Stanford students protest new water-saving showers (via Jetson Green) (pic at right not from Stanford, but from Kohler, see after the jump.)

Forgive the massive generalization from another part of the country, but aren’t college students, and particularly California college students, supposed to care a whole lot about environmental good intentions? Guess they’re just as partial to their habits as the rest of us, and unable to remember the big picture when it comes to hot water. Yes, if everyone did the small things, they would add up, and make a difference…but everyone won’t, and we should plan for that.

The clever design strategy is to provide solutions that steer the market into good decisions overall.

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“Hilton San Francisco, the largest hotel on the West Coast, removed all of its garbage disposal units in 2002, and Jo Licata, community projects manager, says it has made a big difference in mechanical and water expense.” (SF Chronicle)

So what are the alternatives? Can a single user without the ability to compost in the traditional pile way still do the ultimate recycling - turn food waste back into food?

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The builder plans on offering variations of a design depending on the buyer’s price point. We are actively discussing what the buyer will pay for certain green features in this price range. Green has not become big in my Emerald Coast market yet. Suggestions as to what can be recouped and what will sell and what the buyers will pay?

We’re finally starting to get some data.

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LEED-H

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While major cities located along migratory flyways get a lot of attention, they account for a comparatively small percentage of kills. The crucial next step, says New York City Audubon Society executive director Glenn Phillips, is “getting to the big designers of suburban and exurban buildings.”

I live in a one-story suburban house, cheek by jowl with other houses, but I’ve still been startled by a SMACK! on my window and had to check outside for a small feathered body. And I design similar houses and their additions. Clearly I’m someone who should Do Something. But what? One answer came from the Birdchick Blog.

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Parked next to my mouse, this little device brings the temperature of my 8×12 office up from shivery to cozy - not quite enough to take my lovely handknit wool socks off, but a great antidote against a dreary January, and a definite cat magnet.

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But I might make an exception for one that is new to me, GreenBuilder. I’m impressed. Not only by the coverage, which actually explains concepts for an ordinary thinking person instead of that annoying bizspeak that many industry mags fall into, the vocabulary that doesn’t inform you at all.

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You see, my house is like the one shown (from a real estate ad). Mine was also originally built with a porch, which was later enclosed with walls and permanent windows. When I open the real front door, now ‘interior’, and a French door to the dining room, I get heat or air conditioning from the rest of the house. (Don’t worry, my HVAC system is sadly oversized, like most in the country - that’s another post.)

I have used that porch as my home office for several years now. But I’m starting to think about moving the office to another part of the house - and giving this room back to the elements.

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Google sheet mulch and Permaculture. (For those not in the know, Permaculture is a fairly recent term for cultivating an edible landscape that establishes positively reinforcing relationships between water, soil, insects, microbes, sun, etc…for the purpose of sustainably and organically feeding its designing human.)

Sheet mulches are an easy way to ‘compost in place’, delivering all the water-borne yummies to the plants instead of under the compost pile. Design-wise, sheet mulching also avoids the not-so-Neighborhood-Association-Friendly look of compost piles, so it’s a tricky way to subvert the negative effects of suburban sprawl - grow a food landscape!

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So Brad Pitt is on the morning news and all the green blogs again last week with a second round of architectural renderings he’s gathered for the heavily damaged flood zone in New Orleans also called the 9th Ward. (Full disclosure: I wrote about Pitt’s New Orleans’ efforts earlier this year; find that criticism here and here.)

This time Pitt is flogging 13 designs from architects around the world to raise money to replace homes. I wish more of the designs showed the benefit of experience in tropical construction and the quickly changing home insurance industry.

I have no issue at all with Pitt’s charitable intentions. Housing certainly seems to be needed, as referenced by another headline this morning, citing the insecurity related to ‘no home’ for the huge recent decline in New Orleans’ mental health. However, I would like someone to remember that after the houses are built - (hopefully) they will be insured, that will have a cost. The design of the houses can impact the insurance premiums, the durability of the houses, and how well they are maintained.

Building housing that will last - against weather, neglect, economic crisis, and changes in architectural fashion - this is true green building. Focusing only on how ‘green’ they are to initially build leaves a lot of sustainability on the table - and leads me to question whether this project should be called ‘green’ at all.

