Modern green home design doesn’t always have to be flashy and exotic.  Maryann Thompson Architects designed this simple, yet refined, contemporary residence to meet a client’s desire to create an environmentally sensitive and sustainable home that could be built within a limited budget.  The home’s design is deliberately straightforward – a simple box structure adorned with an asymmetrical roof line – a direct response to the client’s request that the house express the attitude of “benign neglect.”  The North Easton, MA residence, which is nestled in a typical suburban development of neo-colonial homes, received LEED Silver certification under the USGBC’s new pilot program for housing.  The house sits at the end of a 900′ driveway on a heavily wooded lot which abuts conservation lands and belies the suburban setting.  The 3000 SF home was designed to be aesthetically sympathetic and integrated into its 5.5-acre site and incorporates low maintenance and naturally occurring materials – reflecting the homeowner’s relaxed and informal lifestyle.

Many common-sense sustainable features were incorporated in the home’s design.  Expansive windows on the front façade take full advantage of the house’s south-facing orientation.

During the winter months, when the sun is lower in the sky, abundant natural light enters the public spaces and upstairs bedrooms, opening the house to solar gain and thereby reducing mechanical heating demands. The house’s remaining heat requirements are resolved via two pellet stoves and an efficient radiant heating system powered by solar panels.  The asymmetrical roof shields the upstairs rooms against the intense summer sun.

Cross-ventilation eliminate the need for for central air-conditioning without compromising comfort.  The residence also features recycled and energy efficient materials, including a recycled-tire rubber roofing system, reclaimed hardwood cabinetry, casework and flooring materials, recycled glass tiles and thermal efficient windows.  Running electrical lines to the house assures the residents access to an emergency power source and enables them to sell unutilized energy back to their local utility.  Very green indeed.

Location, location, location…pictured above is the first prototype house utilizing the Blue Sky Homes Building System.  The home sits on a site 4,000 feet above sea level in the rugged Southern California High Desert and was completed earlier this year in a pretty impressive eight weeks.

The structure is integrated into the landscape on a floating six-legged platform – thus avoiding the need to grade a traditional home pad which would have irreparably damaged the beautiful desert site.

The 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, one-bathroom prototype house was designed by  Palm Springs – based o2 Architecture with the intent of maximizing both the benefits of the Blue Sky Homes Building System and the house’s spectacular location in the Southern California High Desert.

The home’s design is all about steel.  Other than cabinetry, a couple of interior doors and furniture, this house contains no wood at all.

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Designed by the creative minds at Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects, this herd of Rolling Huts offers a low impact, civilized approach to camping.  The simple modern structures which reside in a former RV camp in Mozana, Washington sit elevated on wheels and offer a cozy perch from which to survey the surrounding mountains.

The single room huts sleep 2 to 4 and feature a few amenities including: wi-fi, microwave, fridge and nearby shower and toilet.  All this for around $100 a night.

The owner has allowed the field beneath the elevated structures to revert to its natural state, creating an additional connection to nature.

available in both summer and winter – rental info @ rollinghuts.com

New Jersey based CitiLogs is a leader in the business of upcycling and repurposing trees into finished wood flooring, cabinets and other wood products.  When builder Tom Fitzgerald realized that large trees on a building site he was clearing could be used for interior flooring and lumber, he contacted CitiLog.

The Fitzgerald Home (pictured above and more below) features the lumber from two large Tulip Poplar trees that once stood within the building’s perimeter.  The trees were harvested and upcycled into beautiful flooring for the home.  CitiLog awarded Fitzgerald’s project its Platinum Certification because the wood harvested from the building’s footprint returned to the project as a finished wood product that was incorporated into the building. (more…)

Homeowners who have turbine attic ventilators, (those spinning fans on the roof of one’s home), lose a lot of heat in the winter when warm attic air gets sucked out by cold outside winter temperatures.   Covering or sealing the vents can cause all kinds of problems – the solution – install a self-regulating Turbine Boss and you can make your attic ventilation system much more energy efficient.  The Turbine Boss’s Thermostatic Controller automatically stops the turbine heat loss in winter by closing the vent when temps go below 40 degrees and opens when they rise above 80 degrees. Just install it and forget it.

The gadget easily fits inside the existing turbine’s cylinder.  No batteries needed and it installs in both new and old ventilators with just a screwdriver – comes with a 25 year warranty and no maintenance required.

Now you just have to get over your fear of heights to install it.

$29.95 @ turbineboss’s online store or at your local Home Depot

Here’s a new reason to go with a copper sink in you kitchen; recent studies have concluded that copper possesses the ability to kill up to 99 percent of bacteria, including super bugs like MRSA, within two hours of contact.  Research also has shown that H1N1, commonly referred to as the swine flu virus, likewise does not survive on copper.  Based on a review of the studies and its own independent lab tests, the United States Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year announced that copper has antimicrobial properties, capable of killing bacteria as well as viruses.

the sink pictured above can be found @ nativetrails.net

Baldauf Catton von Eckartsberg Architects, or BCV Architects for short, is a design firm that has taken a “new ruralism” approach to sustainability.  The expression “new ruralism” – conceived by Sibella Kraus at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development in Berkeley – is about improving city design by bringing country living back into the city.

By keeping restaurants and markets local to residences and public transit, communities remain closely integrated and become much more self-sustainable. People are inclined to walk more and drive less, yielding less traffic congestion and pollution.  Not to mention, food that is fresher and just simply tastes better.

BCV understands the importance of integrating the metropolis and the farm.  Their reverence for sustainable agriculture is rooted in a deep commitment to the environment (more…)

We’re delighted to hear that eco home company, Blu Homes just announced it has “acquired the assets of mkDesigns.”

As fans of the beautiful and affordable Glidehouse (above & below), mkLotus and Sunset Breezehouse green prefab homes designed by Michelle Kaufmann, we were not happy campers when we learned a few months ago that after being in business since 2002, her company had “closed shop.” Blu Homes will now make these sleek prefabs available across the U.S.; and Kaufmann will serve as a design consultant to Blu and join its advisory board.

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Want to work at home but not actually ‘in’ your home?  Here’s a small office structure for those who can’t afford to lose time and energy to their home’s sea of distractions.  The Moonroom is a creation of U.K.-based Roomworks, a prefab design and manufacturing outfit that specializes in small spaces.

This eco friendly, super-insulated tiny structure comes with 12 electrical outlets, wall lights and phone/internet hook-up.  The 2.8m x 2.5m Moonroom goes for around £5,000 and can be constructed in one day.  The green roof option will run you another £750.

related: OfficePod

Financial services company, PNC, has found a way to save energy and make a big green marketing statement with a massive green wall installation on the south-facing wall of One PNC Plaza at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street in downtown Pittsburgh.

The 2,380 sq. ft., soil-based wall – think doubles tennis court – features a variety of regional plants grown into living art on its 602 panels.  The 24 plants in each 2×2 sq. ft. space are estimated to offset the carbon footprint of one person.  The vertical garden, similar to a green roof, will help to cool the 30-story building.  Preliminary studies show the south-facing living wall will be 25 percent cooler behind the wall than ambient temperatures.

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