LivingHomes had the honor of building the first LEED Platinum certified home in the US, and now they’re on schedule to deliver the first LEED Platinum certified home in Orange County. The new KieranTimberlake LivingHome 1.5 (KTLH1.5) was erected earlier this month in a single day. Located in the city of Newport Beach, we carry no doubts that the home will be LEED Platinum certified given LivingHomes‘ track record.
Sanjay Puri Architect’s new Chrome Hotel features a fresh façade punctuated with holes that allow natural light to stream in while keeping air-conditioning costs to a minimum. The opaque windows were purposefully set throughout the swiss cheese façade to allow ambient natural light to enter, and they also create an incredibly cool effect at night when backlit by LED lights.
We’ve seen some pretty energy efficient homes here at Inhabitat, but houses that actually give back to the grid seemed to be a thing of the future — until now. Swedish designers are currently constructing Villa Akarp, a residence that aims to combine energy conservation, energy recovery and energy generation technologies. If all goes as planned, the home will actually produce more energy than it uses and provide the excess to the grid.
We first announced Pugh + Scarpa’s Cherokee Lofts in Los Angeles two years ago, and we’re excited to say that the renovated recording studio debuted last month with a Rock N’Platinum grand opening. Anticipating its LEED Platinum certification, the opening literally rocked thanks to the music of Ben Lee and BlueSkyReality, plus three showcase lofts were stylized to pay tribute to Alice Cooper, 30 Seconds to Mars, and David Bowie. A fitting gala granted the number of gold and platinum records recorded at the location, which housed Cherry Studios prior to its conversion into sleek residential units.
In case you missed the opening, fear not – you can check it out this weekend on Saturday and Sunday from noon-5pm!
Photos © Tara Wujcik
Hive Modular recently unveiled a brand new pre-fabulous house chock full of eco-friendly materials and lots of high-tech home system controls. Situated in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, the new X-Line 003 is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home that boasts clean lines and a sleek interior. There are a lot of prefab companies out there serving up brilliant concepts, but not all of them have actually built a house. Hive Modular has — quite a few actually — and they’ve got the project gallery to show for it.
Design and engineering innovations over the last two decades have had a dramatic impact on our ability to create beautiful, environmentally sensitive structures that help contribute to a more sustainable future. A dramatic example of the confluence of design, technology and environmental sustainability can be seen in the proliferation of innovative bridge designs around the world. We’ve put together a list of five of our favorites. Check them out and let us know what you think!
According to the Forest Products Laboratory, a whole, unmilled tree can support 50 percent more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. Putting this principle into practice, Whole Tree Architecture is dedicated to building with materials that lumber companies consider scrap – weed trees, also know as ‘managed forest thinnings.’ The resulting projects are beautiful displays of locally sourced and sustainably managed materials.
When Architect Adi Purnomo of Mamostudio set out to design a live, work, and exhibition space for a photographer/painter client, he knew that maximizing natural light would be a necessity. Purnomo also pushed his studio’s creative design process to maintain the temperature of the home’s interior spaces through passive means whenever possible. The resulting Puri Indah House features an intricate series of slanted walls that reflect sunlight throughout the day, while intermingled gardens and interior pools of water ensure that the house is shaded and kept cool.
High Density green living is on the rise in Elwood, Australia with Crosby Architect’s new Elwood Green project. Living up to its name, the high-density apartment building will house 25 units that are expected to receive an average 6-star rating – the highest honor currently available from the Green Building Council of Australia. What comes as a bit of surprise is the lack of active systems assisting in the green rating, which just goes to show that old ingenuity and smart design can create buildings every bit as sustainable as the most high-tech structures.
The Architectural Foundation of Los Angeles recently announced the winners of the Design Green awards at a recent ceremony hosted by the AIA/LA to recognize outstanding work built or conceived by Los Angeles architects. Citation, Merit, and Honor Awards were given to six projects that ranged in size from residential to corporate, non-profit to civic and educational, with Honor being the highest award. From the diversity of the projects, it’s clear to see that California architects do more than just design green. With each year and innovation, they elevate green, exceeding our expectations of what a green project should be.
The 2009 Solar Decathlon may have come to a close, but we wanted to shine a little more light on one of our favorite projects, Virginia Tech’s LUMENHAUS. Ranked 4th in this year’s Architecture category, the LUMENHAUS is named for its “power of light” attributes and architectural references to the BauHaus movement, and was particularly inspired by Mies Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. Like its historic reference, it is comprised of all glass walls, maximizing exposure to natural daylight. The house features an automated “Eclipse System” of highly insulated translucent panels that filters the light using independent sliding layers, creating an ever-changing pattern throughout the day.
Berlin is a burgeoning modern city with a compelling history, a diverse culture, abundant art, and distinctive architecture that rivals the likes of Paris, London and New York. But if there is one thing that can set the city apart from its pricey peers, it’s the unbelievably inexpensive property. Not unlike many of the uber-creative expatriates that have taken up residence there, two enterprising artists, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, decided it was time to purchase and renovate a place of their own. So what can $700,000 get you in a city like Berlin? An apartment? A loft? Maybe a small house? How about a massive water pumping station!
