Metro Hippie

New Design Coming Soon!

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:03:00 GMT

Hey folksies,

Bear with the site maintenance for a couple days as I am having the site redesigned... The new look will be funky fresh and have a much more user friendly archive section where old articles can be easily accessed. Here's a little teaser!

oooh, yeah... that's the hotness!

We're looking to go live within the next several days, then it's game on for more of the good, green stuff!

Thanks!

-j

See You Toemorrow

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:46:00 GMT

I just scored me a sweet pair of vegan kicks by Simple from Fast and Furless in Minneapolis... these puppies, called the Toemorrow, are the bees knees as they feature all the good stuff you'd want wrapped around your footsies... check out this lineup of all-natural, animal free materials:

A pretty stylin' pair of kicks to boot! I dig the industrial, rawish sort of vibe the Toemorrow puts off... there's not a straight line or a clean stitch on the thing which actually highlights the innovative materials.

Let's take a peak at some of these said materials:

Pesticide-free hemp sneaker... natural, durable fabric
Water resistant Rubbahyde made from organic cotton and all natural latex
Water-based adhesives hold the shoe together, no petroleum
Bamboo linings, moisture wicking and rapidly renewable
Foot form inserts are made from post consumer recycled paper
Sole is natural latex and crepe rubber

Simple has been steering the ship of sustainable footwear for a while now... their stereotypical anti-stereotype brand offers 'good shoes and big does of reality.' They enforce strong guidelines of ethics for their supply chain, ensuring that every aspect of their shoes' production is healthy, fair and environmentally friendly. Do yourself a fave and check out their site for their entire product line.

To wind things down, here's a snapshot of yours truly wearing the Toemorrow with pride in my apt... my foot looks happy, doesn't it?

-j

Dazzling Dublin Development

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:06:00 GMT

Situated amongst the sprawling suburbs of Dublin, Ireland lies a new development that is capturing its fair share of international attention. The 15-acre Elm Park mixed-use project designed by Bucholz McEvoy Architects is helping to redefine how density can be successfully brought into areas that are predominantly spread out. Featuring 3 office buildings, health care and fitness centers, a restaurant, hotel and 400 apartment units, the Elm Park development packs a lot of punch... in all, its density is six times that of its surrounding area.

photo via bmcea.com

A huge benefit of high density is low energy consumption. Tenants share walls, minimizing their exposure to the elements. Active systems were utilized to cut Elm Park's utility bills, but before those were implemented passive means were considered. Each building was oriented on a north-south axis to catch westward winds, passively cooling the interiors with natural ventilation. Residential units, as pictured above and below, received their own balcony for personal ventilation control and shading.

Elm Park's architecture is progressive and diverse, engaging its multi-use needs with modern sensibilities. Prefabricated steel assemblies and laminated timbers provide the majority of the aesthetic weight while offering structural support. Glazed windows help bring ample natural light into the heart of each building while neutrilizing glare.

The design team also placed a strong emphasis on maintaining open space for residents and workers. 900 parking spaces were built below ground, opening up the street level for lawns and pavilions that absorb rainwater.

There's a magnitude of attention being focused on the suburbs right now with many people feeling that they're a lost cause. The carbon footprint of a suburban lifestyle is astronomical compared to urban alternatives, relying heavily upon polluting fossil fuels for survival. Homes are oversized, spread out and far from accessible resources. Projects like Elm Park are important experiments in revitalizing areas that are stretched thin and carbon intensive. Organizing mass transit to city centers becomes significantly easier and more effective with a suburban hub. Bordering neighborhoods gain a destination that they can walk to for food, entertainment, or work. Pretty much everyone wins, and such is the power of good design.

Pictures via Michael Moran

-j

Say, That's a Fine Woolly Pocket!

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:45:00 GMT

I have yet to meet a person who doesn't like plants... and if you come across someone who says they aren't fans of our foliage friends, tell them that they should hold their breath for the rest of their lives, because that's what life would be like w/o them!

