The new website, www.postgreenhomes.com (don’t visit now . . . it isn’t up yet), is an application designed to let you customize one of our homes much in the same way you might customize a computer or car. Upgrade flooring, change the color of counter tops, add solar panels and much more. In the end you will have the home you want and a price to go with it.

Tied into this party will be the announcement of a couple of exciting new Postgreen Homes projects and the opportunity for interested buyers to customize homes in those projects on the spot. We will have computers set up so that anyone can test out the new site, and if they are feeling particularly impulsive, buy a home. If that isn’t enough, we will also be introducing new models and at least one new facade design at the event.

The party will be taking place in the impressive gallery space at our new office building, 2424 York Street in Fishtown. We will be posting more information on this party as it comes together and will be sending email invitations soon.

When: July 30, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.
Where: 2424 E. York St., Philadelphia, PA 19125 (map)

So, who’s coming? Let us hear it in the comments.

One week down and many more to go on the way to the extreme green kitchen. In our first week of research and design we have come up with tons of features we would like to see in the kitchen that will maximize space while minimizing waste. First and foremost we have looked at a wide variety of cabinetry and shelving. Most cabinetry is built off of the wall, but we hope to incorporate internalized storage units being those that are either recessed or  “hidden”. Either of which would give the kitchen a lighter feel. We have also looked at slotted wall units,  that apply most readily to canned foods, thus freeing up space in the pantry. We also have been playing around with the idea of mobile base cabinets, which could slide out and lock in place along side the countertop to create additional space for food preparation, or could “unlock” and roll out to become an island. Another storage option could be open shelving above, below, or to the side (cantilevered fold down shelf) of existing cabinets, that is if cabinets were placed above the countertop.

When it comes to food you automatically think of the refrigerator, we love the idea of minimizing its physical and visual dominance so we have been looking at integrated refrigeration systems like Sub-Zero’s 700BR Refrigeration Drawers, they look amazing and fit easily into any kitchen decor by simply altering the face plating. Another plus is that they are energy star certified. The down side is that they are rather expensive so we are in the process of looking for similar models. If we succeed in minimizing the refrigerator then a “pantry”(additional storage for non perishable goods) could be added to take its place. While considering this we realized that smaller fridges are great for energy consumption but not so great for people buying locally, especially those who by meat from farmers markets to be stored in large quantities. So we are bouncing around the idea of “The Veg” or “The Meat” kitchen, which would offer different refrigerator and overall storage options based on the home owner’s needs.

In addition to energy conservation we have been looking at solutions to minimize wasted water. Most specifically when it comes to the faucet, there are a few options out there for the kitchen, less than the bathroom when it comes to water conservation mainly because low flow fixtures are less practical for the kitchen and greywater systems are usually shunned. So we have been setting our hopes high by seeking out foot pedal sinks and automatic faucets. Although both are appealing and both save tons of water throughout the year they are a bit pricy so we will continue to shop around. However we are gravitating toward an automatic sink with a manual override or timer, but we will see.

Last but not least we have been scooping out our waste management options, considering trash and recycling units, as well as composters. We hope to find a recycling unit that compresses plastics and papers but have yet to discover such an item that actually exists. Perhaps it only exists in our dreams but we will continue to be on the look out. As far as composters go there are a few options that seem viable and intriguing which are designed for the kitchen instead of the garden. But this decision comes with an essential discussion of nutrient rich soil for urban farming and or backyard gardens, which we hope will come into play, and which we will discuss further shortly. As for now we implore you to mull over what we have written, look over the following pictures and send any suggestions our way that you would like to see included in the new design.

On a Passive House, we have to hit a very strict target on our blower door test of 0.6 Air Changes per Hour at 50 Pascals of pressure. This is no easy task. Every single seam must be caulked, or preferably taped, to hit this target. That all starts with the foundation. We’ll review a couple of the key details for the foundation air sealing below.

