Eco-boutique CityFlats Hotel is a modern spot in Holland, Michigan that expects to get LEED Silver within the next month.  When certified, it’ll be one of only a few green hotels in the country, which is weird because hotels focus so much on energy and water efficiency.  Some of the bigger hotel companies have announced trendy green hotel brands, but they’re moving slow and in the mean time, we’re seeing eco-boutiques like CityFlats pop up in various locations.

As you can tell from the images, style wasn’t sacrificed for sustainability at CityFlats. 

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I opened up the local newspaper today, and much to my surprise, there’s news that the first, mid-rise container building in the U.S. is planned for downtown Salt Lake City.  The project was designed by none other than Adam Kalkin, container architecture expert, and will be called City Center Lofts.  The green, ultra-modern condo building will have eight units and a ground level art gallery. 

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Imagine you are tasked with creating an innovative skyscraper that takes into consideration historical and social context, the existing urban fabric, human scale, and the environment.  Your skyscraper design can take any height or shape on any site in the world, but it must be technologically feasible and environmentally responsible.  Any ideas?  Evolo Architecture held a skyscraper competition with the above constraints and announced three winners and six mentions.  Of those nine, Daekwon Park has received some attention in the last week.  It’s a pretty interesting concept.  I also like the escraper by Sohta Mori and Yuichiro Minato. 

Escraper connects three twisted buildings in a modern, but natural way.  It has six major green spaces or parks, as well as a mini garden on each level. 

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There was a fantastic article in the NY Times on a positive energy home dubbed Solar Harvest.  Solar Harvest generated more electricity in 2006 than what it took from the grid, so Xcel Energy sent the owner a check for $8.45.  Nice!  Solar Harvest was built by Eric Doub and his company, EcoFutures, in Boulder, Colorado for $1.38 million, including land.

[+] Solar Harvest Flickr Album

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This is Tom Kundig’s first condo project, Eleven Eleven East Pike — a retail- residential use, urban infill structure in Seattle’s Pike/Pine neighborhood.  Details of the project are being released today, but I have some inside bits of information for sustainability enthusiasts.  In addition to being an urban infill project, Eleven Eleven East Pike will be Built Green 3-star certified and have a Walk Score of 98 (tops = 100).  Which means sustainability is integrated with the culture and soul of the neighborhood.  Owners will have an opportunity to use their cars less and stay active in the community. 

The work of Tom Kundig is highly respected and widely celebrated.  I see the same for Eleven Eleven East Pike, which will have five floors of residential (27 homes), ground level retail, and two floors of subsurface parking.

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