When we first brought news of Method Homes in April, we were pretty excited because they were cruising along with construction at a pretty quick clip. Their design was mountain modern and the founders, Bryan Abramson and Mark Rylant, were executing on a plan to build this smart green home in three months.
This is Blue Ridge Parkway Destination Center, a $9.8 million visitor’s center near Ashville, North Carolina. As a modern structure seeking LEED Gold certification, it’s garnered significant press for its ecological design. Designed by Lord, Aeck, & Sargent, Blue Ridge was modeled to use 75% less energy than a comparable, conventionally designed building. That’s due, at least in part, to its incredible green features, such as the sawtooth Trombe walls on the southerly face, 10,000 sf green roof, natural daylighting, high-efficiency mechanical system, natural ventilation, radiant heating, rainwater reclamation system for on-site use, etc.
A little over a year ago, we featured Shelter Architecture’s 5ive and later placed it on our Top Five Super Green Modern Homes list. In a year, a lot has happened. The home is now complete. It’s going to be honored with a 2008 AIA-MN Rave Award. And now, the USGBC has officially certified it as a LEED Platinum home. Congratulations on the noteworthy accomplishments!
This isn’t really new news since the Duke Smart Home opened almost a year ago, but I thought I would pass along images and information of the home because it’s another compelling example of the livability of smart green design. Realistically, the 6000 sf Duke Smart Home is more of a dormitory than a house, with roughly 10 students living in it at any given time, but it has at least a modicum of credibility with LEED Platinum certification already in hand. The students, in addition to experimenting with various green projects and modifications to the home, are ambassadors that conduct tours and explain its sustainable features. This active involvement between students, faculty, The Home Depot, and other sponsors, has created what seems to be abundant opportunities for everyone involved with the Duke Smart Home.
Plus, as evident in the following images and video, this live in laboratory has quite the considerable list of green features:
*WIR = Week in Review; a Saturday showcase of excellent links.
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