to think about

My friend Robyn, an architect down in North Carolina, sent me an email recently with some words of wisdom from one of her favorite local architects, Randall Lanou who works in the Triangle area.

[source]

Some Things I’ve Learned:

Making Things Is Fundamentally Satisfying

You Never Know Who Is In The Room

Learn-Do-Teach Is A Powerful Cycle

There Is Only One Way To Make Good Home Design Available To More People

Service Matters

Listen First

Design Is A Business

Building Is A Business

Even Mission-Driven Businesses Must Be Profitable

The Design-Make-Design Loop Is A Powerful Learning Circle

Expensive And Difficult Mistakes Are Well-Learned And Incredibly Valuable

Wide-Ranging Travel Yields A Healthy Perspective

The Best Choices Are Ones That Allow Your Conscience To Rest Easy

Sustainability Is An Old Idea Rooted In Frugality

Utility Often Equals Beauty

Great Projects Only Happen With Great Clients

Green Building Is Simply Better Building

Mimicry Is Not The Best Design Process, Even In A Historical Neighborhood

Memories And Stories Are More Important Than Finishes And Area

The Actual Thing Is Far Better Than A Facsimile

Parameters And Constraints Can Inspire Good Design

Doing The Right Thing Is Harder The First Time Than The Second Time

There Is No Situation Where Your Actions Are Without Consequence

An Even Balance Between Work And Play Is Critical

Relationships Are More Important Than Contracts

Life Is Too Short To Eat Bad Food And Drink Light Beer

A Formal Education Is A Tiny Part Of A Good Education

Responsibility, Fairness, And Stewardship Are Fine Guides

You Don’t Get Where You Want To Be Unless You Make Plans To Go

File this under “That SUCKS”

Evidently if you live in D.C. and installed solar panels last year in hopes of getting a rebate from the city, you are sorely mistaken.  The D.C. Department of Energy has recently announced that it will not reimburse homeowners for their investment in solar because the allocated funds have been re-allocated to close a gap in the city’s budget.  This means 51 residents are out about $700,000 in total, or, let’s do some quick math here… over $13,000 on average.

Yikes.

I think I’d be a little ticked.  Or, maybe I’d realize that it’s not a good idea to rely on city government for reasons to invest in environmental responsibility.  At this point (okay, especially at this point, with the economy and real estate as shaky as it is) taking on such a long-term investment is only smart if you can already afford it or you can afford to wait until those solar panels create enough energy to negate your power bills for the next, oh, 20 years and beyond?

No pretty pictures for this post.  Hopefully I’ll be back with something inspiring soon.

Until then, keep the faith.

Martha, Martha, Martha

She’s everywhere, she’s everywhere!*

Not only can Martha Stewart help you with the paint color, cookware, furnishings, crafts and library (not to mention television and radio entertainment) in your home, she can also actually design your home.  Yes, Martha Stewart is an armchair architect.  And has been for some time now.  Were you aware that she has been working with national home builders KB Homes for the past five years?  Evidently she and some of her staff have designed five homes in collaboration with KB Homes, the first four of which are based on her homes in New York, Connecticut and Maine, and the last of which was unveiled recently at the International Builders Show in Orlando.  This most recent home is dubbed the KB Homes GreenHouse, is a net-zero energy home (meaning that over the course of a year, it generates at least as much energy as it consumes) and has earned a USGBC LEED Platinum rating, the highest in the LEED system.

I must say, it’s not much to look at, is it?  I think it might be the color scheme, because it doesn’t appear that they’ve skimped on facade details like windows or garage doors.   What is with those applied “architectural” pieces on the gables?  I’m shuddering. 

Actually, for a home that is priced at $380,000 and is 2,600 square feet (which must really change with local market conditions, no?), I’m fairly impressed.  I’m definitely more impressed with the interior images I have seen.

 

If you’d like to take a virtual tour, you can register here.

Overall, bravo KB Homes and Martha.  LEED Platinum?  That is really some serious energy conservation.  Apparently all of the energy to power the house is generated with a very large photovoltaic array on the roof.  The house is still connected to a city power grid so that it can both draw from it on cloudy days and at night, and contribute any excess energy it might accumulate during the day back to the grid.  I can see how this works well in Florida, where the house was built, but is probably not practical for every location.  And I am guessing this house does not function at LEED Platinum capacity in an established, tree-lined neighborhood (cause those darn leaves and branches would shade the solar panels).  It’s probably best in a neighborhood like this one, in Stapleton, Colorado, where there’s an entire community of Martha-designed homes. 

