It’s a story that I’m seeing more and more, although I’m not too sure we’re seeing a good thing.  Nissan USA spends $100 M to build a brand new office building and plans for LEED Silver certification, but in the end, they decide to spend certification cash on the wetland "rather than have a plaque on the wall."#  Certification gets dropped, but we should ask ourselves a serious question:  Is LEED certification merely about the plaque?  Is that the only benefit we see from LEED?  Spending money to get a plaque?

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If you’re on the West Coast and want to check out modern prefab a la Dwell, the experts of modern prefab, now’s your chance.  The Dwell NextHouse by Empyrean – Silicon Valley will be open for tours to the public March 29-30, 2008.  The 2,400 sf prefab was designed to accommodate natural light, solar orientation, seasonal shading from vegetation, and prevailing wind movement, and also to contribute to passive heating and cooling. 

Plus, for a sneak preview of the inside of the Silicon Valley NextHouse, I’ve embedded a little video from sallyTV founder, Sally Kuchar, interior designer for the project.  I think you’ll enjoy the over dub …

Viesso, a Santa Monica based company, makes custom green furniture that’s ready to ship in three weeks.  All furniture is made right in Los Angeles.  They offer 17 couch and sectional shapes and 9 armchairs in a practically endless variety of fabrics.  You then also have the choice of leg shape and cushion interior materials, spring type, etc., and you can build and price out your exact piece on their website.

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Concourse E broke ground on two super green projects last December in Atlanta that intend to move beyond LEED and into a greener realm of living.  Committed to the Architecture 2030 Challenge, Concourse E homes will consume roughly 60-90% less energy than comparable sized conventional homes.  Concourse E owner Jeff Demetriou instilled the company with the idea that a modern home is not truly modern unless it takes the environment into account.  Hence, Concourse E uses its own green building classification system called Greensphere.  The company rating system has three levels, 1-3, with 3 being the best.  Both of the projects you see below have descriptions from the website and are Greensphere 3 rated projects. 

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Anti-Smog is a prototype project envisioned for a post-industrial area of Paris that aims to invent a new architecture — auto-sufficient, depolluting architecture, reactive to its environment.  The Vincent Callebaut Architectures prototype relies heavily on building-integrated, green innovation such as vertical axis wind turbines, rooftop solar panels, and living walls and greenery.  The result is a design that not only borders on positive energy as a self-sufficient structure, but one that moves into a refreshing realm of natural architecture that can clean and replenish the surrounding air.

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