It's always nice to hear how good companies are helping the world.* I've just learned about one to keep an eye on: Containers to Clinics. C2C is a start-up non-profit that's retrofitting shipping containers for use as health clinics that cater to women and children's needs in the developing world. Their prototype container clinic is currently under construction with Stack Design Build in Rhode Island and should be complete in mid-November.
In the past few weeks, the Brad Pitt Make It Right foundation in New Orleans has been blanketed with all sorts of good press. The USGBC declared Make It Right to be the "largest and greenest single family community in the world." One of the newest homes in this green community is the FLOAT House by Morphosis Architects, which was designed and built under the direction of Thom Mayne and with the help of numerous UCLA graduate students. The FLOAT House is a prototype for prefab affordable housing that is adaptable to flood zones worldwide.
Today at West Coast Green 2009, Green Horizon showcased their new SFH40 on-demand housing, and it's an impressive unit. Designed to be a self-sustaining home for a family of four, it can be shipped anywhere in the world in a standard shipping container and set up in less than two hours by unskilled people. Each unit has two bedrooms with built in furniture, a bathroom, and a kitchen area. But it's also designed to be a self-sustaining shelter in the aftermath of a disaster when infrastructure may be damaged, so it includes solar panels and batteries, a bio-diesel generator as backup, and water purification equipment. Units can be interconnected to share power and water.
Tomorrow morning, developers Jonathan Rose Companies and Malkin Properties will cut the ribbon and officially open Metro Green Apartments, a 50-unit affordable housing development in Stamford, Connecticut. Located at 84 Henry Street, Metro Green was designed to achieve LEED Gold certification and it's already 90% leased. As the first phase of a TOD which will include a total of 238 mixed-income residential and 350,000 square feet of Class A office, Metro Green gets this development started on the right foot.
One of the islands off the coast of Washington, Lopez Island, has seen rising land prices, which in turn, has put the squeeze on teachers, health care workers, and others in need of affordable housing. In an effort to help, Mithun partnered with the Lopez Community Land Trust to create eleven economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable homes. These homes are now complete and the community, Common Ground, is absolutely incredible. The net-zero energy homes feature some of these green elements:
Hot on the heels of our prior coverage of the Rainscreen Shed and the International Shed of the Year comes this solar-powered beauty, the Microhouse. According to Naomi Seldin of Simpler Living, the 100 square-foot tiny house is part of the Human = Landscape exhibit going on in City Hall Park in Burlington, Vermont. The Microhouse was built by Alex Carver and Christopher North of Northern Timbers Construction with the design help of landscape architect and metal artist H. Keith Wagner.
Update 10/2/2009: Check out the SFH40 Premiere at WCG 2009!
Last year, West Coast Green had an awesome shipping container home exhibit, and it appears that this year will bring something similar. Yet a little different. As confirmed by Michelle Kaufmann (who will be speaking on Friday of WCG), start up Green Horizon will exhibit their green emergency / container housing unit at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California. The design of the Green Horizon unit is pretty incredible -- it knocks the socks off of FEMA trailers -- so you’re going to want to see this in person.*
A long time ago, we mentioned the 100k House project developed by Post Green in Philadelphia. The project involves two attached homes designed by Interface Studio Architects, and one was a case study of sorts to try to build it for only $100,000. What I liked about the project was its attempt to marry three essential elements: style, sustainability, and affordability. All too often, these three are hard to put together in the same package. But the media wave followed, and Post Green seems to have delivered what it set out to do.
Prefab multifamily is the new black these days, which is why we’ve been watching startup ZETA Communities with interest. ZETA, which stands for Zero Energy Technology and Architecture, finished these live/work, net zero energy townhomes in Oakland and has a number of other projects in the works. The townhomes achieved LEED Platinum certification, a 240 green point rating, and an EPA Indoor airPLUS, the EPA’s highest indoor air rating. Each home is 1,540 square feet with two bedrooms and a single-car garage. And they’re packed with some of the following green elements and strategies:
The Open Architecture Challenge is an international design competition that's hosted every two years. This year, Architecture for Humanity and Orient Global hosted the competition to bring the architecture, design, and engineering community together with students and teachers to envision the classroom of the future. After receiving over a thousand designs, each submission was rated on feasibility, sustainability, innovation in design, and overall design quality. Now, after four rounds, there are eight finalists and one of these will win in September. Check these designs out and tell us which is your favorite:
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