I’m as big a fan of M.S. as the next gal.  I save her magazines like they are museum pieces.  I lament the loss of Blueprint magazine (R.I.P. you amazing publication, you).

But I’m not sure they went far enough with the KB Homes GreenHouse.  To me, it's just your typical builder home with some major advances in energy generation and consumption.  Shouldn’t the exterior indicate those advances in some way?  KB Homes has probably done their research and decided that the majority of Americans don’t want their homes to reflect these advances, but I’m betting there’s an entire market of homebuyers who don’t know what they are missing.  Isn’t this what happened with the Prius?  For it’s first four or five years, the Prius was that crazy-weird car that got amazing gas mileage.  Then it completely took off and hit its tipping point among mainstream car-buyers.  Probably because Cameron Diaz bought one.  I think Martha Stewart has that type of power here.  Come on, Martha.  Give us a Cameron Diaz moment.

*10 points if you can correctly identify the references of the post title and first sentence.  I’ll respond in the Comments section.

the Canadians

I mentioned the Canadians are taking over HGTV.  Have you noticed how many shows are hosted by Canadians now?  There’s our beloved Sandra Rinomato from Property Virgins, Carter Osterhouse from Carter Can and Red Hot & Green, that guy (Scott McGillivray) from that stupid rental show (Income Property), of course Candace Olson from Divine Design (love her, but why does she always use quartz for her solid surface countertops?  I ponder things like this), and Sarah Richardson from Sarah’s House and Design, Inc.  Am I missing anyone?

Our neighbors to the North really are not so different from us in terms of design aesthetic, though I do crack up when I hear them pronounce the word “house” and see spellings like “favourite”.  I spent the better part of my son’s naptime the other day researching Sarah Richardson, as she is my current interior design hero.  I absolutely love watching Sarah’s House, a show in which she renovates a house room by room, each one being an episode of the show.

 

She’s a snappy dresser, too.

There have been two seasons of Sarah’s House so far:  one of which she renovates and creates an addition for a 100 year-old farmhouse and one in which she remodels a 60s era split-level (or back-split as the Canadians call it) house.  I can’t decide which one I like more.  The farmhouse has incredible character, a beautiful setting, and she’s managed to update it and make it functional without mitigating its charm in any way.  Click here for a slideshow of photos and inspiration from the farmhouse. 

And the 60s home retains its ranch-style cool while gaining light and a functional basement with a gorgeous laundry room, storage and guest suite.  Here’s an image from the guest bedroom.  I really love the green, black and white color (colour?) scheme.

See more images here.

Here’s a bathroom from the portfolio on her website.  This project is known as the “Hilltop Contemporary”.  Sounds like my perfect dwelling.

Isn’t that marble penny-round tile incredible?

Sarah’s style is practical, innovative and pretty.  She reminds me a little bit of Mary Poppins.  And I love her side-kick, Tommy.  Would he be the shorter version of Bert to her Mary P?  hmmmmmm.

 

Some other cool things about Sarah?  Well, she started her career as a prop stylist and set decorator.  That sounds like such a fun job.  She’s a mom of two daughters and has a solar-powered weekend home on an island.  Ummmm, SUPER COOL. 

AND, from checking out her website, it looks like there will be a new show called Sarah’s Cottage chronicling her work on the off-the-grid house.  I can’t wait.  HGTV, you better bring it to me.

+++All photos courtesy of HGTV.com and SarahRichardsonDesign.com+++

In the news

I hope everyone’s re-entry today went well.  I am struggling with exhaustion.  Sorry I wasn’t able to post yesterday.  We had a 12-hour day in the car and blogging just wasn’t in me when we finally returned last night.

I had a few ideas for tonight’s post, but I received a tip about this article featuring Dr. Jay’s uncle and it immediately rose to the top of the list.

Read all about how builders like Michael are using their talents and building knowledge to retrofit existing homes to become more energy efficient.  It’s all part of the Energy Independence Program in Sonoma County, California which aims to significantly reduce the county’s carbon footprint by 2015.  In a state where there is currently an excessive of new homes and unfinished construction projects, this type of work provides a completely different business model for the traditional home builder.

