- Posted by: Alice
- Category: Architecture, Building, Certifications, LEED, conference, efficiency, interior design, residential
100% Sustainable House at West Coast Green
It is functional. It is technologically advanced. It is beautiful. It is affordable. And it is absolutely green!
It is the Harbinger House, Designed by Lawrence Group. A single-family house entirely built inside the trade show of the West Coast Green Conference, that took place in San Jose, California, last week. “Our goal was to try to produce a product that is economically feasible, and if you’ve got extra money to spend, you can make it a lot nicer,” said architect Eric Heischmidt of the Lawrence Group of St. Louis, Mo. The house is, in fact, sustainable from the structure itself, and everything used to furnish it. It is crafted from five shipping containers by SG Blocks (quite hard to belive just by looking!) for a total area of 1700 sf; containers are a prefabricated, modular recycled product that is growing in popularity as a building material. Windows provide excellent insulation and require less energy to manufacture than traditional windows. The woods used for the interiors are FSC Certified. Wall paints are low-VOC. Lights use low voltage bulbs, and have smart lighting controls. Sheets are made from organic cotton, and household electrical appliances are energy efficient. With GreenPoint and LEED certification in the plans, the Harbinger House is an excellent example of sustainable architecture to follow!
(images courtesy of www.inhabitat.com)
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on October 2nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
ummm, how is this house “100% sustainable”?
on October 2nd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Well, nothing really goes to the 100% sustainable. By the way, these guys really did something exceptional! Everything in the house is chosen to be sustainable, every detail is cured to be green, from the structure to the furniture, from the lights to the roof.. EVERYTHING! I think it could be like a “perfect reference model” in a sustainable-buildings-manual!
Thanks for noticing!
on October 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Do they mention if they’ve worked on ways to make the house sustainable in terms of reusing/filtering water used on site or other methods related to the use of energy on site rather than just the construction materials itself? In essence, is there a system that helps the house be used sustainably vs. built sustainably?
on October 9th, 2008 at 4:17 am
braa!!!
on November 3rd, 2008 at 3:35 am
Interesting! In order to utilize the concept of prefabrication you need good equipment. We have that http://www.randek-bautech.com
Johan