Bringing vegetation into our built environment is great for several reasons... 1. Plants are beautiful and create dynamic design elements. 2. They are great air filters. 3. I can't think of a 3 right now, but 1 and 2 are reason enough to get green in the literal sense! To help us beatify and purify our homes is the Woolly Pocket Garden Company... they have an incredible line of planters that can be applied traditionally on a floor or defy gravity with wall clinging capabilities.

Pictured above is the Woolly Wally Five, over nine feet of lateral planting opportunity. It features five 22" wide pouches that can be lined for indoor use. The Woolly Five sells for $143, which is a pretty incredible ratio of value vs. visual awesomeness.

If you're not cool enough to put plants on your wall, you can pick up one of many traditional floor planters, like this Woolly Patch pictured above. It costs $45 and like all other Whoollys is handmade here in the US of A from 100% recycled plastic bottles that have been industrially felted. For interior uses, an optional liner made of 60% recycled plastics can be purchased with each product to protect furniture, record players, your Beanie Baby collection, etc.

Here's a before and after application that might inspire you to get creative in your own home:

Pretty fresh, eh? I certainly am enthused to snag a couple Pockets for my own abode. Vertical gardens, or living walls, have been on my mind for a couple years and can now fit within my budget.

If the B & A shown above aren't quite dramatic enough for you, check out this courtyard full of Woolly Pocket products!

What's stopping you from creating your own little Garden of Eden, complete with a gaggle of naked 20 somethings? Nothing now, my friends! If you do create a courtyard as rockin' as this... A. Please invite me over for an afternoon mimosa and B. Watch out for talking snakes!

photos via Woolly Pocket Garden Company.

-j

Green Design Summit, oh Yeah!

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:50:00 GMT

My friends Gail Doby and Erin Weir at the Design Success University are hosting the first annual Green Design Summit later this month... a webcast conference geared towards helping designers and architects pick up that green edge. The teleconference runs June 29th and 30th this month and features a rockin' lineup of eco-experts including Ed Begley, Jr, actor and environmental activist who stars in 'Living with Ed', Penny Bonda, the mother of green interiors, Sarah Susanka, the author of the revolutionary 'not so big house' series, Bob Dixson, mayor of eco-town Greensburg, Kansas, and.... ME!!!

I put together a seminar called 'Building Your Practice Around Sustainability,' and laid out a bunch of insider tips, including:

How to land clients that are thinking green
How to control a budget with green materials
How to add sustainable ideals into existing practices
Existing caveats of green design
Some of my fave green products
Eco-strategies I've incorporated in my own business

Green is steadily growing and it's here to stay... sitting on the sidelines and waiting for it to come to you is not gonna get 'er done. This summit offers some great tools for designers looking to separate themselves from the pack.

Early Bird tix are $247 through June 10th and go up to $297 after that... 5% of proceeds go to the city of Greensurg, Kansas which is being rebuilt to new green standards after a narly tornado wreaked some havoc a couple years back. Snag a ticket for yourself or join in with office mates to save some $.

More info HERE.

-j

Smart Hypermiling

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:29:00 GMT

Have you ever been in a hurry to get somewhere and you're stuck behind a car that drives at a snails pace? You know, the car that seem to taunt you with their slower-than-molasses acceleration... incredibly infuriating, right? I mean, get the hell off the road! This is 2009... people have stuff to do, places to be!... I hate to break it to you folkies, but I'm the guy pissing you off!!! I've been experimenting with this thing called 'Hypermiling' and I'm pretty much hooked!

Hypermiling is a method of maximizing a car's gas mileage by making skillful changes in the way we drive. Basics like fully inflated tires, clean air filters, slow acceleration, not running the AC, and minimized braking can go a long ways in increasing a car's fuel efficiency... more hardcore things like drafting behind trucks, driving 50 in a 75, over inflating tires to twice their recommended specifications, and screaming around corners to avoid losing momentum have been utilized to drastically improve mpg's, but are not always the safest or most 'legal' things to do.