The kitchen of the future was going to be so high-tech. Frigidaire’s Dream Kitchen of Tomorrow had it all; an IBM punch card recipe file, automatic dispensing and online TV ordering. And that’s not all – read on as we take a look at several extraordinary retro-futuristic kitchens to see how they’ve withstood the test of time.
There are reportedly over 750,000 abandoned concrete bunkers scattered throughout Albania, remnants of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha and his policies of paranoid xenophobia. Now graduate students Gyler Mydyti & Elian Stefa have developed a plan called Concrete Mushrooms that would ‘invert the meaning’ of these structures by turning them into a network of habitable eco-hostels, cafés, gift shops and more.
GERMANY WINS THE 2009 SOLAR DECATHLON!
Drumroll please… after an exciting week of competition and judging, the winner of the Solar Decathlon 2009 has just been announced, and it’s a stunner! In a huge upset (as Team Illinois was leading on the scoreboard until just a few moments ago) the …
Buildings consume 76% of electricity generated; they create 48% of our greenhouse gases; a quarter of our waste in landfills comes from construction. Yet we continue to tear down perfectly good ones and replace them with new ones that don’t perform as well and don’t last as long. If we understood what old buildings are saying to us, we would be less eager to rip them down, and perhaps might even emulate them in our new buildings. Read on for examples.
We’ve been bringing you breaking coverage of this week’s Solar Decathlon in Washington DC throughout the week and one of the most interesting homes to emerge from the competition is the North House, a super sleek, high-tech solar powered home designed to generate more energy than it consumes – an especially impressive feat granted that the home was designed for the extreme climate of Northern Canada. Currently in 4th place at the Decathlon, Team Ontario/BC is exhibiting an incredibly impressive showing. With two days left of the competition, they still have a good chance to eek out some more points in the categories of Engineering, Lighting and the biggie, Net Metering, which could still put them in the lead.
Forget decorative crystalline stadium skins; Gino Zavanella’s recently unveiled stadium is completely plastered in energy-generating photovoltaic panels. Stadium Franco Sensi, set to be built in Rome, Italy, will feature a museum of Rome’s football team, restaurants, lounges, and bars in addition to regular stadium seating.
The Solar Decathlon, the super solar architecture competition held in Washington D.C. bi-annually, officially kicked off today, and Rice University’s awesomely affordable ZEROW House is already making waves. The first round of evaluations took place yesterday, and this low-budget underdog placed 4th among the twenty competitors after being recognized in the categories Comfort Zone and Appliances. What is most impressive about this team is that the average budget of the 20 solar decathlon houses at the mall is $490,000, while the ZEROW home was built for only $140,000!!! Even more impressive, the ZEROW House was designed specifically for Houston’s Third Ward Neighborhood as part of Project Row House – an organization that seeks to develop housing for low-to moderate-income families.
KOZ Architects’ Sports & Leisure Center is a rainbow colored wonderland for kids in Saint-Cloud, France. Designed for festive celebrations and entertainment and featuring the ‘coolest’ indoor climbing wall in France, the vibrant hues from the outside of the building correlate via color coding to the interior areas — enabling spatial orientation …
At first glance, Graft Lab’s dazzling complex in Dubai may appear to have a cluster of sparkling geometric pools at its base. But upon further inspection, the web-like structures are actually something even more desirable than a place to take a dip in the hot desert – a means of collecting the scorching rays of the sun and transforming them into energy. Dubbed the Vertical Village, this multi-use building and accompanying massive array of solar collectors was designed to work smarter, not harder, which is expected to earn it a LEED Gold certification when it is completed.
Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik, photo Luanne Lozier
Green roofs are wonderful things; like a thick blanket, they keep roofs cool in summer and warm in winter. They have been around for centuries in Scandinavia and Iceland, where they moderate the cold winters and sometimes very hot summers. They reduce the “heat island” effect, where the air above and around the old black roofs gets hotter, making them hot properties in cities. Some, like Toronto have made them mandatory; other cities like Chicago give financial assistance to promote them. The provide habitat for birds and insects, even goats.
Mesa Community College recently completed work on a stunning physical science building that exceeded LEED expectations when it was awarded LEED-NC Gold. Designed by the award-winning architecture firm, The Smith Group, the building is the first major LEED project to be completed within the Maricopa Country Community College District. The brand new 64,480-square-foot facility houses curriculum for the physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology and engineering departments including classrooms, laboratories, facility offices, an advising center and a 53 seat planetarium. Topping off the new space is an astronomy observation platform.
