Buffalo House
Check out Buffalo House by the University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Studio 804. This house is sleek, sustainable and has well integrated building strategies.
The sustainable features are:
Cumaru Wood Rainscreen
Enough rooftop photovoltaic solar panels for a net zero electricity supply (90-100%) for an average home.
One on-site 1.2 KW Windspire wind turbine that could produce [...]
Doing Well by Doing Good? – A Research Paper on the Economic Value of Green Building Certifications:
“Doing Well by Doing Good? Green Office Buildings” by Piet Eichholtz, Nils Kok and John M. Quigley is a research paper produced by the Center for the Study of Energy Markets at UC Energy Institute in Berkeley. This very interesting paper:
(Abstract) This paper provides the first credible evidence on the economic value of the certification of [...]
Solar Decathlon 2009: Team Germany and the benefits of Imagination
Solar Decathlon 2009 is over and Technische Universitat Darmstadt (Team Germany) has done it again! With a score of 908 out of a possible 1,000, Team Germany clinched the win by just 11 points over the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A tight race between the two Passive Houses. The peloton came in farther behind [...]
Villa Åkarp – A Positive Net Energy House in Malmö, Sweden
(above) exterior rendering by Karin Adalbert
Villa Åkarp is a positive net energy house (plusenergihus in Swedish) being built outside of Malmo, Sweden. The house, brainchild of doctor of building physics, Karin Adalberth, will generate more energy on an annual basis than it consumes by combining energy conservation, energy recovery and energy generation technologies, an amazing [...]
Kelvin’s Conjecture: The Sustainability of Optimization and Integration
”to make as effective, perfect, or useful as possible“ -Definition ‘Optimize’
The National Aquatic Center in Beijing achieves sustainability through the optimization and integration of its structure, envelope, and building systems. In doing so it tells the story of how a little known problem of theoretical physics, Kelvin’s Conjecture, influenced the design of a prominent international [...]
Lucky’s Warehouse: A Sustainable Adaptive Reuse in South Baltimore
“The first step in sustainability is to reuse an existing building.” – Michael Furbish, developer of Lucky’s Warehouse
Lucky’s Warehouse is a sustainable adaptive-reuse of an industrial space built in the Brooklyn / Curtis Bay area of South Baltimore. The warehouse was originally built to house a millwork shop and was later converted into a storage [...]
World’s First LEED Museum Complex: Grand Rapids Art Museum
The Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) has just completed a $60 million expansion of its facility which makes it the world’s first LEED certified art museum complex. The 125,000 sf facility is three times larger than it was previously and now includes 18,000 sf of exhibition, an auditorium, a children’s education center, art studios, study [...]
San Francisco’s Green Building Nightmare
The idea of “green” buildings is a terrific marketing concept. But some argue that some green buildings can be a nightmare for those having to work inside high-rise structures lacking heat or air conditioning. (Greenline recently introduced the San Francisco Federal Building by Thom Mayne in an associated post) The new Thomas Mayne designed Federal [...]
Zollverein School Building: Active Thermal Insulation
30°C Coal Mine Water + Radiant Exterior Wall System + Structure = Active Thermal Insulation
The Zollverein School of Business Management and Design building is a model project for systems integration. It uses a sophisticated Active Thermal Insulation system consisting of preheated water circulating through the facade which allows for thin exterior structural walls perforated [...]
Hot and Dry down South
And by down south I mean South America, specifically Santiago, Chile, where I recently spent a few weeks vacation. Summers are hot, dry, and windy, and the culture of air conditioning is limited to say the least. Who needs air conditioners when a fan and a water jet have equal if not superior effect!This [...]
Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center
This story naturally falls into a category of posts Greenline has been exploring over the past few days focusing loosely on adaptive reuse and preservation. For more on this topic please take a look at recent posts: The Green vs Preservation Debate, Historic Preservation in Raleigh Hits LEED Platinum, The Greening of Montgomery Park, and [...]