So I recently put hypermiling to the test! I used my last tank of gas as an experiment to see how much extra mileage I could tack on with basic (and legal) driving alterations. Below is the story...

This is my chariot, parked in front of my ma's place in MN.

I've had my lil red rig for almost a year now, and I love it! The Smart is unbeatable in the city, and has actually impressed me on the open road as well. I've found that I average between 36 and 38 real world mpgs, and most of that is city driving.

I instantly found that hypermiling is far from mainstream... the majority of people's driving habits are incredibly inefficient and erratic, and this experiment made this much more evident. I can't count the number of times people would scream past my slowly accelerating car waving the fist of fury with a look of pure evil in their eyes... only to slam on their brakes and wait at the next signal! I would slowly keep my pace and do everything in my power to not touch the brakes and lose my momentum, and more times than not I would catch up to the people driving like Mario Andretti!.... If I saw a red light up ahead, I would attempt to coast (sometimes switching my gear into neutral) to the signal and time a smooth transition into reacceleration... Another thing I did that was unconventional was, get this.... drove the speed limit! Dear god, it felt like I was driving backwards at times! Incredible how the flow of traffic can be 15 miles per hour over the posted limit!

I paid close attention to my fuel gauge and would respond with a defiant yelp each time I saw the fuel bar go down... I did however realize pretty quickly that I was getting significantly further on this tank than what I'd grown accustomed to seeing. Below are my results:

I could have pushed it a bit further, but I delightfully hit the 400 mile mark on the tank for the first time... the Smart holds about 10 gallons of petrol and I ended up needing a little over 8.6 gallons to top it off (the thing screams bloody murder if you're within 2 gallons of empty)... Simple math shows that I got about 46.5 mpg, almost 10 miles per gallon more than what I usually get, giving me almost 90 bonus miles for free!... not too shabby!

Now clearly I'm a hypermiling amateur... I'm just dipping my toes in the water and am doing some super basic stuff. It was interesting to discover that there are heated competitions out there that test the world's most efficient drivers against each other. The Fuel Economy World Championships was held last year in Elkhart, Indiana and some ridiculous results were achieved... One dude got 213 miles per gallon out of his Honda Insight!!! Another competition called the Insight Marathon had a driver get an astonishing 2254 miles from a 13.7 gallon tank of gas... that's an AVERAGE of 164.5 mpg! Why don't they televise this stuff?... It could be the Nascar for non-hicks!

-j

Method + Skylab Sure to Delight

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Sun, 24 May 2009 18:17:00 GMT

Method Homes is a prefab home manufacturer out of Seattle... in years past, they've partnered with Balance Associates to produce two lines of dwellings, the Cabin Series and the S-M-L Series. Pictured below is their production Cabin near Mount Baker, Washington State, which can be rented for $250/night.... man, not much more than a decent hotel room.. bangin' deal!

The Cabin Series is packed with eco-features and the first worth highlighting is its prefab construction. I've done posts on various other prefab companies in the past, and the benefits of Method's abodes are basically the same... more control, less waste, faster production, and increased quality. Method builds each home to LEED Gold standards or higher and has partnered with several green product manufacturers to reach this goal. My buddy Joel Klippert, creator of EcoTop, hooks them up with his FSC-Certified bamboo and recycled paper counter tops. Floors by Bamboo Hardwoods, zero-VOC paints by Yolo Colorhouse, and radiant in floor heating by Warmboard contribute to Method's eco cred.

As you can see, Method is already pumpin' out some fab work. When I recently discovered that they are partnering with Skylab Architecture out of Portland on a new urban infill series, I was jazzed beyond words! Skylab is undeniably my favorite design firm... they produce ridiculously hip, award-winning work, from custom residences to commercial build outs. Their modern style is anything but cold... they pack their projects full of personality, character and life and utilize materials and textures better than anyone I've ever seen.... Let's take a peak at some of their highlights:

This is a 10,000 sq ft build out of Portland-based NORTH Advertising, which won Interior Design magazine's 2008 Best of the Year, Small Office award.

