I’m completely fascinated by this Emergency Response Studio.  The gist is that Paul Villinski created a solar-powered, mobile artist’s studio from an old FEMA-style trailer — it’s off-grid, sustainable, and an excellent example of eco-reuse.  But there’s more.  According to an article in the LA Times, apparently Villinski tried to buy one of the 143,123 FEMA trailers purchased by the government in the aftermath of Katrina, that is, until the government stopped selling them and began buying them back due to formaldehyde fumes from glues used to secure rugs, plywood, and other fixtures.  So he bought this one for $5,015 from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife through a GAO auction.  And after getting rid of the nesting rodents, he cleaned it up and pimped it out for an exhibit called Prospect .1 New Orleans starting early November 2008. 

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Designed by Sander Architects, this part prefab, all custom-made home was recently profiled in the NY Times in an article entitled "Prefab, High-Concept, and Green."  The exposed denim insulation and loft-like interior caught my eye, so I decided to learn more about it.  Apparently, the owners retained Sander Architects to build something that was very green, on a super-tight budget, and amenable to the owner’s large French Briard dog.  The resulting 4,200 sf home, according to the architects, is their greenest Hybrid House ever built.  It features a greywater system, passive heating and cooling, rainwater collection for landscaping, recycled blue jean insulation, sunflower seed wall board, bamboo flooring, marmoleum, structural steel frames from recycled steel, etc. 

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Well over a year ago, I heard William McDonough was working with Google on some green design plans near the Googleplex (all hush hush-type stuff covered by an NDA).  Since that time, I haven’t really noticed much information on those plans, that is, until I caught this article in Mountain View Voice talking about Google’s extraordinary building plans.  It appears that SHoP Architects coordinated the work of several architectural firms to get these preliminary plans going.  But, for the time being, Google has decided to put the green office structure on hold. 

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If you live in LA, you’ve probably heard about Evo and the rest of the newly planted green buildings in the South Park neighborhood (official referred to as "South").  Evo is expected to receive LEED Silver certification, joining its neighbors Luma and Elleven — California’s first LEED Gold condos.  At some point, we’ll take the opportunity to talk about both Elleven and Luma as well, but since Newsday published these pictures of the model unit in Evo, we thought it’d be fun to take a look inside. 

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Today Michelle Kaufmann announced and released details of mkDesign’s newest modular design, a modern farmhouse home called mkHearth.  I like the rendering above because it illustrates how an entire neighborhood of modern, green, mkHearth homes could look … imagine plush gardens in lieu of turf, home fronts instead of garages, and greenroofs in the place of shingles.  The mkHearth centers on a hearth space where a cabinetry / fireplace unit extends and connects the first through third floors. 

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Every now and then, Michelle Kaufmann gives us a rendering or a glimpse of a development she’s working on in Colorado.  Part of the development involves the design of new housing for the Sisters of St. Francis.  The other part is a private, multifamily townhouse development adjacent to the Sisters’ housing.  The townhouse community called Aria Denver promises to bring clean, green, and pure living to northwest Denver starting in 2009.

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