Marmol Radziner Homes (Prefab)
Marmol Radziner Homes (MRH) are factory-built volumetric modular units. Mr. Radziner states that the homes:
are created with the environment in mind and are built to make LEED certification. Materials, methods and lifestyle is chosen in such a way as to have as little impact on the environment as possible. For long-term sustainability, the module structures [...]
FlatPak House (Prefab)
The FlatPak House is a factory-built house designed by Charlie Lazor. The house design is based on principles the designer acquired while doing work for his award winning modern furniture design company, Blu Dot. Furniture is of course increasingly being designed to minimize the cost of material, labor and transportation which are the major [...]
The Greening of Montgomery Park
In 2003 the doors were opened on the renovated Montgomery Park building in Baltimore Maryland. The 1.3 million square foot building, formerly a warehouse and distribution center for the Montgomery Ward retail chain, stood vacant for over 15 years and was illustrative of the plight Baltimore faced with many older industrial buildings near downtown.
The [...]
Adaptive Reuse of a Pigsty
Take a look at this adaptive reuse of a Pigsty! The building was originally built in 1780 and used as a pigsty (Saustal in German) for most of its life. The structure was partially destroyed during the Second World War and was only reassembled for minor use in the period since the war. The building [...]
Wal-Mart Uses LEDs in Food Refrigerators!
Wal-Mart is installing LED lighting combined with occupancy sensors in it’s refrigerated food cases as part of an effort to save money on both energy and maintenance. The trials have done so well that per the guidance of CEO Lee Scott and based on the companies “ambitious vision for the future operations of the company [...]
Sun Tracking Umbrella
Architen Landrell Associates Ltd. was presented with a unique design challenge when asked to “combat the glare from sunshine and heat which built up within the…” glass dome atrium in the Jardine Insurance building in Oval, London. The designers immediately recognized the benefit of solar shading for the space, but also realized the difficulty inherent [...]
Sustainability – Dressed
A design philosophy that is built on balancing three criteria: beauty, performance, and sustainability. Sounds like any number of design firms’ mantra these days, but in this case it belongs to Nau, a new and quite possibly revolutionary outdoor clothing company. They’ve been getting a lot of press lately, and for good reason – the [...]
AMD&ART – Scientists, Designers, Artists, Historians and Community Team Up to Tackle Environmental Degradation
Vintondale, Pennsylvania was like many former coal mining towns. Economically stagnant since the departure of the coal mining industry in 1977, the town was also left with the environmental legacy of decades of unregulated mining activities.
Most prominent of these environmental issues is acid mine discharge: Inside of abandoned mines, ground water reacts with [...]
LV Series – Rocio Romero (Prefab)
The LV Series home is designed and produced by Rocio Romero LLC. The design seeks to maximize livable space and minimize clutter. The homes are factory-built as a kit of parts by Branstrator Inc. that is delivered to site as a flat pack by trucks. Rocio Romero states that the homes employ the principles of [...]
High Point Neighborhood in Seattle
High Point is a new “green” neighborhood redevelopment project managed by the Seattle Housing Authority. This national award-winning design focuses on community and environmental sustainability, creating a safe, high quality and healthy residential environment. The completed project will contain a wide range of housing types each built to Green standards. The plan is designed to [...]
Glidehouse by Michelle Kaufman Designs (Prefab)
General Description: The Glide House is a factory-built modular home designed by Michelle Kaufman Designs. The house is an example of clean simple modern living with an emphasis on both the internal and exterior environment. The design is available in several different configurations which are all based on common dimensions to facilitate factory-construction, easy transportation, [...]
Solara – Energy Efficient Housing
Solara is a newly opened energy efficient affordable housing project in the city of Poway just outside of San Diego. I first heard about the project this week at a lecture by Matt Petersen of Global Green as he explained their involvement in the design and described their goals for building affordable low-income energy efficient housing [...]
Baltimore Budget-Minded Hotel to Go Green
“Sustainability” has become a popular buzzword in the upper echelons of the hospitality industry, with green design figuring prominently in a number of recent high-end hotels and resorts. Can the trend go mainstream?
Baltimore will find out when the new Fairfield Inn opens in the Spring of 2009. The hotel chain, part of Marriott [...]
