Sustainable Design Update

Sustain Design Studio MiniHome

I recently posted on pre-fabricated green designs and I’ve received several questions asking for us to expand on how pre-fab homes can be green and better than traditional “stick-built” construction.  Several years ago I worked on a series of homes that could be shipped in a standard shipping container.  The container itself was made up of Structural Insulating Panels (SIPs).  When the container arrived at a jobsite it was taken apart and turned into the finished product.  Pretty nifty huh?  No returned container (many return to the US empty)

I found the following list of pre-fab advantages at the Sustain Design Studio website.

Exploded View

1. ‘Green’ Materials

Renewable & non-toxic choices minimize life cycle environmental impacts such as global warming, resource depletion and toxicity.

2. Energy Efficiency

Energy loads are reduced by correct solar orientation, a small building “footprint” and a highly insulated building envelope; renewable energy resources are used when appropriate and possible.

3. Durability

Long lasting materials and quality construction ensure an enduring home.

4. Operation and Maintenance

Systems are simplified to ensure easy operation; making sure you get the most out of every feature while materials and hardware are selected to be long lasting and low maintenance.

5. IEQ

Indoor Environmental Quality is improved by eliminating the possibility of mold growth and using non-toxic materials and finishes.

6. Site Integration

Works with natural assets and conditions to reduce energy footprint and increases comfort with minimal impact to the surrounding environment.

7. Fresh Air

Passively cools using natural ventilation.

8. Daylight

Naturally brightens and warms interior spaces by optimizing solar orientation.

9. Water Conservation

Landscaping using indigenous vegetation reduces run off and irrigation demands outside, while efficient appliances help limit water waste inside the units.

10. Off Grid Potential

Optimization of all of the above with the use of renewable energy (solar, wind, biomass and geothermal)  makes it possible to become completely self-sustaining!

I’ll add that construction in a controlled environment reduces materials exposure to the elements.  (studs and plywood shouldn’t be soaked before closing in a building).  The time it takes to put up a pre-fab is just a fraction of the time it takes to build by hand in the field.  Also a pre-fab shop has tools to make everything square, plumb and true.  In the shop you have much greater control over tolerances.

Empire State Goes Green

Even if every building built from this date forward consumed zero energy, the built environment would still produce enough greenhouse gasses to raise the carbon level dangerous new heights.  What we need is a new dedication to retrofitting existing buildings with the latest in energy efficient technologies + a change in occupancy.  Tenants need to feel comfortable wearing a sweater in winter and not wearing a suit and tie in summer.

The Empire State Building is undergoing an exceptional renovation.  From their website:

Built during the Great Depression, the Empire State Building symbolizes America’s limitless potential.

Today the building is undergoing a major sustainability retrofit to become a leading example of economic and environmental revitalization.

Consulting, design, and construction partners Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls Inc., Jones Lang LaSalle, and Rocky Mountain Institute recently completed an eight-month modeling and analysis project which will save 38 percent of the building’s energy and $4.4 million annually.

Creating a leading example for the design of commercial retrofits was at heart a learning experience for the team. In the process of developing specific project recommendations, the team uncovered several key lessons for the retrofit of large multi-tenant commercial office buildings. Read more “Lessons Learned”

More at: Empire State

Related Posts:

Empire State Bldg Goes Green

Living Homes PreFab

There is a growing number of environmentally responsible high quality home designs available as pre-fabricated structures.  The advantage of prefabrication are many.  First, your home is made in a climate controlled factory.  (I’ve had clients panic as torrents of rain and hail assailed their dream home before the roof was complete)  Prefabs don’t have water damage before they are complete.

Prefabs can bring the price of design down to a level where more people can afford a name brand architect.  Check out Living Homes.  Designs by Ray Kappe usually don’t come at pre-fab prices.  Prefabs also go up much faster than their “stick built” counterparts.  This means your $ start providing shelter sooner, saving the cost of maintaining your existing home/apartment while you are shelling out the big bucks for constructing your dream home.

