Dwell and Google Sketchup came together to hold a Design Your Dwelling contest and the grand prize winner has been chosen. Drew Wilgus, resident of North Carolina and intern at The Roberts Group + Fanning Howey, took top honors for his green home concept. According to Christopher Bright on the Dwell Blog, the Wilgus design "stood out for its sustainable elements, integration into the local landscape, keen material use, and striking aesthetic."
Tryon Farm is an architecturally diverse conservation community located about an hour outside of Chicago. Three quarters of the community’s 170 acres remain undeveloped. The landscape is comprised of woods, restored meadows, and wetlands. The homes range in style from contemporary to modern to traditional and somehow the varied designs blend seamlessly in this beautiful, natural setting.
This thoughtfully designed home in Jackson, Wyoming, was designed by Stephen Dynia Architecture for Alice Cornell. Other than possibly the bamboo flooring, low-E glass, natural materials, and long-lasting standing seam metal roof, I’m not aware of any materials or elements that qualify or disqualify this home as being "green." It hasn’t been certified or anything, but the design is smart and efficient, relying on abundant natural lighting and thorough consideration for space.
How about kicking out a shout to the newly established blog by EcoSteel? I was emailing with EcoSteel’s Kelvin Findlay about their new projects and the blog came up. So I start looking through the first few posts and, of course, this Venice Live/Work home caught my eye. I mean, how can it not? Apparently the home is ready to go in California and EcoSteel is bidding out the contractor work at the moment.
I just received an email about an interesting project on the cusp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado called Aviator. Aviator is a mixed-use, multifamily and storage units facility that’s targeting LEED Gold certification. Seeking superior energy efficiency for the project, Olson Development retained EcoSteel to provide the structure. EcoSteel calculates that their company could contribute ~18 points towards overall certification of Aviator based upon energy efficiency (10), heat island effect reduction (1), and recycled, reused, and regional materials use (7).
