Inhabitat

Brad Pitt Receives Award From USGBC For Making It Right

If all rich and famous actors used their superpowers for good the way that Brad Pitt does, the world would be a much better place! Last week at the Clinton Global Climate Initiative, the altruistic actor received an award from the USGBC for his commendable efforts to rebuild New Orleans with sustainable housing. Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, a project near and dear to our hearts at Inhabitat, is working to rebuild a section of New Orleans that was badly hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. So far, only 13 houses have been rebuilt, but a total of 150 is planned, and will make a big difference in the lives of those families who move in.

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The White House Takes Aim at LEED Certification

The White House is doing its part in leading the way to a more sustainable nation. Not only are they growing their own food on site with Michelle Obama’s garden, but now even they’re aiming for LEED certification! The Obamas are trying to show that reducing energy use and leading a greener life really aren’t that hard. This certainly isn’t the first attempt to green the White House, but it’s definitely the most significant attempt to date. The Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) are leading the effort to upgrade to more energy efficient equipment, improve procurement, reduce waste and toxins and lower the overall carbon footprint of the complex.

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Istanbul Unveils $1 Billion Green Super Development

In what is set to be the greenest development in Turkey, Istanbul recently unveiled the VARYAP Meridian Project, a mixed-use super-development that will house the city’s new financial and business district. Set in the Atasehir District at the crossroads of major highways, subway lines and near the airport, the new project will be a model for future green development. New York and Istanbul-based RMJM are designing the project to LEED standards and have carefully analyzed the site to take advantage of the surrounding topography, climate and context.

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The Sage Residence: Super High Scoring LEED Platinum Home

LEED residences are becoming a standard item these days, but this particular residence hit our radar because of the high LEED score and its stunning appearance. The Sage Residence in Eugene, Oregon was designed and built by Arbor South Architecture, and received an impressive score of 110 in the LEED rating system — higher than USGBC founder David Gottfried’s LEED Platinum home, which only received 106.5 points. Beautiful inside and out, the home is a perfect example of how green homes can be beautiful, energy efficient and create minimal impact on the environment.

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Green Skyscrapers Unveiled for China’s Raffles City

Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio recently unveiled a new set of elegantly twisting sustainable skyscrapers that will grace the skyline of Hangzou, China by 2012. Dubbed Raffles City, the design features two 60-story tall buildings set near the Qiangtan River in the captial city of Zhejiang province. The project will be a mixed-use development with office, retail, residential and hotel space and will be built according to LEED green building standards in hopes of achieving a Gold rating. On top of the green building techniques, the project aims for urban sustainability – it’s designed as a hub of activity, commerce and transportation meant to condense life into a smaller footprint.

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Green-Roofed Airport Training Center Achieves LEED Silver

In 1999, The Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) set out to create a revolutionary fire and emergency services training facility that uses the newest and most innovative environmentally-conscious building standards. The result is this $13.5 million state-of-the-art training facility designed by Kleinfeldt Mychajlowycz Architects, which was awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) Silver Rating. The structure not only provides a healthy place to live and work, it reduces waste sent to landfills, conserves energy and water, and reduces harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

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Omega Center for Sustainable Living Opens in Upstate New York

On track to become the first green building to achieve both LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge Certification, the Omega Center for Sustainable Living (OSCL) embodies the synthesis of wastewater recycling, clean energy, and eco-friendly architecture. Designed by sustainable design firm BNIM Architects as a functioning model for the nonprofit organization Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, the state-of-the art environmental education and water reclamation facility in Rhinebeck, New York serves as a teaching tool to educate visitors on Omega’s ongoing environmental initiatives, including innovative wastewater strategies.

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Foster + Partners Break Ground on Virgin Galactic Spaceport

It’s an exciting time for space fanatics everywhere as construction recently began on the world’s first commercial space launch pad, Spaceport America. Designed by Foster + Partners, the facility is located in southern New Mexico near the White Sands Missile Range and will serve as a launch site for private space travel. Built into the side of a hill, the Spaceport will meet LEED building standards and includes some high-tech green building strategies including a solar roof, excellent use of thermal mass, and a highly efficient HVAC system.

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IS IT GREEN?: Eco-Labels and Certifications

We all know it: Green is the new black. One of the many manifestations of the environmentalist trend/movement is that labels and certifications designed for the environmentally-conscious consumer have been proliferating like mad. Even if you’re savvy enough to know about LEED and FSC, there are dozens of lesser-known eco-labels. It’s hard to derive information from a label you’ve never seen before, but you may be able to figure out which category of label you’re looking at – government, proprietary, or independent agency. I’m taking this week’s Is It Green to blitz through some of these and give a little context to those logos.

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ONE JACKSON SQUARE: New LEED Living in Greenwich Village

A new project in Greenwich Village is bringing a mix of modern luxury and green building to the historic West Village district. Architect William Pederson, with international real estate firm Hines, recently announced the design for One Jackson Square. With an eye-catching glass façade and a host of environmentally sound features, the new development will be Greenwich Village’s first LEED-certified multi-unit luxury condominium.

