VivaTerra is a catalog and online eco-friendly home accessories and furnishings company.  You will need to peruse their offerings with a bit of a critical eye and decide for yourself what is truly eco-friendly, but there are a lot of great choices.  Less sustainable offerings to watch out for include river rock bath mats.  The rocks are taken from a natural environment where they belong and do not replenish like trees or bamboo.  I would also stay away from tropical hardwoods since most of them are not truly eco-friendly and travel quite a distance to the USA.  One great VivaTerra choice would be their beautiful "Gustavian Vintage Bed" which is made by a master woodworker in the USA using salvaged Douglass Fir wood from a torn down building, non-toxic glue, and a food safe finish for about $2000. 

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This is the new, 9000 sf facility designed by LPA for the Environmental Nature Center.  Located in Newport Beach, and with an estimated 54 points towards LEED certification, ENC could be the first LEED Platinum building in Orange County.  LPA estimates that the facility’s sustainable elements will save ENC ~$20,000 per year.  Plus, with optimal east-west site orientation and 14 native plant communities, in addition to all the other green features, this building is meant to be a West Coast beacon of green design for years to come.  Make sure to check out the rest of the images below …

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Slated to open in 2009, Three PNC Plaza is planned to be one of the largest, environmentally-friendly, mixed-use buildings in the U.S.  The 23-story building is also Pittsburgh's first new high-rise in 20 years.  3 PNC will have office space, 28 condominiums, a restaurant, retail space, underground parking, and a Fairmont Hotel.  Three PNC Plaza fronts a large public park (see site plan below). 

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• Building a greener America.
• Make Freddie and Fannie go green.
• How many carbs does your building have?
• Study finds benefits to walkable neighborhoods.
• Find and fix your home’s power hogs.
• The future of plug-in hybrids.
• Colleges taking steps to go greener.
• Gas prices drive push to reinvent suburbs.

*WIR = Week in Review; a Saturday showcase of excellent links.

We’re bringing you back-to-back container home coverage here with this home on an infill lot in the eastern hills above San Francisco Bay.  Designed by Leger Wanaselja Architecture, the project required three insulated containers to create a cozy, two-bedroom house.  Two forty-foot containers were stacked on one side and the third was cut in the middle.  The split containers were also stacked on the other side.  The three containers are brought together with a large, glassy atrium that spans both the first and second floors.  It’s a simple design that shows what’s possible with innovative home construction.  Make sure to check out the construction images, too. 

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