If you know us, you know we like to introduce cutting edge projects, even in the rendering stage.  But we also like to follow up on completion, too, and there's nothing better than seeing a finished project.  Take for instance this 1940s Cape Cod home in St. Paul that was converted into a modern, green home.  We mentioned it back in April of last year and now look at it.  It's ultra stylish and so green!  EcoDEEP is using the home as their offices, too, so potential clients get to see and experience first-hand what a green home feels like.  

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One of Chicago’s biggest names in landscaping now lays claim to one of the greenest locations in the city.  Christy Webber Landscapes, along with the City of Chicago and GreenWorks, came together to develop an area in a struggling neighborhood.  After decades of abuse as an auto impound, landfill, and iron-works, the polluted site had been declared a brownfield.  Subsequently, in 2003 the City of Chicago proposed an initiative to reclaim the site, and a short three years later, the 12.5 acre piece of land was clean and fully operational.  Called "Rancho Verde," in honor of the mostly Hispanic workforce that makes up the landscaping industry, the former brownfield is now the headquarters for Christy Webber Landscapes.  Rancho Verde features a one-story office building, warehouse, and a shop-yard big enough to hold dozens of trucks that keep Chicago looking healthy all year round. 

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Located in a formerly desolate area of downtown St. Louis, the William A. Kerr Foundation building is a showcase for sustainable renovation strategies.  It started out in the late 1800′s as a bathhouse (it sits above a natural mineral spring), and thereafter as a paint warehouse — over time, it fell into disrepair.  The neighborhood was blighted when it was acquired by the owners, and they wanted to restore the building for the foundation’s offices and educational activities.  Subsequent to remediation and renovation, it was awarded 58 out of a possible 69 points by the USGBC and received LEED Platinum certification.  The William A. Kerr Foundation building has the following green features:

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This is the design for a new place to stay called h2hotel in Healdsburg, California.  Healdsburg is a small town of something like eleven thousand people.  It’s smack dab in the heart of Sonoma County, a place where wine enthusiasts and travelers go for rest and respite. Environmentalism is quite common in northern California, so its natural that h2hotel would be designed to include a plentiful array of green amenities.  And starting in 2010, transients and guests of all kinds will have the opportunity to stay in one of thirty-six rooms in the four-floor h2hotel.

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This is Gwanggyo Power Centre, a concept design for a new town located roughly 20 miles south of Seoul, South Korea.  MVRDV won a competition with this design, which consists of skinny, hill-shaped buildings that contain housing, offices, parking, retail, leisure, and educational spaces.  Although the concept plan is currently under review for feasibility and cost estimations, if everything moves forward, Gwanggyo Power Centre will become a self-sustaining town of 77,000 inhabitants. 

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