I keep an eye on things in the UK because, for some reason, I have this feeling that they’re focusing more on sustainability than we are.  I mean, they’re not necessarily talking about green this or green that, they’re talking about lifecycle of materials and carbon emissions.  This super luxury eco-home, for instance, was designed with lifecycle in mind.  Designed by ZedFactory, the, ahem, 7535 sf home has received Bath (UK) planning permission and should be complete within about a year.  It will feature efficient insulation, solar orientation, thermal mass, and earth sheltering to minimize energy consumption.

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Recently I was able to speak with Matthew Linden of ConsciousBuild, a San Luis Obispo-based company that’s trying to make an eco-friendly contribution to the luxury home and lifestyle market.  ConsciousBuild is ramping up a website to be launched in July that aims to provide podcasts, videos, and access to information on green building practices, techniques, and materials.  Their first project, ConsciousBuildOne, or CBOne, was designed in the vernacular of Contemporary American Farmhouse and flies in the face of the notion that a green building needs to take any one particular form or shape.  Serving as both a residence and office, Linden hopes CBOne will be used as an educational model for the latest in eco products, techniques, and technologies.  Here’s what’s planned for the building:

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The topic pops up every month or two.  Last month, the issue of big green homes came up in the context of eco-terrorism.  Five luxury homes priced over $2 million each were set on fire with a sign left behind saying: "Built green?  Nope Black!  McMansions + RCD’s R Not Green – ELF"# #  The luxury homes were advertised as green, but clearly the eco-terrorists disagreed.#   The burnt homes were about 4200 to 4750 sf in size, which isn’t that bad, when compared to some so-called luxury green homes we’ve seen (this one being 9800 sf).  The incident highlights the tension between big homes and sustainability.   

Today the NY Times resurrects the issue in the context of a new development in Connecticut.  As you can tell from the image above, the homes are built in a style meant to evoke 19th-century English country houses.  I’m not really interested the style, but some people are and I understand that.  The above home is the model home — the first of at least twenty-four, extravagant "green" homes.  It’s 7,000 sf.

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This is a concept tower by Popular Architecture envisioned for Tower Hamlets in East London.  The design is a reaction, at least in part, to sprawl issues.  London is expected to need housing for 100,000 new people per year until 2016, and currently, most of housing that’s being built is low-density projects in commuter towns.  Popular Architecture’s Super Tower could house up to about 100,000 people with a seriously low site requirement (considering the number of people within the structure). 

The 1,500 meter tall tower would have about 500 floors.  You’d find floors or sections for needs such as a university, farmer’s market, pubs, a town hall, sky gardens, etc.  Anything and everything would be in the building.  There’s even a fire station on the 419th floor!  Which raises the question: what do you do if there is a fire above or below the 419th floor? 

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• New affordable, eco-friendly home built in 2 weeks.
• Best Places: America’s cleanest cities. 
• Architecture firm takes the lead in LEED design.
• Remodeling green is easy on the earth. 
• Groundbreaking held for Tennessee’s first green bank.
• Titanic houses as SUVs and pickups without wheels.
• Carbon footprint of a renovation versus new construction.

*WIR = Week in Review; a Saturday showcase of excellent links.

• The Swelling McMansion backlash – tactics include energy-consumption restrictions, petitions, and outright building moratoriums. 
• Realtors Sell Green – specialized training boosts real estate agents’ eco credibility. 
• Hyper-green products go ‘Cradle to Cradle‘ – growing list of products aiming to win new eco-certification. 
• Ten principles for sustainable city governance. 
• Mass-produced green buildings: not an oxymoron – can a cookie-cutter approach speed up the pace of green building in the US?