Het Leven Housing

Conceptual "Living Building" Project Displays Integrated Design, Sustainability and Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:00:00 +0000

http://www.weberthompson.com/eco-laboratory.html

SEATTLE – Dec. 3, 2008 – Weber Thompson today announced that Eco-Laboratory, a conceptual high-rise project designed by four young designers at the firm, won the 2008 Natural Talent Design Competition at Greenbuild the USGBC's annual International Conference and Expo in Boston.

Eco-Laboratory is a theoretical project set at the corner of Western Avenue and Vine Street in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, adjacent to the historic Belltown Cottage Park and the Belltown P-Patch, a community garden. The conceptual design envisions a residential building and expanded garden, merging the existing neighborhood amenities – such as the neighborhood market, vocational training facility and a public sustainability educational center – into a financially viable residential development.

Travelodge Hotel from 86 shipping containers

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:36:00 +0000

Inhabitat » TRAVELODGE HOTEL MADE FROM SHIPPING CONTAINERS

I wish I could read Dutch! This man's ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:08:00 +0000

are simply incredible - and so versatile

http://www.vandkunsten.com/uk/Projects/housing/1-35.t

There's a great photo slideshow up on flickr as well

Beginning drawings

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:33:00 +0000

A snapshot of where we are now with the conceptual drawings

More Cargo housing

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:29:00 +0000

MoCo Loco - Boucher/Grygier

This time using refrigerated truck beds (insulation included - something we should look into). Amazing at how "normal" they look with just a paint job, no fancy covering added to the outside to make them fit in.

And the interior photos are amazing.

NC Sustainable Building Design Competition - we can't use this project

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 01:02:00 +0000

Just finished reading the requirements for the competition - each team has to design a duplex for a specific lot to be built with Self Help assistance. The fact that it's got to be a duplex, in the 4,000 sq footage range, to be built in the RTP area and climate really would have us doing alot of work that wouldn't be usable for this project.

Oh well. But it's still a great way for the State and various schools to promote awareness of Sustainable Design. Something this 600 mile long state that keeps increasing population so much needs to be looking at, almost as much as they need to do some serious re-evaluation of their transportation systems and what the future needs to be focusing on.

Here's the entry guidelines for the competition if anyone is interested in reviewing them.
http://www.advancedenergy.org/sbdc/challenge/2008%20requirements_final.pdf

Also talked to Dmitry, he's graduated so we'll need to find someone else to help with the drawings and renderings.

Everything old is new again

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:03:00 +0000

Of course this was in 1934, today's pricing would be a little higher.

Modern Mechanix » Boxcar Homes for $3 Per Month

Boxcar Homes for $3 Per Month

AN INNOVATION in living quarters is represented in a boxcar village which has recently sprung up in New York City.

Inhabitants of this unique village, pictured below, pay only $3 a month rent, or $6 a week for room and board—reasonable enough in these hard times.

Each boxcar—there are 40 in number— is equipped to sleep four men with respectable comfort, and has a wood stove, washing accommodations, and a carpet.

When good times come back—which won’t be long now—the village will probably be abandoned.

Alert business men, however, or leaders of groups of organized unemployed should take a tip from this project and petition the heads of their local railroad for the use of old box cars and spurs. A very useful community can be built from the bodies of old box cars, as they are in the most cases very well built to carry grain and other perishable bulk commodities, and hence make easy buildings to convert into livable homes. Being tight they are easy to heat. A winter’s supply of wood for the community can be had by wrecking other cars.

noreply@blogger.com (Billay!) — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:08:00 +0000

http://www.clippermill.net/

hey all,
check out this site. these developers are urban renewal only - no green site development, usually just reclaimed industrial and degrading historic sites....moderately green building...great architecture. i'm staying here tonight before coming back to boone tomorrow - it's pretty freakin sweet.

-billy

Push Button House

noreply@blogger.com (flying elephants) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 02:25:00 +0000

it is a video of a cargo contianer made into a house that opens by remote contol... plus other interisting housing projects.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1329255544/bctid1333278097

Solar hot water and electric in the same tile

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:34:00 +0000

Tiles installed like regular roofing shingles that heat water with solar energy AND produce electric. What a concept! And they're winning all the awards for such forward thinking - as well they should.

