Category: green design
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Is Beauty a Trade-off for Green Design?
Nature teaches us the importance of beauty for survival. Color in the plumage of birds, the smell of flowers are but two examples of natural selection …
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Zero energy homes | the Passivhaus approach to reducing energy bills in homes
True or false – adding insulation has diminishing returns? True, doubling the thickness of a roof insulation doubles the cost while halving the heat loss/gain, and half of a half is a quarter and half of that an eighth…. So, “How low should we go?” as some have asked.
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In Pursuit of Happiness – The Question of Size and Architecture
The topic of size comes up a lot at architectural conferences. The issue is an important one for obvious reasons – bigger homes require more energy to heat and cool and more energy goes into the construction materials.
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Affordable Green Buildings: Lessons From the Make It Right Homes
To understand how to build affordable green buildings, it’s useful to look toward low-income communities where these strategies are being applied at scale, where costs and paybacks are being measured.
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Modern Green Virginia Beach House Tour
Superinsulated and designed to meet Passivhaus standards, triple glazed windows, Huber Zip system, FSC certified woods and many other sustainable features.
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Solar Energy: Let the Sun Shape the Roof
Solar energy is becoming more affordable by the day (see blog post 3/16/2106). Before long, the cost for solar power will become cheaper than grid-sourced.
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Virginia’s Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center in Film
Teen filmmaker James Hill documentary showcases the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center’s green features.
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Creating Layers of Value – What’s Good For Environment is Good for Business.
We consider a project unsatisfactory if it’s just beautiful. We consider a project unsatisfactory if it’s only green — or only functional. We consider a project falls short if it’s not a good fit for it’s natural setting or urban context.
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Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center of Virginia: Engaging People is Key to a Building’s Success
We design with the philosophy that engaging people in our buildings is key to a project’s success. We think a lot about how to create opportunities for discovery, for collaboration, for a conversation with nature
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Harness the Sun at the Community Level
Passive solar design is well understood yet little considered at the community design level. New York City planners had the foresight to lay out the NYC street grid with solar aspect in mind.