Skylab also was the mastermind behind eco-fashion label Nau's store designs.

Ridiculously gorgeous interior of the Montgomery residence in Portland.... mmm, Bertoia chairs, sunken living room, LED lighting, city views, doesn't get much better than that!

Ah yes, Skylab's Hoke residence... this might look familiar to the teeny bopper metro hippies reading this... why? this was the 'Cullen House' from the Twilight movie! I didn't see the flick, but apparently Edward Cullen, the main vampire dude, lived in this house... apparently vampires have exceptional taste!

Back to the point... Skylab's prefab infill designs for Method will be out of this world... perhaps the new bar for what residential construction can be. Both sites claim that the designs are in development and will be coming very soon.... I for one, CANNOT WAIT!

-j

Talkin' Green with the MOTO Renew

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:17:00 GMT

Pretty much everyone I know owns a cell phone... in fact, everyone I know does! I can't think of a single person who relies exclusively on the ol' land line anymore... So, there are a lot of these convenient gadgets out there and they generally last a year or two before being discarded and replaced. Consisting of asbestos, chlorofluorocarbons, halons, dioxins, mercury, and polybronimated byphenyls (just to name a few), cell phones wreak mad havoc on the waste stream... not cool! Several companies are starting to make their phones much more responsibly, and one such cell piece I wanna highlight here is the Motorola MOTO W233 Renew.

For starters, the Renew is the first certified carbon neutral cell phone on the market... Motorola offsets the amount of energy required to manufacture, distribute, and operate each phone through a partnership with Carbonfund. The phone's housing is made from old water bottles and is 100% recyclable. The user manuals and packaging are printed with veggie inks on 100% post-consumer recycled paper... And speaking of recycling, a postage-paid envelope is included with each Renew so it can be a part of Motorola's Take Back program to be properly broken down... good stuff!

A pretty solid holistic green effort put forth by the folks at Motorola... the savvy little talker can be purchased directly here for $50.99 or for $9.99 here with a plan from T-Mobile... who say's going green's a premium!

-j

SUST the way it is

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:14:00 GMT

Throwing a little fash-on love your way... San Fran based SUST produces a beautiful line of clothing for the Metro Hippettes out there who want to look good AND do good. An assortment of colorful 100% organic cotton tops and neutral bottoms compiles the new Spring/Summer line... Pictured below is the India Tunic, which is a great choice for a proper night on the town AND an adventurous romp in an Icelandic cave.

photos from getsust.com

SUST has some solid green cred... they work exclusively with U.S.-based organic cotton farmers, ensuring that their money goes to peops who farm pesticide free. They also produce their clothing in factories located in Northern California... the supply chain is regional which cuts down on the distance their garments travel, and that means one thing... small carbon footprint baby!

When you wear SUST, pants become optional.

Organic cotton is an incredibly important piece of the textile puzzle... a quarter of the world's pesticides are used for traditional cotton production, which wreaks serious havoc on water and soil. Also, not many people know that when a pesticide is used in cotton, it stays in the fiber of that cotton for the remainder of its life... so if you're wearing non-organic cotton to your Bikram Yoga class where it's 117 degrees and you're sweating like wookie being waxed, chances are your body is absorbing some of those icky chemicals. Spare yourself from this scenario and pick up some high stylin' organic threadz from SUST.

-j

European Mossenger

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:28:00 GMT

Alright, this might be one of the coolest things I've seen in a good while... British design duo El and Abe have made a name for themselves by creating incredible art installations with unique, renewable materials... Their strongest series to date involves words and quotations composed of moss placed in unique/industrial settings within European cities.

Nourish... installed on a wall full of graffiti.

This was taken from El and Abe's manifesto:

"Of foremost importance to us is an awareness of materials. These materials simultaneously dictate their own message, and eloquently uphold our message and principles.

We aim to
Utilize readily available, renewable materials
Reuse materials/ objects
Give life to ‘expired’ matter, introducing the opportunity for cradle to cradle design.

Our inspiration arises in equal measure, from the seemingly disparate landscapes of the City and the Wilderness."