• » See also: Solar Energy in New Orleans gets booster shot from group purchasing
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Thom Mayne of Morphosis states that “these are simple designs for low-income people”. I would like to see evidence of more clearly stated understanding and respect for the ’salt of the earth’ from the architectural community. Samuel Mockbee, we miss you. These designs say, “mumbledyMODERNhmnmn” rather than “Here is safety and comfort for a long time, flourish and be happy, creative humans.”

How much savvier are you in sustainable Coastal Construction than Pitt and his Thirteen Aspiring Angels?

1. All but one of the designs (hint: it’s Concordia) will cost the homeowners ~$1000 more/year in insurance premiums than it has to. Why?
2. All of the designs with wide cantilevered roofs in excess of 2′ will require what highly energy consumptive and expensive material in order to comply with hurricane wind codes? (Hint: at least this one is recyclable, unlike the large amounts of concrete required by other designs.)
3. All but one of the designs (hint: it’s Eskew) think they’re too good for what basic and nearly free cooling device?
4. Which design seems to produce an indoor swimming pool during an everyday thunderstorm?

I return to the basic tenents of sustainable building - which also happen to be humanitarian building, because in the end ALL resources are finite:

• Build the right building. International Design, sometimes called Modern, nearly always gives us the wrong building. LISTEN - to the people, to the context of the site, to the weather, to the suppliers available.
• Then, build it well and beautifully, and it will be taken care of. Again, the past 50 years have produced doubts on this point for Modern buildings. Unfortunately.
• Finally, take advantage of what we know now about efficient material and energy use.

Answers: Take a look at which of the Make It Right project architects are local to New Orleans. I will post again soon with my answers to the quiz along with my favorite design and why it has my (er, qualified) professional support.

So Brad Pitt is on the morning news and all the green blogs again last week with a second round of architectural renderings he’s gathered for the heavily damaged flood zone in New Orleans also called the 9th Ward. (Full disclosure: I wrote about Pitt’s New Orleans’ efforts earlier this year; find that criticism here and here.)

This time Pitt is flogging 13 designs from architects around the world to raise money to replace homes. I wish more of the designs showed the benefit of experience in tropical construction and the quickly changing home insurance industry.

I have no issue at all with Pit’s charitable intentions. Housing certainly seems to be needed, as referenced by another headline this morning, citing the insecurity related to ‘no home’ for the huge recent decline in New Orleans’ mental health. However, I would like someone to remember that after the houses are built - (hopefully) they will be insured, that will have a cost. The design of the houses can impact the insurance premiums, the durability of the houses, and how well they are maintained.

Building housing that will last - against weather, neglect, economic crisis, and changes in architectural fashion - this is true green building. Focusing only on how ‘green’ they are to initially build leaves a lot of sustainability on the table - and leads me to question whether this project should be called ‘green’ at all.

Thom Mayne of Morphosis states that “these are simple designs for low-income people”. I would like to see evidence of more clearly stated understanding and respect for the ’salt of the earth’ from the architectural community. Samuel Mockbee, we miss you. These designs say, “mumbledyMODERNhmnmn” rather than “Here is safety and comfort for a long time, flourish and be happy, creative humans.”

How much savvier are you in sustainable Coastal Construction than Pitt and his Thirteen Aspiring Angels?

1. All but one of the designs (hint: it’s Concordia) will cost the homeowners ~$1000 more/year in insurance premiums than it has to. Why?
2. All of the designs with wide cantilevered roofs in excess of 2′ will require what highly energy consumptive and expensive material in order to comply with hurricane wind codes? (Hint: at least this one is recyclable, unlike the large amounts of concrete required by other designs.)
3. All but one of the designs (hint: it’s Eskew) think they’re too good for what basic and nearly free cooling device?
4. Which design seems to produce an indoor swimming pool during an everyday thunderstorm?

I return to the basic tenents of sustainable building - which also happen to be humanitarian building, because in the end ALL resources are finite:

• Build the right building. International Design, sometimes called Modern, nearly always gives us the wrong building. LISTEN - to the people, to the context of the site, to the weather, to the suppliers available.
• Then, build it well and beautifully, and it will be taken care of. Again, the past 50 years have produced doubts on this point for Modern buildings. Unfortunately.
• Finally, take advantage of what we know now about efficient material and energy use.

Answers: Take a look at which of the Make It Right project architects are local to New Orleans. I will post again soon with my answers to the quiz along with my favorite design and why it has my (er, qualified) professional support.