Green Options

USGBC, the Hospitality Industry Network (NEWH) and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) have admirably joined together to sponsor the Sustainable Suite Design Competition. The goal of this hospitality design contest is to help drive green design practices within the hotel industry.

This competition provides an ideal platform for professional (and student) teams internationally to present their ideas and approaches to green hotel room interior design.

It’s ironic I’m writing about windows while my yurt in the tropical rain forest of Hawaii is enduring the heaviest rainfall I’ve ever witnessed. The awnings are proving their worth well.

Why don’t I close the windows? Well, I’m getting there. It’s just that I don’t have a deck around my 3-foot elevated yurt and therefore a ladder is required. The picture tells the story.

A Place to Feel Eco-Fabulous

The  ecofabulous lounge at Opportunity Green was appointed with gorgeous sustainable furniture used throughout the conference space, and is a flawless manifestation of Opportunity Green’s commitment to design. I’ve been to a few sustainability-oriented conferences in my time, and this is the only one that celebrates sustainable design, and helps designers and clients alike to better understand sustainable design. It was so uplifting to see so much creative talent using sustainable principles to make gorgeous clothes and accessories.

The ecofabulous lounge is that chic yet welcoming boutique where you want to just hang out and be surrounded by gorgeousness. The lounge has a corner dedicated to Vie Bungalow, another corner for Arcona facials and product sampling, and the uber-eco PACT underwear, repping for the men, with his & hers boy-cut briefs.The Ekla sofas were gorgeous and seemed a great place to relax and chat with people.

Seems yurt manufacturers have been surveying customer comments. Good thing, as that’s how progressive changes occurred at the Colorado Yurt Company. They recently added a new design because customers relayed their preference to open their windows from inside.

This is good news for yurt dwellers without an exterior walking deck and with a raised platform. For those, it’s go outside with your ladder.

Fully Operable Windows is the new description in Colorado. It opens like a traditional home window with a crank. Each window is big enough to meet code requirements for egress. Made with a thermal pane and Low-E glass in a Doug fir frame. E-glass means low emissivity glass, a new technology for energy efficiency.

Taipei Pop Music Center has opened up an amazing architecture design competition for it’s new building. Nabito Architects has drafted and shared their vision of the new Taipei Pop Music Center composed of a “photovoltaic screen and a wall of LED panels”

The screen of the Pop Music Center may:

• have a LED media wall reporting news, weather, event info and ads.
• be powered entirely by the sun and set an example for green energy in the city of Taipei
• include photovoltaic cell technology, with an LED wall
• have controls set by a central computer, to show all events scheduled and more

3 Rivers Eco Lodge is an enchanted sustainable hotel encampment consisting of hillside terraced cottages. Rainforest preservation, indigenous tree planting programs and organic gardens are at the heart of this green resort.

Retreat features include:

• solar water heaters
• self composting toilets
• biodegradable, locally made soaps and furnishings
• environmental education through conservation
• a yoga studio
• indigenous tree planting projects
• green globe info
• organic gardens
• rainforest preservation

 Coco Eco is an award winning bed and breakfast named both after the area it is located (Coconut Well, Australia) and the ecological principles that it embraces such as:

• solar powered facilities
• black & grey water recycled and purified in Wastewatergarden®.
• plantation & recycled timbers
• solar passive design principles
• building footprints designed to minimize impact on local flora and fauna
• reduced use of chemicals & PVC products
• recycling programs
• organic vegetable garden & free range eggs

It’s good to have West Coast Green back in SF. Not that San Jose didn’t play a fine host to last years bigger conference but the show lacked something last year, call it a vibe, or energy but something didn’t gel. So, this year’s scaled down but energetic and education West Coast Green found itself a new home at the Fort Mason. Maybe the ocean air and bay views added a green spark to the conference.

The economy definitely had an impact on this year’s West Coast Green with less venders but with less money that mean that people just had to get more creative with less moola such as the floating island, show gardens and even the sustainability built Jewish Sukkoth. The usual green rock stars like Eric Corey Freed and Michelle Kaufman made their presences felt with their energetic personalities.

Psyched to announce thier first offline event, TreeLife by The Cool Hunter, will be unveiled sometime in 2010 (city to be announced). Hey all you tree house builders and fanatics, your time has come for an inspirational modern prefab tree house playground made exclusively for forest loving, fresh air and sky dwelling mavens.

Check out the prefab community blooming online these days! Tiny House Village is trying to connect communities of creative small dwellings. Ideas are abound for these eco communities with Resources For Life’s Small House Society.

Tiny House design has a great set of resources all linked here as well. Check out the plethora of architectural resources,

City Dirt is a brilliant urban gardening blog. The founder will be publishing the book A Little Piece of Earth this coming winter. Don’t wait to start planting some seeds now and have fun experimenting with growing food in small spaces. It is truly possible!