CasaSugar

Casa Verde: Michelle Kaufmann's Quick Construction

CasaSugar — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:00:34 -0700

Whether she's making cool eco craft projects or designing innovative homes, Michelle Kaufmann is definitely one of my eco heroes.

Michelle designs green, prefab homes that are both beautiful and cost-effective. These homes are guaranteed to achieve either gold or platinum LEED ratings, the two highest ratings from the US Green Building Council. And since the homes are prefab designs, they can also be quickly erected.

Want to know how quickly they can be built? Then read more.

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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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Casa Verde: A Modern Green Home

CasaSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:30:28 -0700

LivingHomes builds houses that appeal to the eco-minded modernists of the world. The designs of the homes are focused on simple, sustainable, modernism, and start at $185 a square foot. LivingHomes are made with natural, non-toxic, and sustainably derived materials, and are built in specialized factories that ensure superior quality, lower construction cost, a quick turnaround, and minimal waste. The first LivingHome was assembled in eight hours, and was certified LEED Platinum, the highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Curious about how these homes work? You can find out more with a video from the founder of the company, when you read more.

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Red Stag Supper Club: A Green Design

CasaSugar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:45:38 -0700

The Red Stag Supper Club, located in hipster hub MInneapolis, Minnesota, will be the first restaurant to be LEED certified. LEED? What the heck is LEED, you ask?

Well, in a nutshell, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a national rating of the "green" nature of a building. It bases its rating on sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. LEED ratings can be applied to businesses as well as homes.

The Red Stag Supper Club is using existing materials as much as possible, including this marble (left), which they pulled out of the Marriot Hotel, as it is now being modeled. Amazingly, building materials like this often end up in landfills.

On the Red Stag Supper Club's website, they write that

Building a restaurant, pretty much building anything these days, is a wasteful endeavor. And restaurants themselves tend to produce too much waste and use lots of energy, resources, and water. With this project, we're trying to be mindful not only of the building process, using the LEED framework as a guide, but also of how much the restaurant will use in terms of resources on an ongoing basis. It's better for the environment and the workers doing the job than the usual way, and, it makes good business sense.

Michelle Kaufmann Designs Closing Doors

CasaSugar — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:15:02 -0700

I am very sad to report that Michelle Kaufmann Designs is closing, due in part to the credit crisis and the closing of factories used to manufacture MKD homes. The green prefab firm, located in Oakland, CA, designed homes guaranteed to achieve either gold or platinum LEED ratings, the two highest ratings from the US Green Building Council. Homes such as the Glidehouse and mkLotus won MKD international acclaim, and were proof that prefab and green were a natural fit.

According to the LA Times:

Kaufmann has been working with her clients -- some with houses in construction, others earlier in the design process -- to put them in a position to build their projects with other firms, if they choose. She said she has been in preliminary talks with large home-building companies that may be interested in producing her designs or working with her as a consultant.

While I've been saddened by a number of stories in the real estate and architecture world lately, this one definitely hits me the hardest. Michelle Kaufmann is truly an inspiration, and I wish her the best of luck in her next, undoubtedly impressive project in the world of architecture and sustainable living.

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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: America's Greenest Town May Be in Kansas

CasaSugar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:00:24 -0800

When a gigantic, 1.7-mile wide tornado barreled through Kansas last May, it zeroed in on the town of Greensburg. Whipping its way down Main Street, the tornado virtually destroyed the town while killing 11 of its 1,400 citizens. The town is still struggling to rebuild, but hopes are high. Greensburg plans to rebuild itself as an example of small-town green living.

In an interview with Plenty, Daniel Wallach, director of Greensburg Greentown, said “I see us as being kind of a living science museum. People are going to be able to come from around the country and see a model community of the future, and in a scale that you can’t do in a big city.”

To find out about Greensburg's plans to make its town green, just read more.

Greensburg's plans to become a green town include building a dozen new buildings that meet the LEED standards from the US Green Building Council. The town's city council also recently passed a resolution requiring all major city buildings to attain LEED Platinum certification, which is the USGBC’s highest standard for efficiency and sustainability, a first for any city in the US. The Baptist Church will also be LEED platinum; a senior housing project, the hospital, and the John Deere dealership will all be LEED Gold; and the GM headquarters will be LEED-certified. Many local residents are also rebuilding their homes to green standards. And even though it was the force of wind that blew this town apart, Greensburg is looking into creating a wind power plant, too.