Cocoon Remake?

I wish.  No, a friend sent me this link and I just love it:

It’s called the Cocoon Building and it’s in Zurich, Switzerland.  Camenzind Evolution (the firm that designed it) has turned your average office building on its ear and created one that’s more like the Guggenheim and less like Dunder Mifflin.  Read more about it here.

Thanks, k8e !

The Economic Value of Green Buildings

Looks like it's finally a good investment to go GREEN, according to economists. A paper forthcoming in a leading economics journal, The American Economic Review, finds that buildings with LEED or Energy Star ratings yield an 16% higher return than similar buildings without those ratings. Thanks to Dr. Jay for the tip.

Solar Decathlon, part Two

On Sunday, October 18 I was finally able to visit the Solar Decathlon on the Mall in Washington. Unfortunately it was the last day to tour the houses and I only had a brief period of time before I needed to get to work, so touring the Decathlon turned in to a mini-decathlon for Dr. Jay and I as we ran and puddle- jumped through the Mall trying to take it all in and photograph in about an hour and a half. Thank goodness the rain had finally subsided.

Note the grey, grey day!

That was one of the reasons I hadn’t yet been out to see the competition- the week of October 12-17 was packed with rain and cold. My heart goes out to those college students and professors that had worked so hard for two years on their houses and had to construct them on the Mall during high-force winds and then compete in cold rain. The Sunday morning we attended, it actually stopped raining just as we arrived, which is probably why there was such a crowd. There were long lines to get in to some of the houses (Team Germany, for one) so I’ll have to give you my thoughts on the houses that I actually did get to tour: University of Louisiana at Lafayette (U-La-La as my Louisiana friends would say), The University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, Team California, Virginia Tech and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I could have stayed ALL DAY LONG and probably still not seen as much as I wanted to, so I was definitely disappointed that I hadn’t made a point to go earlier in the week (thanks, weather!). Dr. Jay and I agreed it was truly inspiring to see all these well-designed little houses, and I surely will not do justice to all the finer-nuances of the designs, but here’s my take on the Solar Decathlon 2009.

First, no more suspense. The results:

Team Germany, which actually also won the last competition in 2007, had a pretty cool and very European-looking house. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t get a chance to tour it because the line was so long, but it is designed to produce twice as much energy as it would need to consume. It’s two stories (which I couldn’t tell from the exterior!) and is covered with single-crystal silicon solar panels on the roof and 250 thin-film solar panels on all four sides.

I was sorry to not be able to see it for myself, but frankly I was so blown away by some of the other houses I don’t know if I would have properly appreciated it. My favorite house by far (of the ones I saw, of course, and I’ll quit qualifying myself now) was Team California’s Refract House. Most of the teams choose a name for their houses. When I participated in the Decathlon in 2002, our house (UVA) was called the Trojan Goat because of the concept that it could unfold and change and become something unexpected like the Trojan Horse but it was meant to be able to adapt to any situation like a goat. Moving on, I’m not entirely sure why Team California (which is made up of students and faculty from Santa Clara University and the California College of the Arts) decided to name their house the Refract House other than that’s kind of a cool name, but I thought the house itself was both very California and very livable. I just loved it.

That light-fixture is made from plastic straws!

Aren’t these modern-ified versions of Adirondack chairs great?

They really made the most of both the interior and the exterior space, and while they have it set up so that there is an outdoor living room complete with couches, I was amazed by how large they made the 800 square-foot interior seem. They had by far the largest bathroom that I saw. I thought the two little covered porches were a very clever way to maximize space and light. To me, this was the most wholistic design and the house I would most want to live in.

I just checked the Solar Decathlon website and Team California actually placed First in the Architecture competition- woo hoo! They placed 3rd overall, but there are 9 other categories and I bet Team Germany racked up a lot of points in the energy-based categories. Okay, I’ll quit gushing. I also really liked the U-La-La’s house, which won the People’s Choice Award (you could vote via text message this year… so many changes since 2002) and won the Market Viability category of the Decathlon.