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1st LEED PARKING GARAGE: Santa Monica Civic Center

Eye-catching aesthetics and implementation of a bevy of green building practices have brought a new oxymoron into consideration in the form of the Santa Monica Civic Center parking structure. This building is on its way to becoming the first LEED certified parking garage in the United States, shifting the sustainability merits of LEED debate into impassioned overdrive with plenty of fuel fodder for both sides of the argument.

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Leonardo DiCaprio Buys New Green NYC Digs

It’s not always our style to point out celebrity lives but when they involve a super green, LEED Gold rated building with stellar views across the Hudson River it gets our attention. The New York scoop is that the three-time Academy Award-nominated actor/environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has found shelter in Riverhouse, one of NYC’s greenest condominiums.

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Grand Rapids Art Museum: First LEED Gold Certified Museum

One of the oldest museums in the Mid-West was recently relocated to an elegant new LEED Gold certified structure, garnering accolades from art aficionados and sustainability advocates alike. Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY Architecture designed the new Grand Rapids Art Museum to be as beautiful as the artworks within, placing a premium on public space and ultra-efficient modern design. Situated downtown amid Maya Lin’s “Ecliptic” park and Alexander Calder’s “Grand Vitesse”, the museum is an impressive addition to the renowned architecture of the “sculpture city”.

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New Green Complex in China by Steven Holl

Architect Steven Holl always appeals to our sustainable side, capturing our imagination with beautiful designs that incorporate both social and environmental responsibility. His new design for a mixed use development in China is bringing a green sensibility to the skyline of Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan. The ‘Sliced Porosity Block’ will house offices, apartments, retail, a hotel, cafes and restaurants within five towers and a multi-level plaza rivaling Rockefeller Center. This high-performance building will integrate green strategies in heating, cooling, lighting and materials to attain an LEED gold certification.

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Canada’s Greenest Building?

Green architecture seems to have taken the world by storm, and not a week goes by without a number of buildings making bold claims as to what their green credentials are. Not wanting to be left out of the global race to have the greenest building ever, seven local non-profit groups have revealed the design for the Maison du développement durable (Sustainable Development House), which they claim will be Canada’s greenest building.

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First LEED Platinum Carbon Neutral Building!

Carbon-neutral buildings are not new news, but the first-ever LEED-platinum carbon neutral building certainly is. The Aldo Leopold Foundation Headquarters, located in Wisconsin, has been certified as the the first ever, fully LEED-platinum certified, carbon neutral building in the world, making it the greenest building ever built, with zero footprint and great design.

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HOK’s LEED Gold-certified Straw Bale Building

A mix of desert climate, high performance goals and the insight of a leader in sustainable design has yielded one of the first LEED Gold-certified straw-bale buildings in the world. Resource- and energy-efficient, the Santa Clarita Transit Maintenance Facility designed by HOK exceeds California Energy Efficiency Standards by more than 40 percent, securing a new standard for straw-bale in high performance building design.

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Zero Energy House For Sale in San Francisco!

La Casa Verde, a wind-powered home in San Francisco, not only lives up to its name with its urban application of the Skystream Residential Wind Turbine, but it’s on the market and could be your next green abode! Built as part of the Sunset Magazine Idea House Program, La Casa Verde sits on a lovely plot in San Francisco’s sunny Mission District and proves that wind power isn’t just for the suburbs anymore.

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THE NEW MEXICO SPACEPORT BUILDING by Foster + Partners

Next time that you’re waiting for your trip to space, you’ll be able to do so in style. Well fine, space travel is still a few decades away for us meager mortals, but at the very least, we can marvel at the beautiful and science-fiction inspired designs for the New Mexico Spaceport Authority building from Foster + Partners which not only aim to make you get into the mood for space travel, they will also meet LEED platinum standards when finished.

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FIRST GREEN CONVENTION CENTER in Pittsburgh

In a city that’s seen a remarkable urban resurgence in the past decade, Pittsburgh’s David Lawrence Convention Center stands along the Allegheny River as a beacon of both beautiful architecture and innovative green design. Designed by architect Rafael Viñoly, the waterfront building is certified with a Gold LEED rating, and is both the largest “green” building and first “green” convention center. Aside from its eye-catching aesthetic, Viñoly’s design boasts an impressive list of green architectural elements and high-tech systems, from large glass curtain walls that admit consistent daylight (over 75% of the center’s exhibition spaces are naturally lit) to a state-of-the-art water reclamation system that reduces potable water usage by almost sixty percent. And the list goes on…

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NEW MARMOL RADZINER PREFAB in Joshua Tree

Leo Marmol’s prefab Desert House has turned heads before, and is one of the attractions of the upcoming Dwell On Design conference in Palm Springs. But most recently, Marmol Radziner has announced the presale of two new prefab homes in Joshua Tree, California, that offer two bedrooms, two baths, an optional casita, and pool, all on a 1.25 acre lot included in the total cost. What’s more, the sleek, modern abodes are chock-full of some of the most environmentally-friendly and high-tech green materials on the market. Designed for LEED certification, the two homes come standard with solar panels, bamboo flooring, recycled steel frame construction, Structural Insulated Panels (SIP’s), and FSC-certified wood.