The town is still trying to raise $45 to 60 million dollars, as FEMA wil only cover 75 percent of expenses to return buildings to predisaster conditions. And since much of Greenfield used to consist of old, rundown buildings, the town doesn't have a lot to bank on. If you or someone you know can help, send donations to South Central Community Foundation. You can also find out more about the town by visting its website.

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Coveted Crib: A Modern Farmhouse

CasaSugar — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:00:47 -0800

If you happen to be traveling through the Green Mountains of Vermont, you may be taken off guard by a decidedly modern interpretation of the classic farmhouse. Set on 44 acres of rolling hills and open farmland, this passive solar house, which won the 2008 AIA Vermont Honor Award in Sustainability and Design, manages to successfully marry vernacular architectural traditions with modern sensibilities.

The home, which was designed by Pill-Maharam Architects, has a laundry list of green features, including a LEED platinum rating, a 5+ Energy Star rating, a ground source heat pump, high efficiency lighting and appliances, and a 10KW wind turbine that supplies all of the energy for the home's heating, hot water, lighting, and appliances. Its wind turbine ensures that the home has a net zero energy output, and results in zero carbon emissions - incredibly impressive.

To see what this home looks like on the inside, read more.

This home manages to combine all of these fantastic green design features with a beautiful, modern look both inside and out. I love the minimalist furnishings in the rooms and the calming and warm color palette.

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The Greenest Building in the World

CasaSugar — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:47:52 -0700

As if I didn't have enough reason to be proud of my home state of Wisconsin-it's also now home to the greenest building in the world.
The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center has received Platinum LEED Certification, the highest possible recognition for green buildings in the United States. Following a rigorous assessment, LEED awarded the Legacy Center 61 points, more than any other building yet rated in the world. The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center is the first “net zero energy” building in Wisconsin and the first carbon neutral building certified by LEED.

Aldo Leopold was a Wisconsin conservationist and writer (and also one of my longtime heroes) who defined conservation as a way of life in which land does well for its inhabitants, citizens do well by their land, and both end up better by reason of partnership. Aldo Leopold recognized that no matter how sophisticated we become, people will always depend on the land-“the land” being shorthand for the community that not only includes and values people but also plants, animals, soils, and waters.

Some of the center's green features include photovoltaic panels, earth tubes that naturally ventilate the building, a radiant floor system, locally sourced, sustainably harvested wood, natural daylighting, and wood heat.

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Leo Trades in Pacific Coast View, Lowers Carbon Footprint

CasaSugar — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:00:25 -0800

Leonardo has finally closed on the eco-friendly Battery Bark Condo that he went to contract to purchase back in April, paying nearly $3.7 million. But, ever the environmental advocate, DiCaprio isn't swooping up energy-hogging properties left and right. He's made room for this purchase in his real estate portfolio and his wallet by putting his 2,374-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath midcentury oceanfront Malibu home on the market for nearly $9 million.
DiCaprio can gaze at the Hudson River through the energy-efficient triple-layered windows at Riverhouse, one of the greenest residential buildings in America. DiCaprio's new apartment building exceeds Gold LEED certification, using solar-powered energy and built with only nonpollutant materials. Among its other eco features are programmable thermostats, filtered air, filtered water, locally quarried bluestone, recovered barn wood, low- or no-VOC adhesives, paints and carpeting, and recycled, salvaged, and biodegradable materials. There's no word on the exact square footage of Leo's new pad, but a listing for a similarly priced Riverhouse property measures in at 1,985-square-feet, with 3 bedrooms and 4 baths.

To see more photos of both properties and hear about his Malibu digs, read more.

The listing for DiCaprio's Malibu property reads:

Distinctive contemporary on the bluffs above the ocean complete with new stairway to the cove below. The interior is a collection of elegant open spaces looking out to beautiful gardens and your hot tub tucked away on the ocean front. A separate guest house containing two 1-bedroom suites. A four car garage and long winding driveway complete this beautiful estate.

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Here are some photos of another Riverhouse apartment, most likely the model apartment designed by Thom Filicia:

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