Last year we reported on Okhta Tower, a new super eco-skyscraper located in St. Petersburg Russia. After months of push and shove, and mixed reception, the plan for this 77-storey tower designed by RMJM has finally gotten the green light to commence construction. The twisting tower will primarily serve as the headquarters to Gazprom’s oil unit OAO Gazprom Neft, with additional spaces dedicated to a concert hall, museum, hotel and a business center. Once constructed, it will become the tallest building in Europe, and one of the most environmentally sustainable buildings in the word.
Heads up San Francisco Inhabitants! West Coast Green kicks off tomorrow, and Inhabitat will be live on the scene at Fort Mason to bring you all of the fresh green designs on display! Taking place from October 1-3 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center, this year’s program promises another star-studded lineup of speakers, an inspiring series of panels and summits, and a cutting-edge …
For years, we have been trying to control our interior environments — by putting up four walls and a roof, and then by stuffing insulation into walls and painting coats of funny chemicals on the outside. Today, we know that environmentally-sensitive indoor climate control will require re-wiring of buildings and the way we think. Lightening a building’s carbon footprint is a challenging task, but one that promises product innovation and creative design. It …
Heads up all readers in the San Francisco Bay Area! West Coast Green is just one week away, and we’re giving away free tradeshow floor passes to 20 lucky readers! These passes are your gateway to over 280 exhibitors and 12 demo sessions showcasing the greatest green building developments around, and they’re good for all 3 days of the event. All you have to do to win is:
1. Sign up for the Inhabitat newsletter
2. Leave a comment below with your full name telling us why you’d like to go!
The first 20 responses win a tradeshow pass, so get cracking!
A team of students from Penn State recently unveiled their Natural Fusion residence, which has been selected as one of 20 ultra-efficient homes set to make an appearance at this year’s Solar Decathlon. The elegant structure is wrapped in living walls and utilizes a host of energy-efficient features including a green roof lined with photovoltaic panels and large windows that bathe the interiors in daylight.
Whether you’re religious or not, this old Dominican church will certainly bring you the enlightenment you’ve been seeking. After months of renovation this magnificent structure originally constructed in 1294 has opened its doors to the public as a “brand new” bookstore in the heart of Maastricht. A superb example of adaptive re-use, the Selexyz Dominicanen infuses rich and historic architecture with plentiful shelves ripe with information.
Of all the pads chosen for this year’s AIA San Francisco Living: Home Tours, only one found me smiling from start to finish. I wondered why as I wandered through this intriguing Glen Park residence… suddenly, on an upstairs landing, I spied a strange note stuck inside a fire-engine red Royal typewriter. I crept closer, just to get a peek. Staring back at me, three words, all caps: NOTHING BUT EVIDENCE. The owners’ motives began to emerge, as clear as the double-height glass wall behind me. Strachan and Melissa Forgan, it seems, had volumes to gain — more space, more light, even sheer satisfaction and enjoyment — simply by digging in, building up and letting Architecture and the City take its course.
Living in New York City, I’ve lost touch with the concept of affordable housing. However, after competition finalists were announced for an affordable student housing complex in the historic center of Athens, Greece, I felt inspired to seek out other exciting developments in the world of affordable design.
Jetson Green reports on net-zero energy homes nestled into an idyllic setting among evergreen trees and grasses.
gbNYC tells us that Connecticut is getting its first LEED-certified residential …
Shipping container homes just keep on getting cooler. Developers Katie Nichols and John Walker along with architect Christopher Robertson wanted to create affordable and sustainable homes for the emerging hipster crowd – modern, colorful and creative. This single-story home, located on the outskirts of downtown Houston in a “transitional neighborhood,” is made from 4 shipping containers sourced from nearby ports. The house is constructed using some fairly advanced building techniques that make it an extremely sturdy and well insulated structure, not to mention incredibly cool.
One of our favorite projects from last weekend’s AIA Homes Tours was the Randall House in Glen Park, by LSarc design team. The site, typical of San Francisco contours, slopes nearly four stories from front to back making the rear lower floors a challenge to daylight. The architects did a stunning job of working with this difficult site while reusing existing construction materials, incorporating FSC certified timber, and creating a healthy interior environment through the use of sustainable materials.
Heads up all Bay Area green building buffs – West Coast Green 2009 is just two week’s away, and tickets are selling fast! Taking place from October 1-3 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center, this year’s program promises another star-studded lineup of speakers, an inspiring series of panels and summits, and a cutting-edge exhibition of green building technologies that stand to shape the …
StrawJet, of Ashland, Oregon, has developed a unique process for the creation of structural building components from a variety of waste agricultural stalks. Essentially, they have created a machine that takes waste stalks and creates a tightly wrapped beam which can then be applied to many different facets of construction. The cables are made and wrapped without glues, resins or chemicals and are made completely from waste material. As long as we are growing food there will be straw, so why not use it creatively?
LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!
Greentea Design sells
exclusive Asian-inspired
contemporary
furniture, kitchen
cabinets and antique pieces from China, Korea and Japan.
Their furniture is crafted
from salvaged woods
that were reclaimed from
throughout Asia.