Wouldn't it be great if we could use them as awnings to help with both hot water and electric in addition to helping to channel run off water for re-use in the gardens?

SolarCentury

the meeting with Janet Montgomery 12/12/07

noreply@blogger.com (flying elephants) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:39:00 +0000

Problems they faced with the art community center:

Rent of building/property
Cost per square foot for studio space- artist agreeing on cost at a realistic bracket

Who gets windows… do you charge more

Who could use the center- studio space/gallery space

jury

open

what kind of artists: clientele, price brackets

marketing

more than advertising…

reputation

community support

maintenance

who will clean

how will people be held accountable

security

locking doors

protecting art

ensuring space used appropriately

not artist studio space not living space

not a social party space

Insurance

For art

For public use

For potentially dangerous activities, ie welding

OSHA

Meeting standards for ventilation

Health codes

Structural elements

Fire code

Money

Where is the money coming from

Grants

Donations

Loans

Creating a realistic budget

How will it sustain its self

How do you get a bunch of non-conformist to adhere to a set structure?

Additional things we should think about:

involving the community

all of the families are interconnected so don’t be careful not to burn bridges or talk down on anyone

talk to the mayor

create a web of possible allies or other groups that can benefit

combating the resistance to anything new/unfamiliar

visual aesthetics

have solid visuals of the structure to accompany the proposal to counter the negative stigma attached to cargo containers

Space saving wall installed furniture

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:46:00 +0000

I was poking around for some idea to redo downstairs #3 and came across Murphy beds. There's a number of reasons that would work for that room but it also made me think about the space in the Cargo container apartments.

If we're building these for student housing, maybe we can make them a little more friendly to live in regardless of the smaller space.

I found a bed that folds up and becomes a desk - functional, practical and totally usable for this scenario.

Kitchen counters or tables could be done similarly to keep the spaces feeling as open and roomy as possible

energy!

noreply@blogger.com (Billay!) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:59:00 +0000

http://www.skystreamenergy.com/skystream/product-info/
one of the better grid-tie systems, should be legal in watauga. prob give 300-500 kwh/month since out estimate avg wind speed in the valley is 9-13 mph. integrated inverter! w00t!

this guy is a really good one to talk to (sugar grove):
http://www.appalachianenergysolutions.com/

compost looks like its only viable in conjunction with solar thermal from what i've seen so why not just go all solar thermal of PV? like something modeled after this?
http://www.solarhottub.com/
also clear dome makes a pad that helps raise temperatures in conjunction with other heating methods:
http://home.att.net/~cleardomesolar/waterheatingpads.html

also green house, even a simple one would be key to starting seeds early for the rooftop garden. compost can easily be used to heat that or we could go all out bioshelters.

solar hot water: we should be able to offset 50-70% of hot water needs with well placed solar thermal panels...
a really cool index of projects, some useful, some not:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm
a couple panels (sol makes some of the better ones...):
http://www.solar-components.com/actvdhw.htm

take a look and tell me what you think! also, let's look at microhydro resources cause i got a ton of info on that...

-billy

What if we could create a "living building"?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:50:00 +0000

Over lunch, a few of us were sitting around talking and the subject of using cast off cargo containers for affordable, sustainable housing came up. The more we all brainstormed, the more it became apparent that there is both a need in the area for more of this type of housing and that we can pool together our skills and knowledge to make it happen (assuming we can get the money together).

We're all students at Appalachian State University - which has a phenomenal Sustainable Development program, plus Interior Design, Architecture, Land Use & Space planning - so we have an incredible talent pool to draw on and a fairly large percentage of the student body and local community that are interested in sustainable development to provide public support.

In talking over the project requirements, we've decided to form as a Non profit, to develop the project with a concern for community involvement and additionally provide space for a community gathering center that various groups can use for meeting space. Some of the units should be living/studios while others will provide one or two bedroom apartments. Ideally, we can develop this with a rooftop garden, recycling the gray water from the laundry and capture the waste heat from the building to provide a sauna (possibly with the help of captured heat from a compost pile).

Some cool places for ideas