This is a guest contribution from Deborah Cameron, a designer / project manager who was on the design team for Cave Avenue Homes.  Deborah also lives in this co-op community.

In Banff National Park in Western Alberta lies a 19-unit residential housing project called Cave Avenue Co-operative Homes.  Cave Avenue was designed by one of the most prestigious architectural firms in North America, William McDonough + Partners.  Completed in 2005, the project was built to LEED Silver certification.  Cave Avenue has a light footprint with some of the following sustainable features:

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It looks like Group 41 has been hard at work on a few designs for a multifamily project in Salt Lake County built entirely from containers.  Below you’ll see both proposals, the Curve Scheme and the Red Container Scheme, but the general idea is to create about 200 units of market-rate housing along the rail transportation corridor.  Group 41′s Container Nation developed the two proposals to take advantage of different approaches to the stacking and build out of the containers.  In all, probably 1000 containers would be used — but this is preliminary conceptual phase with preliminary local planning approvals expected in mid-2009 or so …

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A combination of various groups, including AIA Newark, Skanska, and Young Architects Forum, put together the Live The BOX competition to find innovative, visionary, and compelling proposals for container constructed, multifamily, mixed- use projects.  The competition received tons of interesting container design entries, but only three won (with three more Honorable Mentions).  Designs had to use standard shipping containers of 8′-6" height and either 20′ or 40′ length as main building blocks for the structure.  Make sure to check out the winners below … Also, I’ll update this article as I find better images. 

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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). 

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I’m in Huntington Beach this weekend taking a little r&r and didn’t realize how much of the housing here is built like the townhomes above: with an urban feel — tightly together with at least 2-3 levels.  These townhouses are located on 19th Street in Santa Monica and called Green on 19.  Three are already sold with the remaining two ready to go.  Green on 19 was designed by Jesse Bornstein to provide modern living while supporting the global community’s need for energy efficiency. 

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