Archive for the ‘Green Building’ CategoryWould you live in a house made out of hay? In Alabama, a group of professors and architecture students has been devising inspiring ways to reuse materials in homes and community buildings since 1993. The project is called Rural Studio, and was founded by Auburn University professors Samuel Mockbee and Dennis K. Ruth to give students practical experience in the field. Each year the group implements designs for four or five modest (but innovative) buildings in rural Alabama. Hale County, where the studio operates to the west of the University’s main campus, is one of the state’s poorer regions, with a significant proportion of its residents living below the poverty line. The Rural Studio aims to provide affordable yet well-constructed buildings for people in this community and impart lessons of social responsibility and fairness on its student participants, who leave school to live near the studio. To cut costs, many projects utilize found materials such as broken concrete, road signs, hay barrels, and salvaged wood. The Yancy Tire Chapel, for example, features walls made from 900 recycled tires, which were filled with dirt and tied together before being coated in stucco and topped with a roof of salvaged pine from a nearby house. The open-air chapel is built into a bluff overlooking a natural wetland landscape.
Another building, the Butterfly House, was built for Anderson and Ora Lee Harris in 1996 and is now occupied by the couple’s daughter. The placement of windows and walls in the house was carefully calculated so the interior may be heated and cooled passively, without use of mechanical power. Its roof is angled to collect water into a tank that may be used for laundry, and some of the siding was salvaged from a razed church.
Click here to see all nineteen years’ worth of projects!
Mar
11
An Eco Sanctuary
Popularity of green living is growing fast. We keep seeing information on it on TV, the radio, even in our favorite stores but many people are not nearly as educated on this subject as they need to be. The Eden Project in Cornwall, United Kingdom is doing a big part to educate people about our environment. The Eden Project is an attraction that includes projects, programs, shows and events. It also has the world’s largest green house. Inside, the huge golf ball like enclosures, you are exposed to surreal and mystic beauty of various exotic biomes, unique figures made from soil and countless visual effects. It is almost like you are being transported to a different world and a different era. Aside from showing people the true beauty of our world, Eden Project also makes it its primary goal to teach young students about ways they can help the environment. They offer workshops to educate kids on the subjects of biodiversity, ecology, botany, etc. These workshops take place inside the Eden project and therefore provide an education that will be hard to forget. The Eden Project also gives back to their community by including homeless people and prisoners in their projects. Prisoners learn how to garden and grow their own food but they also acquire skills like marketing, construction, sales, etc. Homeless people have an opportunity to gain valuable and practical experience that they can apply in future jobs. Eden Projectis hard to describe to its full extent. It incorporates many factors that not only help our environment, educate people and give back to the community but train young kids so they continue and progress the eco-friendly movement. So if you are ever in the UK make sure to visit this unbelievable place! Environmental movement has been on the rise. Everything from food, furniture, even clothes are being made from organic and/or eco-friendly materials. But now United Kingdom is taking this movement to a whole different level. The UK is developing new government programs to build eco towns! This is a fairly new concept but it’s already taking off. It is a long process and now it is becoming more difficult since new government has cut the funding for the program in half. But none the less projects are progressing. Whitehill Bordon has recently been awarded an eco-town status. Work has been started on retrofitting existing homes. This means loft insulation, water conservation and harvesting and recycling rain water and new homes and schools are being built with zero carbon. They are also exploring ways to add more public transportation, such as restoring an old rail line. New job opportunities will be open to people, where they will be exposed to “green skills”. Ideally these eco towns will be popping up all over the United Kingdom in just a couple of years. But Britain is not the only country taking dramatic initiative to make towns more environmentally safe, the U.S. is not far behind. A town called Greensburg in Kansas is rebuilding in a more sustainable way after being destroyed by a tornado. Greensburg will be using eco-friendly technology in all stores and restaurants. New homes are being built with energy efficient heating and cooling, and water efficient toilets. These towns in both UK and United States are a fantastic example of what our world could become in the future.
The Henry Miller is a newly rebuilt 1918 theater. During the construction 85% of old debris from the remodeling was recycled. The finished building has the preserved original facade, as well as new features such as carbon dioxide filters, to maximize french air throughout the theater, and waterless urinals, in order to reduce water consumption. The Henry Miller officially became the first Broadway theater to “go green”. The Wild Project is a smaller theater that was redesigned to be more environmentally friendly.Once a bottle factory, it is now a 99 seat theater and art gallery. The most impressive feature is it’s green roof, that includes solar panels and is covered with soil and various wild flowers. Inside you can see recycled glass, bamboo wood, clear doors, to provide natural light, and low flush toilets. They also offer organic beer, wine and other green refreshments at their concession stand. So when you’re in the mood to see a show, check out a “green” theater for a truly unique experience. Check out these amazing homes made from reclaimed materials! Truly beautiful and unique. What to you think? One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure: From the New York Times
Oct
17
Welcome To The Blue House
Located on Steiger island, one of seven man-made islands located in the Amsterdam IJburg lakes, this beautiful, fascinating home boasts a deep blue facade and some pretty cool eco-friendly features. This building, a product of the visions of architect Peter Weijnen of Faro Architecten in the Netherlands, captures rainwater to use in its toilets and washing machine, large windows open up to the South to let in light and warmth, and the ventilation system is based upon old Arabian cooling towers!
The interior also features recycled materials, like the beams made from old wood bollards taken from nearby IJ Lake, and copper taken from an old church roof reused to make the suspended kitchen/living area ceiling. Faro Architecten has other, equally impressive sustainable projects you can see on their website (here’s the English version). We already knew that green buildings use up less energy and resources and have a decreased carbon footprint, but now it seems that they have a positive effect on those who live and work in them, too. A recent article from the LA Times reports on a study done at MSU that employees were more productive, happier, and healthier when they worked in green buildings versus regular ones: “Researchers from Michigan State University did two case studies evaluating the physical and mental health status of people who moved from traditional to green office buildings. One scenario involved 56 people and the other 207, and employees were asked through surveys about absenteeism from work in both types of buildings for asthma, allergies, depression and stress-related conditions. They were also asked about productivity in the two settings. …Being absent from work for asthma, allergies, depression and stress decreased following the move into the green buildings; for example, hours absent from work due to asthma and allergies was on average 1.12 per month in conventional buildings and 0.49 in green buildings. The average number of work hours affected by illness per month also declined after the move. Productivity improved.”
Have you ever worked in a green building? What was your experience?
Aug
19
Sustainable Houses and HomesEver wonder what homes made out of reused/repurposed/recycled materials look like? . Take a look: Ever considered going off the grid? Building a small house with clay or and hay, powering it with renewable energy sources, growing your own food…this recent article from Salon is an interesting read about sustainable lifestyles off-the-grid in America. It’s also an interview with Nick Rosen, who wrote the book “Off The Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America”.
Aug
14
Baumraum TreehousesHave you seen the amazing (and green!) treehouses made by the German company Baumraum? If you ever built or fantasized about the perfect treehouse as a kid, take a look at these. They are installed with great care taken not to harm the trees they’re built on and around, and Baumraum has a wide selection of sustainable materials clients can choose from for the making of their treehouse.
From the website: “Baumraum is specialised in the planning and realisation of treehouses and other constructions in natural surroundings. We transform your individual ideas and wishes into ingenious and inspiring dwellings that combine versatility with craftsmanship of the highest quality and maximum safety standards. A major objective thereby is to handle the trees and their surroundings with the utmost care, ensuring their protection and preservation.”
Ever wonder how, exactly, solar energy works? Watch the video for a short but sweet explanation of how the sun’s light is transformed into electricity. |
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