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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The green design and sustainability movement is gradually taking over all types of real estate and the restaurant industry is no different.  Later this month, and pending certification, Founding Farmers is expected to become Washington D.C.’s first LEED Gold restaurant.  It will also operate as a Certified Green Restaurant and serve sustainably farmed, locally produced food and products.

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We’re seeing all sorts of companies going for LEED Certification, and the most macho of motorcycle manufacturers is no different.  Just recently, the USGBC announced that the Frieze Harley-Davidson Dealership in O’Fallon, Illinois has been LEED Certified at the Gold level.  It’s the first, LEED Harley-Davidson dealership in the Nation.  The 33,000 sf dealership was sustainably designed and built with ICFs with an R-value of forty.  Plus, with over forty Solatubes and all the various green elements that led to a credible Gold certification, it’s also partially powered by a wind turbine. 

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As you can see above and below, Envision Solar plans to make parking lots into beautiful power plants with their Solar Groves and Solar Trees.  Envision Solar takes the hassle out of designing structures for solar with their turn-key solutions.  Although the company is working on a next generation design for the Solar Tree, the current iteration includes 64 Kyocera solar modules laid out in total measuring 30' x 40'.  The panels sit at a five degree angle and provide shading for six vehicles, too.  Envision Solar has found success installing these parking canopies near commercial buildings and retail parking lots because the energy can be sold to businesses through power purchase agreements. 

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This is Oulu Bar & EcoLounge in Williamsburg, home to Brooklyn’s first living wall installation.  The 2,500 sf building was designed by Evangeline Dennie and it’s currently seeking LEED Gold certification.  You’ll find a few different photos below, including a before shot, for your viewing pleasure.

What do you think?  The green wall makes quite the design statement, doesn’t it?  It’s tough to deny the modern appeal of vertical greenery, I say.   

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It's hard not to gawk at the images of this building.  So industrial and modern.  It's quite striking.  Built with 17 containers in 2006, this Freitag Flagship Store is probably one of the best examples of adaptive reuse that I can recall. 

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