There is something magical happening here with the contrast of textures... the refined moss gives its decayed backdrop new life, as if the past 100 years of neglect were intended for this modern installation... an amazing and simple way to compliment architecture that's left for dead. More information HERE.

-j

SunChips = Deliciousness + Compostability

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:15:00 GMT

I'm not a huge chip person, but I do love me a good SunChip... they have just the right amount of flavor and crunchiness and make a delightful snack. When I recently discovered that SunChips began using compostable materials for their packaging, I was thrilled! Though it's not a major overhaul, 33% of the 10.5 oz size bags are now made from renewable, plant based materials. In 2010, the Frito Lay brand has ambitions of creating the first fully compostable bag of its kind, one that can decompose in a mere 14 weeks!

mmmm... Harvest Cheddar... definitely my favorite flavor!

SunChips has a commendable sustainabiilty initiative... Their Modesto, California plant is partially powered by PV panels... logically, right? The company has also donated $1 million to help construct a solar-powered business incubator in Greensburg, Kansas, the city that is currently being rebuilt as the greenest in the country after it was leveled by a not-so-friendly tornado back in 2007. In addition, SunChips has partnered with National Geographic to create The Green Effect, an initiative that allows indivuals to enter ideas to help their respective communities get green. Five cash prizes of $20,000 will be awarded to those who come up with the best ideas for green change... suweet!

Bringing it back to the packaging real quick... this is interesting because it happens to be quite relevant to my life this month... I am attempting to go the entire 31 days of May without purchasing anything with plastic in it... (I'm also going meat free, booze free, and purchasing anything new free, but the plastic has been the hardest and scares me the most)... Think about it for a second, plastic is everywhere, particularly in food packaging! I went grocery shopping the other day and came home with oatmeal, milk, fruits, veggies and whole bunch of bulk food. I've cornered myself into actually having to cook for once!

Many of us know that plastics are among the worst things out there environmentally speaking... they are made from petroleums and don't biodegrade naturally... they photodegrade, meaning they break down into smaller and smaller particles of plastic but never actually reenter the natural nutrient system... Much of our plastic waste will be sitting in fills for thousands of years. Others will float out to sea, where they will lethargically contribute to the continent sized islands of plastic scattered around the worlds oceans. (grrr... I always try and keep these posts fun and positive... sorry!)

So, hearing about SunChips commitment to compostable packaging made me really happy. It is a huge step in moving us closer to a waste free society... if something like a bag of chips can pull off compostability (made up word?), than surely many other things are equally capable.

And I'm lucky that I like SunChips as much as I do, cause after walking through the grocery aisles, it looks like I won't be eating much else this month!

-j

Sweet Sweet Green

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:31:00 GMT

How come some start ups are great successes while others can't make it a year? What line should a business walk regarding its risk taking in the marketplace? Can a company talk 'too much green' and scare off a potential client base?... Questions like these really get me going and I've found myself dedicating a lot of time trying to understand where green sits in the world of business today... I'll spend the next couple paragraphs discussing a success story based out of Washington DC.... Let's familiarize ourselves with Sweet Green.

Sweet Green's journey began when 3 college buddies couldn't find decent grub near their Georgetown digs. Being in the entrepreneurial spirit, they took it upon themselves to remedy this and cultivated a business concept during their senior years of college. Their idea was to create a fast food experience that would be healthy enough to eat every day of the week. The three fellas graduated, scrapped together some change and hired DC-based design firm CORE to renovate a 500 sq foot burger franchise into their flagship restaurant. This was a great move... CORE turned this tiny tudor-styled structure into a rockin' award-winning space that complimented Sweet Green's underlying mission of sustainability. Reclaimed antique hickory was brought into the interiors, covering the floor, walls and ceiling, creating a strong balance of texture from the stainless steel, glass, and bold graphic elements.... Sweet Green was born!