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GREENDBUILD DENVER: opening day

The USGBC’s Greenbuild Conference kicked off bright and early Wednesday morning as several speakers took the stage for the opening plenary. Some were expected, like the USGBC President Rick Fedrizzi. Others, like Ira Magaziner of the Clinton Climate Initiative were a pleasant surprise. But we all know who we were really waiting for: the current sage of global sustainability, Bill McDonough – and he didn’t disappoint.

For a few of the highlights of the opening session, read on…

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GREEN BUILDING 101: Energy & Atmosphere – Keeping cool and staying warm

The very root of what makes a home green is how effectively it responds to its surrounding environment. You could say that this has defined the primary material pursuit of mankind for all time – building better shelters to keep us warmer, cooler, and drier. Many of the native building techniques employed centuries ago are still reliable in similar climates today, and used as optimal models for environmentally conscious architects. However, since global acceptance of the air conditioner in the 1950s, the benefits of responding to a unique climate have been left by the side of the road.

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GREEN BUILDING 101: Indoor Environmental Quality

Feeling good in our homes or offices isn’t just a matter of having a beautiful space. No matter how fabulous your furnishings, a poorly designed indoor environment can literally make you sick. Building green means considering not only the environmental impact of materials and construction, but also the physical and psychological health of the occupants.

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GREEN BUILDING 101: Materials & Resources, Part II

Last week we dug into the LEED-H criteria for sustainable residential materials and resources. Now that we’ve given you the low-down, it’s time to get specific. While the variety of options and applications in this category can be overwhelming, it happens to be one of the easiest avenues for going green at home.

From decking and roofing to countertops and indoor paints, these are the places where the decisions are yours; and they matter. Read on for tips, resources, and product recommendations that will guide you towards beautiful materials that ensure a safe, healthy home.

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GREEN BUILDING 101: Sustainable Sites

Welcome back to Green Building 101.

Last week we covered how to select an environmentally responsible location for your new abode; this week we’ll begin discussing ways you can improve upon any home site. The SUSTAINABLE SITES section of USGBC’s LEED for Homes Program outlines various “green” opportunities for reducing the negative impact your home has on the environment. The great thing about these principles is that most can be implemented anytime, regardless of whether you’re still in the design process, or if you’ve been in your home for a lifetime.

So without further ado, here are five measures you can take to create a more sustainable site:

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GREEN BUILDING 101: Location & Community

Where do you want to live?

Today kicks off Inhabitat’s summer series, Green Building 101, our weekly column covering the fundamentals of green building. This series will be structured around the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, specifically the new LEED for Homes for residential building, which establishes seven criteria for creating healthier, greener, more efficient homes.

LEED is not the only system for determining whether or not a project is sustainable – and debatably, it may not be the best. However, it is the most commonly accepted benchmark and an excellent starting point for those wanting to get their feet……green, so here we go!

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KNOLL GOES LEED

Last week, San Francisco’s Knoll Furniture Gallery opened its doors to reveal the first ever LEED Certified Showroom. Why go through the trouble of LEED certification if your product is furniture, you might ask? It’s all part of the ‘doing good by being good’ incentive that so many corporations, including many non-profits, are adopting in recent years. The Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and the NRDC, to name a few, all have LEED Certified Headquarters. Knoll, not exactly a non-profit, shows they care about more than just about the tactile materiality of their designer pieces, but of the overall environment in which they inhabit… now if only those Frank Gehry woven maple chairs came in cost competitive FSC-certified wood…

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TWIN CREEKS SCIENCE AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER

The National Park Service kicked off the New Year by breaking ground on their Twin Creeks Science and Education Center. The First-of-its-kind facility will support all of the Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI); an initiative to document all of the life forms within the , enabling scientists to make educated decisions about protecting and preserving the park’s precious ecosystem. The 15,000 square-foot facility will not only house research laboratories, but will also play host to a curatorial space for specimens collection, and a teaching space for students. As part of the National Park Service’s project mission, they have adopted the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system, and is targeting LEED Certification upon its completion this fall.

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The Ultimate Green Lab: C.I.R.S.

The University of British Columbia in Vancouver is developing what has been hailed as the most environmentally innovative and high performance building in North America. The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability will occupy three floors, and provide 120,000 square feet of “living laboratory” where not only sustainable research will be conducted, but the building’s effectiveness as a sustainable working environment will be actively analyzed.

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NUSTA SPA

Contemporary sophistication and environmentally-friendly design have made Nusta Spa the first spa to achieve LEED Gold Certification for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI). Located in downtown Washington, D.C., Nusta Spa has found an edge in spa design by integrating sustainability not only into their products and services (which has been done for ages), but into their overall building and site design. In doing so, they can offer truly comprehensive health and wellness to their employees and clients.

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