Today CalStar Products unveiled a new Thru-Wall unit which combines the structural properties of standard concrete masonry unit with the look of a traditional brick wall. The units are half as tall as standard concrete blocks but still strong enough to do the job of a brick. Plus, the Thru-Wall unit is made with 40% post-industrial recycled material, fly ash, and comes in several different colors.
San Antonio-based Lake|Flato, an architectural firm with several AIA COTE Top 10 green projects, this week announced its latest endeavor in the world of prefab with the Porch House. Porch House is an eco-friendly home that combines factory-built modules and custom outdoor elements, such as porches, breezeways, carports, and terraces. The result is a contemporary, site-specific, LEED-certified home that can be delivered in about six- to nine-months after the inception of design.
Wooden shipping pallets are typically a low-end commodity. Sometimes a pallet will get reused a few times before it ends up being scrapped or used as firewood. But Icelander Högni Stefan Thorgeirsson, owner of Iceland-based Arctic Plank, found a better use for it and produces flooring made from upcycled used pallet wood.
This is one of the latest sustainable prefab homes from Seattle-based Stillwater Dwellings. The home has three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and 2,300 square feet with a signature soaring butterfly roofline, a great room, and 360-degree views of Sauvie Island, Mount St. Helen, Mount Hood, and Mount Rainier. After solar panels are installed, the owners expect to submit paperwork in line with LEED Gold certification.
King County in Washington has about 26,000 acres of parks and open spaces with trails, trees, and streams. To help people stay overnight in these areas, the county held a design competition — Little Footprint, Big Forest — to create an overnight structure from a surplus, reclaimed, 20-foot shipping container. The winning design was just announced and it comes from none other than HyBrid Architecture, the firm behind the cargo container-based Sunset Idea House 2011.
Hello, my name is Lisa. I am (gulp) a modernist who loves color. There I said it, the truth is out! I enjoy the nuances of greens, blues, yellows and my all-time favorite aquamarine. And not just on a throw pillow, mind you. I long to see it up on my walls and even (dare I say it!) on the exterior of my house. Unfortunately for a color-lover like me, I live with a typical modernist devoted to white and grey. But a girl can dream, as I’ve been doing since discovering Unearthed Paints, a gorgeously-hued new line of natural paints and wall coatings.