PreFabs have the unique advantage of providing a physical model that you can walk through before you move in.  Many fabricators also can customize your design for a small additional cost.

Note:  The PreFab above is LEED Certified.

From Living Homes:

LivingHomes is inspired by the school of modernism initiated by the Bauhaus and widely practiced by great architects like Walter Gropius, Richard Neutra, A. Quincy Jones, and Ray Kappe, our first architect. These architects’ designs integrated form and function, presenting materials authentically, devoid of adornment or dress. Their homes expanded space through open floor plans, and invited the outdoors in through floor to ceiling windows that bathed interiors with natural light.

We believe these ideals align coherently with an environmental agenda that directs us to only use what we need. We don’t believe in dressing things up unnecessarily. Focusing on what we like to call “warm modernism”, our homes integrate the light, volume and linear forms you expect (and hopefully like!) in a modern space - as well as the warmth and detail you find more typically in a Craftsman home.

LivingHomes partners with world-class architects to create our homes.

More at:  Living Homes

Related Links:

Fabulous Pre-Fab at Dwell on Design, LA

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taleisin Pre-Fab

Low Cost Paper House for Slum Dwellers

10 Tips for Building a Sustainable Home

Mcube - Green Home Design

Bamboo - Abundant and Renewable

In my past life I studied lots of different mixes for concrete and reinforcement.  Good concrete is easy to make but without some sort of reinforcement it lacks tensile strength.  Concrete by itself can’t make a beam or span a distance.  Beams want to deflect under load which causes the bottom of a beam to stretch (slightly).  Concrete doesn’t stretch - instead it  cracks.  In Haiti a lot of structures failed due to a lack of proper reinforcing.

Bamboo grows naturally in Haiti (I checked).  Its cheaper than steel and when used in concrete it stores carbon.  Bamboo can be used as reinforcement for concrete in a manner similar to how re-bar is used now, or in some cases it can be chopped and added to a concrete mix to give seismic strength.

A great paper on Bamboo Reinforced Concrete:  Bamboo Reinforced Concrete

Photo: Darwin Bell via Flickr

Friend House

FriendHouse Hotel on the Orel River in Ukraine is constructed of only eco-friendly material: clay, reed, wood and stone.  The designers designers considered the project’s effect on the environment from the start.

The space juxtaposes organic forms with modern design.  The rooms feel like a mash up between Mies meets Bilbo Baggins.

Design Data:

Architects: Ryntovt
Location: Orel River Bank, Dnepropertrovsk, Ukraine
Project Team: Yuriy Ryntovt /chief architect, Aleksey Bojko, Alan Kravchenko
Project Area: 1,750 sqm
Project Year: 2008
Photographs: Andrey Avdeenko

More at: ArchDaily

.

.

Treadle Pump (Sierra Magazine)

Nearly two billion people live off the grid or with very limited access to electricity.  If you live in slum cities with limited power or in rural parts where the power lines don’t reach,  lack of power limits your options in life and it causes unique environmental problems.  For one, if you light your home with candles, kerosene or battery operated lights, you create pollution at an alarming rate.

Recently  Sierra Magazine ran an article about what can be done to provide opportunity for people without electricity while helping the environment.  Sierra also mentions our work at The Appropriate Technology Collaborative and our efforts to help people with economically viable and sustainable technologies.

WITH 1.6 BILLION PEOPLE LIVING OFF THE GRID, the financial and environmental costs pile up quickly. Residents of the world’s poorest nations sometimes spend a third of their income on kerosene, a fuel that poisons lungs and poses a fire hazard; a kerosene lantern emits 550 pounds of carbon dioxide every year. Battery-powered lights are an option, but could result in mountains of tiny cylinders of toxic waste. Inexpensive devices that harness the sun and wind can supply small amounts of power, come from local materials, and create local jobs. The developing world’s population is expected to grow by 2.5 billion over the next 40 years, so these innovative energy savers can’t come soon enough.

More at:  Sierra Magazine

Check out: The Ferris Files