac

BartBohac — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:06:30 +0000

Stunned by the suggestion that laminated veneer lumber isn\’t good for the planet. It\’s manufactured by slicing logs into thin veneers and gluing these together the most structurally-efficient orientation of the fibers. Since the veneers needn\’t be continuous and flawed portions are easily removed, the source logs can come from smaller diameter, not-necessarily-straight new-growth trees. Elimination of nearly all natural flaws and proper orientation to stresses allows framing members to be much smaller and lighter than equivalent solid timbers cut from mature trees, further enhancing the efficiency of the overall design by reducing the necessary strength of supporting elements.

The author is presumably referring to potential risk to the occupants (not to the planet) of inhalation of off-gased formaldehyde from adhesives, but since LVL is manufactured with phenol-formaldehyde resin, not the infamous and far more volatile urea-formaldehyde resin, this still seems like a rather ill-informed, knee-jerk reaction.

I\’m a new reader, and perhaps expect too much, but Inhabitat seems to be a superficial promotion of the fashion and appearance of greenness, not the substance; photo-heavy and content-light.

By: Brian Lang

Brian Lang — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:00:52 +0000

What about a non-computer generated image? That would be useful.

By: Chas

Chas — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:45:58 +0000

The computer image of this, shows the house as a freestanding scuptule isolated in a natural setting but when you go to the Lower Mill Estate website they show all the houses packed in together in a tight community. I don’t think that grand view from the living room is going to be so grand. Not quite the same to look out across the lake and see it packed with condo’s & timeshares.
When you go to the Featherstone website you see the same thing. There is a overall site plan the shows that there will be a houses packed in there pretty much as tight as any suburnan neighborhood.
maybe a big chunk of that 7.2million is to buy all the neighboring properties.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:38:07 +0000

well thats one crazy casa. its so green it doesnt have a driveway! canoe in and out! and it looks kinda like the gorgons that are sitting around in Zelda 64. i totally want one.