I could see why this house appealed to a lot of different types of people. Can you tell in this photo below that it has these cool fold-up glass doors:

It also had a beautiful interior, but getting good photographs of them was difficult since the houses are fairly small and there are usually other people touring them. Here’s a nice shot of their bathroom tile though:

I thought this detail was nice also. I’d love one of these planter walls, wouldn’t you?

Another house I liked quite a bit was The University of Arizona’s. Dr. Jay said it looked like something from Mad Max but I was mesmerized by it:

They had a very cool pivot door. It was also a chalkboard!

Doesn’t it look futuristic? This is their water wall, which acts a thermal mass to prevent those high Arizona temps from heating up the house during the day. At night, when the outside temperature cools down, the water wall slowly releases the heat that has built up all day.

Dr. Jay thought the bathroom was a little too minimalistic and exposed for his taste, but there was a screen wall they just didn’t have in place to make the tours easier.

And check out this Jetsons-esque stovetop:

We toured Virginia Tech’s house, and although it did have a very cool (and very expensive) fabricated metal screen wall:

it just didn’t speak to me like some of the other houses did.

Here are a few more photos of the various houses I didn’t get a chance to enter:

We had a blast during the short visit to the Solar Decathlon. I was incredibly impressed by how the competition has progressed and the ingenuity of these teams. Most of all, I loved seeing all the other people touring the houses in awe of the designs as well. I really think this competition has helped to make an impact on the public’s perception of green design. The new American house doesn’t have to look like the traditional house to provide all the comforts of home.

Next time, I’ll definitely give the Solar Decathlon an entire day.

The Solar Decathlon – Finally !

Sorry for the delay! I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since my last confession blog post. Actually, things have been pretty busy around here. Since I last posted, we made a trip to the Catskills, I accepted a job (that was my exciting news!), and just ran a marathon! Yes, I’m currently recovering from running in a marathon on Sunday, wrapping things up with my part-time job and gearing up for the new job (architecture!) to start next Monday. I wanted to post some photos of my visit to the Solar Decathlon. Here are the highlights:

Overall, I was incredibly impressed with the diversity of design in this year’s competition. I’ll be back tomorrow with my recap.

Airstream, at it again

I’d probably write about Airstreams once a week if I didn’t think it would bore you silly. But I came across this tonight when I was checking in on the Re-Nest blog (part of Apartment Therapy), and I just had to share:

If I were to win the lottery tomorrow, I’d march right out and buy an Airstream and some land in the woods to park it in between road trips.

Check out the slideshow on Dwell.

More soon, I promise.

Where do old solar homes go?

I have the most dangerous thing in the oven right now: the Barefoot Contessa’s Banana Crunch Muffins. I first made these after a frustrating day when we first moved here in July and they’ve become my go-to baking project. These things will put you in a sugar coma, so take it easy if you make them. I only have a few minutes before I need to check on them again, and I thought I’d get a post out post-haste.

There are about 10 tabs open on my Firefox right now… and three of them are Apartment Therapy articles. I have a problem with AT because I want to read each and every post but they come out way too fast. I am about 747 posts behind, and that’s just from last week I think. One from today that I did manage to read is about a Solar Decathlon house from the 2005 competition designed by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) architecture students. It’s now being used by Portsmouth Abbey School, a Catholic high school in Rhode Island founded by Benedictine Monks. In 2006 they added a 164-ft. wind turbine to the campus, and in October of 2008 RISD donated the solar house to their campus to be used for faculty housing.

I love this photo with the wind-turbine- it just seems so right. It’s not clear from the article whether the turbine and house work together, or if the turbine’s energy is used for something else on campus. The house does use photovoltaics, an energy recovery ventilation system, and energy efficient appliances.

For the most part, I like the design of this house, but I do wonder about the longevity of the Solar Decathlon competition. I was part of the very first Solar Decathlon in 2002 as a member of UVa’s team (we placed 2nd overall and 1st in the design competition, not that I’m bragging) and I have to say to say that this house hasn’t deviated much from designs of previous competitions. Maybe this is because the rules and performance requirements are so tight? I’m glad this house is serving a purpose right now. And I can’t wait to visit the houses on the Mall in D.C. for this year’s Solar Decathlon in October- definitely be on the lookout for my write-up on that.

Now for those muffins!