The basic concept is that we have to have a continuous air barrier around the entire home starting with the foundation. Last time we installed an air barrier, but did not bother too much with seams. This time we have to tape every seam with Tyvek Tape. The yellow poly you see is actually 15 mils thick to help prevent puncturing while we work on it.

The next thing to worry about is every electrical or plumbing penetration through the air barrier. You can see above that we eliminated the need to worry about our electrical penetrations in the image above by placing them in the concrete and above the poly.

The plumbing penetrations require a much more more thorough detail. We must encase every penetration through the air barrier and slab in PVC that is roughly 2″ larger in diameter than the penetration. After that is done, the poly air barrier is securely taped to the outside of the PVC. Once we have poured the slab, we then fill the inside of the PVC with spray foam. Any cracks that we don’t like are then sealed with caulk. The detail can be shown in the diagram below. Basically the poly is the air barrier until it reaches the penetration. Then the assembly shown must become the air barrier.

Last but not least, we must wrap the poly up around the edges of the slab like shown below. You can also see the construction details in the previous post on slab insulation. When we set the SIPs walls, we will tape this poly to the inside layer of OSB on the SIPs that will then take over as our air barrier for the rest of the homes.

Questions, comments? This was a lot of work and coordination. If you look closely, you’ll even see our GC in the pics actually taping seams. The dedication. The commitment to extreme Passivity in home building. Fantastic.

I’m currently an undergraduate industrial design student entering my fourth year at The University of the Arts. I was attracted to the school because the program is vastly different from traditional industrial design. Aside from creating a successful product, we are constantly being pushed to take on a larger responsibility. It’s important to broaden the scope of the design process; taking into account the social, economic, and environmental impacts that come along with each design. It’s already upon us – most of us know by now that we cannot continue to design without considering our impacts and what we leave behind. It goes beyond green, in fact some might call it Postgreen. (Sorry, they paid me for that)

Perhaps more important is what exactly I’m doing here. As with any unique project like this, there is virtually an infinite amount of research to be collected and compiled. Research is important – it can be the deciding factor in choosing truly responsible products and services in today’s “greenwashed” market.

Aside from research, I’ve also been working with the team to get the new Postgreen Homes website up. I’m sure you read about it in Nic’s recent post, but basically it’s a well-designed (props to Nimblelight), user-friendly website that walks users through customizing each aspect of their own Postgreen home. I’ve been working on modeling objects in 3D, rendering them in context, and trying to find a consistent way to display them on the site. I’m excited, and I hope a lot of you out there are, as well.

If you’d like to get a little more information about me, take a moment to check out my site. I look forward to keeping you up to date with some of my progress here, and also be sure to follow my updates on twitter.

The event starts at 5:30 and will be held at the Green Depot Manhattan location at 222 Bowery.

So who’s coming?

We will allow two different paths to designing a Postgreen Home. The first will be the Project Path where you can choose a project, specify an exact lot and design a home within the limits of that lot/project. This path will provide you with a deliverable home and an accurate price. The resulting spec sheet can then be used by you and your realtor to purchase the home of your own design.

The second path will be the Open Customization Path where you can design a home without lot constraints. This is the place to play around and see all of the possibilities within our current Postgreen Homes line. The resulting pricing information will be based on the average cost in the areas in which we currently build and will be far less accurate than the Project Path results. Where we build a home has so much to do with that homes final price that it is impossible for us to spit out an exact price for a home that isn’t connected to a project. We can, however, give you a good idea of what it costs to upgrade flooring, switch out appliance packages or choose that fancy faucet you have your eye on.

We hope to officially launch this new site on July 30th, and we are currently planning a big party for that evening. This date will be finalized by the end of June. Invitations will go out through our mailing lists and this blog, so keep an eye out if you want to help us celebrate.

Now I need to get back to work writing content and wrangling graphics for this monster. If you have questions, encouraging words or criticism, put it in the comments.

I’m Megan Braley and don’t worry we won’t be including any of those in the “Extreme Green Kitchen” project, because it’s not just green it’s EXTREME. I’ll have you know that after my work on the Philadelphia Green Kitchen (PGK) Project I have become a toxin-free fanatic.

