Sustainable house » sustainable buildings

Yale’s Kroon Hall Green By Design

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 13:48:43 +0000

Kroon Hall, the ultra-green home of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, is one of the greenest buildings in the United States. Kroon was recently granted LEED platinum status, the highest possible certification for sustainable buildings, by the U.S. Green Building Council and named one of the Top Ten Green Projects of 2010 by the American Institute of Architects. In this video, learn more about Kroon’s green features and watch the building materialize, as Professor Stephen Kellert observes, “like a phoenix rising from the ashes.”

Duration : 0:7:56

Technorati Tags: green architecture, green building, green design, Kroon Hall, sustainable architecture

Is anyone up for an adventure to NM to help build an Adobe House or Earth-ship?

admin — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 05:14:35 +0000

I am a 36 year old guy that currently lives in Miami, FL. I own a one acre lot in Socorro County, New Mexico and have plans to build some sort of eco-friendly living structure that can be self sustainable and serve as my future home. This area is semi-desert with an elevation of about 4300 ft. The property is 45 minutes south of Albuquerque and the rio Grande is 8 miles to the west. The property is very rural and is surrounded by beautiful mountains, native flora and fauna. There are very few neighbors, most of whom are running on solar power since there is no electricity or public water in this area. After researching several green building methods used in NM like Earthbag Buildings, Adobe Buildings, and Earthships, I have been drawn more and more to the idea of living in a similar place. Seeing documentaries on self sustainable living (such as "Garbage Warrior") have also inspired me to do this. I am not wealthy, in fact I was laid off my job 5 months ago and have been working on and off since then. I figure this is my chance to embark on my adventure. People tell me that my idea is unconventional and ill-timed, but I have never thought of myself as conventional and i think I could use a break from city life. If there is anyone out there is willing to join me in my journey please let me know and we can make some plans. I dont care if you are a man or a woman black white gay str8 or whatever, nobody’s perfect. Just be a kind person who cares about the environment and other people. No violent people or drama please.

No – that is dumb.-

project on sustainable building design vs. regular building design?

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:49:04 +0000

what would be a good way to analyze and collect data on a project where i am trying to find out if whether sustainable buildings improve worker productivity (in the buildings they occupy), or not, and if it cuts utility costs, etc.

basically sustainable deisgn vs. regular building design.

how would i experiment or at least collect data? any ideas ? i want to do a project on this and have no idea on how I should go about it.

A sustainable building is known to have a lower operating cost than conventional buildings. A new one… geeze I can’t remember where I read it, in Africa somewhere, is based off Anthill construction that helps propel air through itself leading to 10% total costs for ventilation.

To collect data you would compare rates for monthly utilities between the two types of buildings and show that sustainable uses less money to upkeep than the other. As far as worker productivity there will be no way to effectively determine the effect of the building layout on this property as it is dependent on the workers and their comfort level/willingness to work.

Whitney Sander Talks about Green Architecture

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:06:51 +0000

Whitney Sander came Center Stage with Mark Gordon to talk about the work he and his firm is doing to create greener buildings.

Sander Architects is the international award-winning firm whose approach to contemporary residential design has been making waves in the architecture world. Their Hybrid House uses components of prefab technology to create homes that are custom designed for each client. Homes that are not only green but also very high design. This is a time of extraordinary change for practitioners in the design fields and Sander Architects is a young exciting firm determined to be at the forefront of green architecture.

Sander Architects has been awarded the Dedalo Minosse International Award for Architecture in 2002 and 2004, along with Pritzker Prize winners Richard Meier and Hans Hollein. Numerous other national awards include AIA awards in 1996 and 2003, Architecture Magazine’s Home of the Year, and Architectural Record’s House of the Month. Publications include magazines such as Dwell, GA: Global Architecture, New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as well as the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Their work has been widely published in books such as Another 100 of the World’s Best Houses, noted architecture critic Michael Webb’s Brave New Houses, Adventures in Southern California Living, and various titles by author James Grayson Truelove. Recently the firm was a semi-finalist in the 2006 Living Steel Competition — which highlights the firm in their “Featured Architects” section (visit the site) — as well as semi-finalists in the 2006 Global Green Sustainable Housing Competition, sponsored by Brad Pitt, to design low-income housing for post-Katrina New Orleans.