“A computer is like a bicycle for your mind” (Steve Jobs)

A loyal reader recently sent me this link to an article published in AIArchitect This Week (an online journal) from August 28, 2009. If you have a moment, read about this amazing Bike Transit center (the first of its kind on the East Coast), nearing completion in D.C. It was designed by KGP Design Studio of Washington and is situated between the Union Station Metro and the National Postal Museum.

Check out one of the design studies:

It’s semi-enclosed, made of glass, steel and concrete, and its transparency speaks to its purpose of being a carbon-neutral transit hub. The design of the structure is to mimic the ideas of speed and efficiency (like a bicycle) and safety (like a helmet). I can see that. I can’t wait to check this out when it’s complete, which should be soon. I’ll have to get the word from N- apparently she sees it every day on the walk between her train and office. Have I mentioned that she is an Architect? Capitol A, thank you.

By the way, how do you like the changes to my blog site? I’ve been puttering around with it, thanks to some IT help from Dr. Jay. Still more to do, but I’m learning! And I don’t speak code well, if you couldn’t already tell.

More soon!

A night at the ballpark

Last Thursday night we attended the Washington Nationals vs. Colorado Rockies game with N and R at Nationals Park in D.C. As I mentioned previously, this is the first major ballpark to be certified LEED Silver, so it’s a fun place to both watch a baseball game and be an architecture critic.

For the most part, it’s a very nice, well-constructed stadium. Let’s get to the nitty-gritty. It was designed by Populous (formerly HOK Sport) and Devrouax & Purnell Architects and Planners, seats 41,888 fans and cost $611 million of public money to build. Word on the street is that the Lerner family, who own the Nationals, spent tens of millions of dollars of additional construction money. N had the opportunity to take a construction tour before it officially opened last year, so she gave me the low-down on many of the LEED features and stories she remembered from construction. She and R also gave us the stadium tour which included pointing out all the vantage points for the monuments. The stadium itself wasn’t designed to have permanent views of the D.C. monuments (which is a shame) but mostly because the area where it’s situated is a growing one, and there are many high-rises slated to go up around it, so trying to preserve views would be futile. But some view corridors do currently exist, if you hunt them out. This was my second visit to Nationals Park- we went a few weeks ago when family was in town. We all complained that the stadium wasn’t well-situated for views, but I guess we didn’t know where to look.

The stadium is on the west side of the Anacostia River, just about a mile south of the Capitol. Eventually there will be an entire river park development of green space to connect the water’s edge with the entrance to the park. They have just recently opened water taxi service to the park from Alexandria (woo-hoo!) and National Harbor, and eventually there should be service from other parts of the city. Dr. Jay and I took the Metro to Navy Yard station, which is about two blocks from the Park. It was super convenient getting to the Thursday night game, though we had a bear of a time getting home- it involved the subway, a bus, and a taxi and two hours of our life. But oh well, lesson learned.

Some of the LEED features I saw employed?

- Proximity to public transportation

- Bike parking and Bike valet

- Availability of Recycling receptacles

- Dual-flush toilets (which N pointed out no longer have their signs indicating that they are dual flush, therefore, the majority of the public will probably not know to move the lever to the UP position for most flushing needs)

- Recycled materials (and in general, less packaging) at concessions like napkins, etc.

-Green roofs

- Use of local materials: concrete came from next door, along the Anacostia

And a few other features that are less-discernible to the naked eye:

-It was developed on a former Brownfield site, so they got points for cleaning up the site

- There is an intricate ground and storm water filtration system that will protect the Anacostia River by separating water used for cleaning the ballpark from rainwater, and treating both sources of water before releasing it back to the sanitary and stormwater systems.

- There is high-efficiency lighting

- Construction materials contain 20% recycled content.

- They used drought-resistant landscape materials

- Roof materials have a high degree of reflectance, keeping the cooling costs down

What do I think of the park as an architectural piece? Well… I’ll defer to this assessment. I’ll say this: I’ve been to seven major league stadiums and Nationals Park isn’t my favorite. But we had fun with N and R, most definitely.

They had to put on their Rally Caps because the Nationals needed rallying that night. They did not win that game, unfortunately.

Oh, and the first major league game at Nationals Park? March 30, 2008: Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals. The Nationals defeated the Braves 3–2 with a walk-off home run from Ryan Zimmerman (former UVA-man). Oh, the irony.