Having the privilege of starting a business from scratch, the ambitious grads took it upon themselves to create a culture of sustainability within their brand. They recognized that incorporating green elements not only was better for their bottom line, but it created a much stronger sense of brand loyalty for their customer base. Not bad for business, since an increasing number of consumers in America are going out of their way to support causes and companies they believe in...

One of the first things Sweet Green did was align themselves with a third party to certify their operations as being eco-friendly. The Green Restaurant Association was their tool of choice, verifying that their operations were energy, water, and waste efficient, minimized chemical usage, and implemented sustainable food choices. The Sweet Green team didn't stop there... some other elements they incorporated include:

Wind energy offsets from Clean Currents neutralizes their on site energy usage
Food packaging is biodegradable
Take out menus are printed on paper embedded with wildflower seeds
Local and organic food is used when seasonal

This holistic approach towards sustainability has garnered a lot of great press for the young start up, which has basically translated to free advertisement. I first read about Sweet Green a couple months back as a feature in Metropolis Magazine.

This brings me back to a question I started this post off with... is there risk in being too sustainably ambitious? My answer would be yes. Consumers have been consistently proving through their actions that they really don't care about sustainability if the product or service they are being offered is equal or less of a value than non-green counterparts. It takes a lot to pull people away from familiar brands... Precedence must always be on product or service first... sustainability needs to be supplementary. Also, if a business starts throwing around green this, green that, there will be increased attention on their operations and might expose elements that weren't intended to be exposed. Increased accountability goes hand in hand with green claims. An interesting dichotomy of this transparency can be found in the sustainable initiatives of retail giants Walmart and Target. Walmart loves tooting its own horn, bragging about how many CFL lightbulbs they've sold and how much of a positive impact this has made. This self promotion has been great in that it has brought green issues more mainstream, but it's also put a giant target on Walmart's back. Environmental groups like Greenpeace love nothing more than sinking a big ship with false green claims and exposing non-green elements of said ship. The metaphor, "If you're going to be naked, you'd better be buff" is appropriate for increased transparency in the business world... Target on the other hand has had equally ambitious green goals but has chosen to keep them hidden from the public eye. They recognized that they could accomplish more by working internally than by fielding critiques from an opinionated public. The negative of this approach is that no one knows Target actually has a green agenda, potentially isolating itself from a customer base that shops with ethics (who knew Target has been an active member of the US Green Building Council since 1997?).

What I really dig about the Sweet Green concept is how they approached sustainability. Their product came first (fresh salads and all-natural yogurt desserts), filling an important niche within their community. Second was the user experience... hip interiors and strong graphics helped to create a fresh environment that supported their product. Sustainability became the third leg of the stool and was supplementary to the product and experience. Promotion of their holistic eco-efforts were voluntarily accessible, not jammed down customer's throats. as if it were a sales pitch. A blog maintained by the business owners and a tab of sustainability initiatives can be found on Sweet Green's website and are great outlets for sharing information and increasing transparency.

So here's what it comes down to... transparency, accountability and reporting. Consumers want to know what businesses are doing and not doing, how that syncs with their values, and how it affects their efforts to reduce their own environmental impacts. If a company can successfully accomplish this like Sweet Green, they will be more than likely rewarded for their efforts. And Sweet Green IS being rewarded... they just opened up two new locations in the DC metro! Yeah Woo!

-j

Take 5ive | Touring a LEED Platinum Home

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:43:00 GMT

This past weekend was the big Minneapolis-St Paul home tour and I fully took advantage of the opportunity to poke my head into a couple amazing projects. The first one that I want to highlight is the 5ive house by Shelter Architecture, a LEED Platinum mod project that was jam packed with eco-features... Here's a shot of my rockin' lil Smart car in front of the concrete and glass residence located in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis... Bryn Mawr I might add was recently named one of the 'Top 10 Cottage Communities in the U.S." by Cottage Living Magazine... just throwin' that out there!

