Self-Reliance

Green Building

The Magic of Windows
WEB Reference, September 2006, (Gregory Franta, FAIA) - In terms of a building’s energy performance, windows can be either heroes or villains. When buildings are “designed by climate,” windows can be the major contributor to human needs for heating, cooling, lighting, ventilating, and a connection to the outdoors (through views). https://www.rmi.org/images/other/Newsletter/NLRMIfallwinter06.pdf

Green Building / Our Shifting Focus

A New Design Language to Describe the Sense of “Home”

WEB Reference, (Sarah Susanka) - The Not So Big House books (www.notsobighouse.com) explain that the secret to finding a sense of home lies in changing the way we have been taught to think about houses and value -- for example, reevaluating the rooms you need in a home, designing a floor plan inspired by today's informal lifestyle, and building to last. The first book also discussed a few of the basic concepts related to the quality of space, such as shelter around activity, interior views, and doing double duty. Creating the Not So Big House describes even more concepts that can take the experience of living in a house from mere shelter to the art of dwelling. Let's now look at these key spatial concepts - and give them some names. http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/pages/h00017.asp

Green Building

Room at the top: Modern treehouse eco-dwelling
ENGLAND, August 3, 2006 (Oliver Bennett, the Independent) – Traditionally, treehouses are wooden play-zones for children, but in line with the current fascination for different modes of living, the treehouse now also appeals to the downshifted, ecologically minded adult-at-play, in touch with his or her inner primate and possessed of the inexplicable human desire to leave the ground. http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1211645.ece

Sustainable Building Projects

What exactly is a Green home?
BOOK Reference, August, 2006, (New Society Books) – Green building is one of the fastest growing sectors in North America. Yet it's not always clear what exactly constitutes a green home… For example: Is it the insulation? Or the building's energy-efficiency? Or its relationship to the environment? The answer, of course, is that it's all of these things -- and more! In Your Green Home: A Guide to Planning a Healthy, Environmentally Friendly, New Home, green building expert Alex Wilson outlines the parameters of 'green' in a way that's straightforward enough to have would-be green homeowners and their designers and contractors all on the same page. This highly anticipated book -- destined to be the single best introduction to green building available – is due off press in early September. http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3915