CasaSugar

Coveted Crib: Neal Creek Retreat

CasaSugar — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:00:51 -0700

Usually, when I share photos of a gorgeous modern home with you, there's little hope of actually staying at that place in real life. Not so with the Neal Creek residence. Located near Hood River, OR, this two-bedroom home is actually available for rent.

Architects Paul McKean and Amy Donohue designed this house to make a minimal impact on the environment. The house's main living space is raised one story above ground, which helps to protect it from flood and brush fire damage while providing patio and storage space below. A green roof helps the home to blend into the landscape.

To find out more about this house, and to take a full tour, read more.

The house makes use of renewable, local materials, including cedar siding and cabinetry and an FSC-certified wood floor, finished with vegetable wax. The carpet tiles are composed of natural wool and rubber, and all interior finishes are no-VOC. With Energy Star-certified appliances and highly energy-efficient windows, the home is comfortable and cozy no matter what the season. The Neal Creek Retreat was awarded the 2007 honor award from the American Institute of Architects, Portland.

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Nice and New: west elm's Eco Storefront

CasaSugar — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:00:39 -0800

Today, west elm's newest storefront opens to the public. If you're in the Bay Area, stop by today starting at 10 a.m. to browse the wonderful selection of furniture and accents and to take in the very cool, very eco Emeryville, CA, west elm. What's so eco about it, you ask - and what cool new products did I see when I stopped by yesterday? Check out my slideshow to find out! Photo courtesy of Carlie Statsky

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Casa Verde: Design-Savvy Green Roof

CasaSugar — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 05:00:42 -0800

The School of Art, Design, and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore was constructed in 2006. Located in a wooded valley, the building is at once spare, modern, and verdant. The building's design was conceived as three intertwining blocks that appear to be natural extensions from the ground. The green roof, which blends with the lawn, is a functional space that is easily accessible via sidesteps along the roof edge. This allows for a scenic outdoor communal space while helping to lower the roof temperature and adding to the green space in the area.

To see another picture of this building at night, just read more.

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Casa Verde: What Are Green Roofs?

CasaSugar — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:00:04 -0800

Have you heard about green roofs but don't really have any idea what that term means? Well, you're not alone.

To watch a video explaining what green roofs are and how they're made, just read more.

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Artists Plan to Freeze a Vacant Detroit Home

CasaSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:00:27 -0700

This Winter, photographer Gregory Holm and architect Matthew Radune plan to freeze one of the thousands of abandoned homes in Detroit to draw attention to the city's foreclosure crisis. The house will be sprayed with water and gradually covered in ice, and Holm will photograph its transformation for the project, called Ice House Detroit. The property that's chosen will be one that is already due for demolition, because it is fire damaged or dangerous to the public. After the freezing, the duo will work with Architectural Salvage Warehouse Detroit to salvage what they can from the house to be recycled. It will then be demolished, and they hope to donate the lot to a group like Greening of Detroit or Earthworks Urban Farm to be used as a community garden or other public space.

I'm sure these four frozen walls and a roof will stand out against the landscape of thousands of other vacant homes throughout what was once Motor City. But it's not Detroit natives who need a reminder of the plight of the city, which is why it's nice to see that this project, not yet begun, is getting attention on a national stage. I'm intrigued to see Holm's photographs of the house in frozen form.

Coveted Crib: Alys Beach Homes

CasaSugar — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:00:14 -0700

I just came across Alys Beach, a community of resort homes on the Florida Panhandle, and I am completely infatuated with the place. With beautiful white stucco walls and white-ridged roofs, it's a cross between English and Spanish architecture with classic, old-world charm.

It's also outfitted with every modern convenience, and each home is built using green construction techniques. Many homes have gracious, private, and storm-resistant courtyards such as this one, but the community also has spacious central courtyards for getting to know neighbors. And with gorgeous ocean views, rooftop terraces are another luxury. As for the interiors, they're as magnificent as the exteriors with tall, vaulted ceilings, expansive windows, rich wooden ceiling beams, and a minimal, antique industrial aesthetic. Take the full tour of this house when you read more.

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In the News: Cabins Go Green

CasaSugar — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:00:19 -0800

In a recent New York Times article, "A Cabin Is Not a Shack," writer Louise Tutelian reports on the emerging trend to green second homes, or "cabins" as these houses are identified. One such cabin featured in the article, which is pictured below, was built in Montana using only local and reclaimed materials.

The article maintains that currently, cabin culture is defined by the following:

Ditch the deer heads and moose antlers. Put away the caps with flaps. There is nothing musty, creaky, saggy or squeaky about the new cabin culture. Across the country, cabins are being reimagined in sustainable yet stylish ways. Some combine industrial materials like mesh, oxidized steel and concrete with traditional wood. Others employ reclaimed or recycled material to stay eco-friendly and keep costs down. “Turnkey” models arrive fully constructed, ready to be dropped onto a site. Still other cabins are off the grid, but with the comforts of home. And despite the advances in design, cabin owners want the same thing they always did: a place that provides an escape into the natural world.