I'd followed the project's blog, 5ive: Diary of a LEED Platinum Home by the architect, John Gavin Dwyer, and homeowner, Jeff Gallo for a while and was eager to check it out for myself. Well let me tell ya, it didn't fail to inspire!... The home is a pristine example that you can build green and modern on a tight budget. Dwyer mentioned to me on the tour (without throwing numbers around) that the project came in at about half of what other custom modern homes cost... With a limited budget in mind, the Shelter team did a lot of things right, maintaining precedence on a very tight building envelope while utilizing cost cutting interior elements. 5ive also happens to be the only Platinum certified home in the country that doesn't have on-site renewable energy, a testament to many smart decisions made along the way.

As a designer, I was particularly jazzed to see the warmth and livability of the interiors. Colorful elements like pendant lights and furniture helped balance the starkness of the unfinished cement walls. I also loved the addition of custom 3form ecoresin wall panels embedded with photos from the homeowners' honeymoon along the stairwell. What a great way to bring some personality into a space, eh?!?

Extra little pieces of the 3form were incorporated in the upstairs stair rail, which also featured rebar and salvaged wood.... great use of FLOR tiles as well.

An important aspect of 5ive's design was its functionality and adaptability. The ground floor was laid out so that it could be fully utilized by someone in a wheelchair. God forbid an accident happen to one of its' residents, the home would be able to accommodate its changed needs. 5ive is also prewired for solar, and the Gallo's (homeowners) are waiting for nanosolar technologies to enter the scene for an improved ROI.... All in all, the home encompasses 1700 finished square feet that includes 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 2 offices... pretty effective use of space I must say!

Other features of the 5ive project include:

Whole house heat recovery ventilator (HRV)
FSC Certified woods
Stair treads made from construction waste wood
Dual Flush toilets
Prefabricated insulated concrete wall panel construction
Energy Star appliances
Locally harvested hardwood flooring
Concrete countertops

It was great getting the personal tour from Dwyer, the project's architect. We had a cool discussion on how easily attainable LEED Platinum can become if you know what you're doing and plan accordingly. A couple years back Platinum was the beacon, the unattainable, and now it seems like the information is out there that could make this the norm. Pretty exciting stuff, right?... maybe it's just me!

...another amazing project born from the environmental commitment of a few individuals. I'm sure the Gallo's would be the first to say that it wasn't easy, but long term energy savings and tip top indoor air quality will make them happy campers for the long haul.

I wanna wrap this puppy up with the $$ shot of the main living space, which comes alive at night with the color changing LED backsplash in the kitchen.... LOVE IT!!!

-j

Solarsiedlung ist Gut

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:27:00 GMT

Spring is here in Minnesota and life is good!... Everyone is wiping the sleep out of their eyes from the last four months of hibernation... people are active and happy, and much can be attributed to the warmth of a beautiful sunny day. Frieburg, Germany residents enjoy the sun for more than therapeutic reasons... they also like it because it pays their bills! Frieburg is the 'solar capitol' of Germany, and a project by Rolf Disch is a perfect example of the city's commitment to utilizing these glorious rays.

Solarsiedlung (solar village) is a development of significant influence. It is built to Passivhaus and Plus Energy House standards, meaning not only is its' structure 85% more energy efficient than traditional buildings, but it will actually create more energy than it uses on site. It became energy-positive with its implementation of onsite renewables, in this case Disch designed a massive solar grid for the structure's rooftop.

Wow!... could this be a taste of what's to come? I certainly hope so!

The project includes 58 residential units. Terraces and gardens are easily accessible for each occupant and rainwater is captured to water these outdoor spaces.

Other strategies Solarsiedlung encompasses include:

Passive, south facing design allows sun to heat residences
Water heated by solar thermal system
Winter month energy provided by onsite biomass facility
Vacuum insulation in exterior walls
Triple glazing reduces heat loss

There you have it! Another striking example that energy positive buildings are not only possible, but beautiful and livable as well. This project has a very charming and personal touch, and many need to learn from its holistic approach. Want to learn more AND you can read German? Check out the Solarsiedlung page HERE.

-j

Greenprints | Phantom Electricity

joshua.foss@gmail.com — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:16:00 GMT

-j