Sander Architects seeks to find a balance between poetry and pragmatics. Starting with essential elements: environment, program, site restrictions, we encourage forms to develop which satisfy these basic needs while embracing the possibility of the poetic. In this way, a house for an Orthopedic Surgeon becomes a covert study in anatomy: metaphorical skin and bones. The elements that make up an aerobics studio, its interior architecture and furniture, take on physical tendencies: tension, compresion, torsion, sinew. The entry for a sculptor’s house is a ‘vessel’ whose propotions are based on a large-scale clay jar produced by the owner. These strategies are covert, not obvious, and allow the built environment to resonate thematically with the program and the people who use it. It is a strategy of innuendo, not declaration, a struggle with nuance, an attempt at quiet fertility. If the work celebrates what it means to inhabit, in grander terms, the work is a celebration of man’s rhythms and rituals.

Duration : 0:9:43

Technorati Tags: Angeles, Architects, Architecture, Award, Brad, california, Competition, Dedalo, for, forefront, Global, Gordon, Grayson, Green, house, housing, hybrid, International, interview, James, KXLU, living, Los, low-income, magazine, Mark, Minosse, New, of, Orleans, Pitt, post-Katrina, Radio, Sander, Southern, sustainable, Times, Truelove, Whitney

ICF Windows & Bracing – Quad-Lock Insulated Concrete Forms

admin — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 12:37:01 +0000

Training Video 7 of 12: Window Buck Installation, Bracing, and Top of Wall Installation for Quad-Lock Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), a revolutionary construction method for sustainable (green), energy efficient, safe and comfortable buildings

Duration : 0:5:17

Technorati Tags: building, Concrete, construction, forms, Green, ICF, insulated, insulating, sustainable

ICF Components – Quad-Lock Insulated Concrete Forms

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:38:41 +0000

Training Video 2 of 12: Components of Quad-Lock Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), a revolutionary construction method for sustainable (green), energy efficient, safe and comfortable buildings

Duration : 0:4:25

Technorati Tags: building, Concrete, construction, forms, Green, ICF, insulated, insulating, sustainable

What are your views on sustainable buildings?

admin — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:53:10 +0000

Please also include your name, thank you

They are not yet cost effective and none so far are completely sustainable.

Backup generators and propane cylinders are being used to maintain refrigeration, temperatures (both heating and cooling) in the air and for hot water for dishes, laundry and bathing…indoor humidity has been a problem.

Water generation and plumbing and sewage problems, lack of fresh air, proper ventilation, gas buildup in the air have all been problems.

Free From Chainz Sustainable Building Project Video Log #2 (part 1/2)

admin — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:41:40 +0000

Duration : 0:0:43

Technorati Tags: conscious, earthships;, Green, house, moors, mound, sustainable

Cisco Connected Real Estate Demo at Cisco Live 2009

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:39:41 +0000

At Cisco Live 2009, Tony Anderson provides a demo showcasing the Cisco Network Building Mediator, a Smart Connected Buildings solution that provides the intelligence to interconnect and enable building systems such as heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC), lighting, electrical, security, and renewables over the IP network to build smart and energy-efficient buildings of the future. This provides operators and owners of these buildings with new ways of managing how energy is used based on policies that make sense for occupants. For more information, please visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/mediator

Duration : 0:4:27

Technorati Tags: Bangalore, building automation, Cisco, cisco live, Connected Real Estate, Energy Efficiency, energy management, globalisation, globalization, Green, green buildings, renewable energy, smart buildings, sustainability, sustainable building

Cisco Connected Real Estate Demo at Cisco Live 2009

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 07:50:01 +0000

Duration : 0:4:27