To tell me what you think about this trend, and read why I think it's nothing revolutionary, read more.

Granted, the use of solar panels and the expense of $40,000 or more in green technology is a new trend. While economic worries will definitely put the kibosh on this type of spending, the use of recycled, local, and "green" materials is as old as cabin culture itself. Since most cabins are built in very rural areas, using local materials (such as stones and trees in the immediate area) is not only economical and eco, it was often the only option, historically. I also know of a family friend whose grandparents repaired the roof on their cabin with - get this - coffee tins! You see, this couple grew up with the Depression-era mentality of "waste not, want not," and thus reused and recycled everything they bought. When they couldn't find a use for the empty coffee tins, they carefully cut them, flattened them, and then used them to replace roofing. While the greening of cabins as reported in the New York Times may be dressed up as a revolutionary new trend, it's really a new chapter in the same, sensible old book.

Does your family have a cabin or cottage? Is anything about it green, whether by design or happenstance?

Lois Shelden for the New York Times

Have You Entered Michelle Kaufmann's Eco Gingerbread Contest?

CasaSugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:00:15 -0800

One of my eco heroes, Michelle Kaufmann is sponsoring a Green Guru Gingerbread Challenge. You have two more days to enter the contest, and I know that CasaSugar readers are a creative bunch, so I thought you should rally to make your own design!

Check out this house, for example, which is powered by chocolate solar panels and features clerestory windows, a deep roof overhang, low-E glazed windows, a frosting water catchment system, and green roofs planted with native flora. Sustainable and delicious!

Are you going to enter the Green Guru Gingerbread Challenge?

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In the News: Green Architecture Has a Ways to Go

CasaSugar — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:15:17 -0700

Interested in getting the lowdown about green architecture? Then I suggest you read the Newsweek article, "The Bad News About Green Architecture." For a good while now, the reporting of green architecture practices has been nothing less than greenwashed, and I've been waiting for a mainstream publication to address our country's problem with its perception and definition of "green" architecture. In "The Bad News About Green Architecture," writer Cathleen McGuigan points out that "LEED rating" is an over-trumpeted catch phrase these days ("more than 16,000 projects are now registered with the U.S. Green Building Council as intending to go for a LEED certification"), and LEED isn't stringent enough with its awards - a long-held truth.
But more importantly, she stresses that building green if you're building big (i.e. McMansions), or unnecessarily, isn't green at all. There are various plans to build green resorts in Las Vegas, including the 8.3-million-square-foot Palazzo Resort Hotel and Casino, likely motivated by the tax rebates that come with passing LEED certification. While that makes a great talking point in local papers, it still takes "tons of jet fuel that will be used to deliver millions more tourists to Vegas each year," and countless un-green materials to keep the place up and running once it's built. To hear more of my thoughts, read more.

Truly green architecture, she says, is "designed to suit their specific environments," such as New Orleans Shotgun houses, which are "built high off the ground to resist flood damage; they are made of local wood that dries out; they have high ceilings and cross ventilation to deal with the stifling summer heat." My favorite point is that "sustainability is about the practical systems of building, not the beauty of great design." Architects need to put aside the current trendiness of green architecture and just build so that ecological solutions aren't a calling card or a feature, but rather, invisible. I whole-heartedly agree with McGuigan, as she writes:

I look forward to a future when green architecture won't be discretionary but required of every architect and builder. Then we could all shut up about it. Sustainable features would become as exciting as the plumbing systems and as essential as a roof that keeps out the rain.

Now, I'll shut up about it.
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Casa Verde: Ronald McDonald House Goes Green

CasaSugar — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:00:20 -0700

While I may have some criticisms of LEED, the USGBC green building program, there's no question that the program is an important step in the right direction. Hopefully, thanks to green building guidelines and programs, green building will someday soon become a standard part of any construction project, and not an afterthought.

Austin, TX, has the oldest regional green building program in the country, with its Energy Star program established in 1985, and the green building program evolving from it six years later. Now, the city's Ronald McDonald House, which provides housing for families whose children are suffering from serious illnesses has been recognized for its new, healthy, and green building.

Austin is now home to the first green Ronald McDonald House in the world. It's also is the first building in Austin and only the third in the state of Texas to attain the highest level of green building recognition awarded by LEED - the Platinum certification.

To find out the green features of this house, read more.

Toxin-free building materials were used throughout construction and finishes.
Rehabilitation of a brownfield site means that no undeveloped land was used for this project.
The sod roof systems replaces greenery used in construction, while also controlling heat island effect. Rooftop gardens also are a place for guests to sit, visit, and relax.
Native landscaping reduces needs for water.
A 10.5 KW photovoltaic solar panel system will produce enough electricity for 15 of the 30 rooms.
Use of daylighting minimizes electricity for lighting while providing natural sunlight for guests.
Natural ventilation improves air quality, helping children with compromised immune systems.
Construction of air handling system minimizes shared air in guestrooms, also improving air quality.

If you're interested in finding out more about Austin's Ronald McDonald House, read all about it here.

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