Green West Magazine » construction

Green links from around the web

Leslie M-B — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 04:49:00 +0000

Green design superstars? In a review of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum’s exhibition Design for the Other 90%, Christopher Hawthorne posits that the sustainable design movement needs some young superstar designers. He acknowledges that the products and solutions on display are quite good but argues that the movement needs its Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid.

Gratuitious green consumerism: Inspired by a New York Times article, Ianqui meditates on “Eco-Snackwellism.”

Nature in Los Angeles: If you haven’t read Jenny Prices’s now year-old, two-part article “Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in LA,” you’re missing out: Part One, Part Two.

DenoueDenim-ment: Check out what the California Academy of Sciences is using to insulate their new building.

Peak oil play: Derek Williamson of the Powerhouse Museum interviews the creators of the online game World without Oil.

Going batty: Those of you with a creative streak (or, OK, an architectural background) should check out the competition to design a bat house for London.

Vacation planning? Consider a toxic tour.

V-G Day: No, not victory over Germany–I’m talking about the resurgence of Victory Gardens. This time planners have a different kind of victory in mind.

(Photo by Thomas Frederick. Used under creative commons license.)

History lesson. Check out this terrific glossary and timeline of green urbanism from The Next American City website.

EDRA Sacramento

gardengrrrl — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 14:50:00 +0000

This week I attended the Environmental Design Research Association Conference in beautiful Sacramento. EDRA is a professional organization for anyone who works to improve the physical environment for people. At the meeting architects, planners, interior designers and researchers discuss how to make the places we live, work, and play more comfortable and sustainable. Thursday morning Sim Van der Ryn spoke about creating a culture of sustainability, which will involve not only changing our physical environment, but also basic modes of thinking. (To hear Sim speak for yourself, listen to his podcast on The Pattern that Connects.)

I also heard about healing gardens for hospitals and redesigning schools to both fit LEED standards and the needs of teachers and kids. Several presenters discussed the trade offs involved in choosing where to live, particularly for families with children. Many parents choose to live in the country because they want their kids to have time around nature and to keep their families safe from crime. Unfortunately, this often results in increased auto dependency. Families find themselves spending their days shuttling kids to and from their various activities. Kids may spend two or more hours a day in the car, rather than outside playing.

Since there were so many concurrent sessions I missed a number interesting talks, for example, a panel on how to make green houses affordable and a whole series of panels on enhancing workplace environments through design. Luckily, next year’s EDRA will take place in beautiful Veracruz Mexico, which will surely attract many presenters and attendees.

(Photo by Patrick Dirden. Used under creative commons licensing.)

Green homes are nothing new

Leslie M-B — Mon, 28 May 2007 05:41:00 +0000

I love this article from The New York Times Magazine about 200-year-old houses. An excerpt:

If by “green architecture” we mean buildings designed to exist in harmony with environmental conditions, to conserve fuel and regulate temperature by “natural” means, then it is easy to forget that this did not begin with the invention of solar panels, photovoltaic cells and LEED certification. Americans have been experimenting, adapting and reshaping their architecture to suit their local environment since the very beginning.

(photo of Monticello by Jason Eusebi, used under a Creative Commons license)

Questions about sustainability of recycled architecture

Leslie M-B — Wed, 16 May 2007 05:12:00 +0000

Container residence (and photo) by LOT-EK

There’s an interesting discussion going on in the comments of this post at Inhabitat and at Archinect about repurposing shipping containers as housing construction materials. Some folks find the resulting homes ugly; others suspect they’re unsustainable. You can learn about other container projects at Brand Avenue. Check out the articles and join the conversation.

Of course, you need not live in a shipping container in order to live in repurposed housing. Recycled housing has a long history in the West. Take, for example, the case of three or four emergency shacks from the 1906 San Francisco quake that were combined into a single home, or, in a more extreme case, earthships, whose residents pledge to live very lightly on the earth:

Earthships are built from eco-friendly and recycled materials. Photo by Sproston Green.

Would you live in a repurposed container? An earthship? If you’re not willing or able to go to such extremes, in what ways might you use recycled materials in your own home?