I have worked countless hours alongside Victoria working towards “greenifying” the kitchen, while treating it as a place for social gathering and healthy living. We are very excited about this opportunity to share our previous research on the PGK project with you, as well as the new discoveries we make while working with Postgreen this summer. Our work will focus on flexibility, conservation, promoting local agriculture and advancing consumer knowledge—all things designed to give the user more power to create their own green, clean, cooking machine!

Perhaps you are asking what qualifies me to design an extreme green kitchen? Well, for the past year I have been a part of a project entitled The Philadelphia Green Kitchen. I am one of six graduate students at the University the Arts in center city Philadelphia looking to “greenify” the kitchen not just through designing recycling, composting, and appliance efficiency into that space; but more importantly through redesigning how people think about their kitchen. As well as how they interact with the resources in it, whether those resources are food, water, energy, or waste.

Our goal over the past year was to create projects that addressed a kitchen user’s habits. Now Postgreen has given me the opportunity to incorporate a portion of the research we have theorized and put it into practice by combining it with the reality of material choices and overall construction that will take place in the months ahead. I will be working most closely on this project with another intern, Miss Megan Braley. We will look forward to keeping you posted on the progress we make on the “Extreme Green Kitchen”, and any other ground breaking/earthshattering/… or just cool information we find on food, energy, water, composting, recycling, cooking, cleaning, eating, etc. etc. of all things kitchen.

Now that we have finished pouring our foundation and have begun putting up our first SIPs panels, we can dig into the nitty gritty of our Passiv Haus construction details. Let’s start with the foundation wall/slab construction and insulation details.

Our Passive House consultants from PHIUS (Passive House Institute of the US) gave us the following basic design rules for our foundation and slab insulation:

1. Under slab insulation of R-50 (10″ of XPS Rigid insulation)
2. Outer foundation wall insulation of R-10 (2″ of XPS Rigid insulation)
3. Separation of the floating slab from all foundation walls with a minimum of 1″ (R-5) of rigid XPS Insulation

I’ll spare you the details, but we did not get to this design in one day. Once these reqs were finalized, we came up with our own version of how we would build the foundation and had it approved by PHIUS. Below are the three main types of foundation details we needed to cover. The standard foundation wall is how most of the perimeter of the foundation is built. The new party wall is the foundation wall in between the two new homes we are building. Finally, the existing party wall is the detail for the party wall next to the existing home on the site next to our Passive House.

Standard Passive House Foundation Wall Detail

Passive House New Party Wall Foundation Detail

Passive House Existing Party Wall Foundation Detail

There are some air sealing details in the above diagrams that we will talk about in more detail in another post coming up. The basic main issue that was difficult to pull off in our foundation, was ensuring that the slab was completely floating and isolated from the foundation walls with at least 1″ of rigid. Typically in Philly, the slabs will rest right on top of the foundation walls for extra support. In our case that would cause too much thermal bridging from the slab to the foundation.

Below are a few more pics of the actual construction.

This summer we have brought on three interns to help us with a variety of projects. Wes Thomas, our first addition, has a broad work description to go with his varied talents. Currently he is making himself incredibly useful in the development of our new website. He contributes research, renderings and a tolerance for our unorthodox work style which we greatly appreciate. Victoria Perez and Megan Braley are our crack kitchen team. They are charged with researching and designing kitchen options, including one extreme green kitchen (tiny fridge? composting sink?) which I hope to build into my own Postgreen Home.

Over the next couple days I will let each of these excellent additions to our team tell you a bit about themselves and what they intend to accomplish this summer. Throughout their time here they will be writing on this blog to keep all of us updated on their work. Hopefully, everyone will learn something in the end . . . just like in the motion pictures.

If you or someone you know is interested in interning at Postgreen, let us know. We have possible openings in our office, our architect’s office and with our builder. Send us an email and we’ll see if you have what it takes to match up to the likes of Wes, Megan and Victoria.