join us at West Coast Green
West Coast Green is always a go-to conference for green building innovators and leaders in the west. This year it will be September 30 – October 2 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, and the line-up is looking great. Some personal favorite highlights include William McDonough “Unplugged” where he will go into 3-hour a [...]
Contours added to the Zero Series
A few weeks ago we launched our new Zero Series homes and are excited today to add the Contours0™ home designs to the collection.
The Contours0 is designed to collaborate with the landscape, connecting with the outdoors, while providing all the eco-luxuries of sustainable living. The contoured sloping roofs create visual movement, and a blending [...]
seeds of peace
All of the media around questions of the mosque being built near Ground Zero is a powerful reminder of how intense and raw feelings are and how quickly those those feelings can turn to hatred and to violence. Hatred of the other is at the root of what caused the horrific and devastating loss on [...]
coastal living
I love spending time in Big Sur and am quite thankful to have a few projects there. While only a few hours from San Francisco, it feels decades and lifetimes away. The mixture of the steep bluffs, the big sky, and epic ocean view seems to put everything into perspective. We have been very fortunate [...]
modest materiality
This recently completed residential care building for The New Camaldoli Hermitage (the coolest monks I have ever met) in Big Sur is a great example of the use of modest eco-materials used in elegant ways. The monks of The New Camalodoli Hermitage have made a life commitment to stay at the monastery and their cells [...]
chair label
This is such a cute idea.
I was in Maine last weekend for a meeting and was inspired by my friend Jane’s unique approach to the typcially annoying stickers from fruit. Rather than throwing them away, she has been using them to clad old chairs. The chairs are thus given a new, colorful life while telling [...]
launch of new designs!
We are very pleased to announce the launch of new Zero series green prefab homes!
Simple and elegant, the Zero series homes include the Ridge0™, the Vista0™ and the Contours0™. These new homes are designed to be net zero energy (where they produce as much energy as the need), healthy, comfortable, and smart. The spaces [...]
the beauty of the car wash
When considering what is the most eco-friendly way to wash your car – at the car wash or in your driveway – most people don’t realize that washing a car in ones driveway can be one of the most environmentally unfriendly things we can do. Unlike household waste water that enters sewers or septic systems [...]
shady laundry
I have been fascinated the past few years with designing for the hanging of laundry (see previous blog posts). Dryers use a great deal of electricity since they rely on the heat to dry the clothes, therefore produces carbon emissions. Whereas clotheslines require no energy, create no carbon emissions, saving you money, and even helping [...]
tix for cusp
If you are thinking about going to the Cusp Conference 2010 in Chicago on September 22/23 (I am giving a talk there), here is a great way to get tickets. You can bid on 2 tickets (worth $3000) and the proceeds go to the fabulous organization Project H.
Currently the bid is only $200!
Email emily@projecthdesign.org to [...]
poetry in the details
I recently had the pleasure of meeting one of the best living architects, Kengo Kuma. His work has such a simple elegance, using modest materials in unique ways to create spatial poetry. Whether it be using bamboo structurally while it feels like it disappears, stone panels that seem to float, ephemeral structures using blow-up walls [...]
live in a museum
Wow. This is pretty amazing.
The Museum of Science and Industry is inviting an adventurous, curious soul to live in the museum 24/7 for 30 days, AND (wait for it)…will pay them $10,000 to do so.
This is one of my all-time favorite museums from when I was small (which was a super long time ago), and [...]
leaving a trace
During a recent visit to the very interesting Architecture of Necessity exhibit at the Virserum Museum in Smaland, Sweden, I was moved by this sculptural piece by AIX Architects. The installation is comprised of a series of pieces of plywood that have been laser cut. The outer portion is a very crisp, hard plane, while [...]
green it yourself: LED twig chandelier
If you have any trees in your garden, chances are there is the occasional pruning, trimming and clean up. Typically the debris then goes to landscape waste or compost. However, you might consider giving it another life, allowing those twigs to provide beauty and function in something like this LED twig chandelier. The ones shown [...]
More than Passive
I spent last week in Sweden at the Architecture for Necessity conference at the Virserums Museum and had the great pleasure to spend time with famed Austrian architect Walter Unterrainer. Although he is introduced to me as “one of the world’s great Passivhaus experts” (and having designed over 100 built Passivhaus homes, he has [...]
Independence Day
The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. It is a day to unabashedly be proud of our country, to remember what it stands for, and to enjoy our local communities. In years past some of the memorable Fourths included the parade and gatherings with friends in Sausalito when we lived there, a [...]
cool and clean
This fan by Dyson is pretty interesting. It draws air in and amplifies it 15 times, producing an uninterrupted stream of smooth air. Since there are no blades, it means it is safe and easy to clean. Plus the design is aesthetically clean and simple. The technology is used in a range of fan [...]
sky planting
Defy gravity and reduce watering by 80% through the use of these unique upside-down planters by Boskke. These plants in the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry show that you can save space (maximize your floorspace), conserve water (potted plants commonly lose water through evaporation and drainage which [...]
education in a box
One of my very favorite green products on the market is the Earthbox. The Earthbox doubles the yield of a conventional garden, with less water, less fertilizer, virtually no effort. They are great for adding to your courtyard, roof deck, balcony or backyard. Earthbox is also wonderful for countries short on water, healthy food [...]
shelter movie: an architect driving change
After spending a lovely morning of coffee and great company with film maker and writer Lee Schneider, he shared part of our conversation on his Shelter Movie blog. You can read it by clicking HERE.
Lee’s Shelter movie will be a must-see, as it is about the right of every person to have a roof over [...]
the green godfather – sim van der ryn
After spending time with Sim Van Der Ryn, one of our great green godfathers, I am reminded of the essential beauty of ecological design. Sim has been a leader in sustainable architecture since the 1970s.As the New York Times writes:
As Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem were to the women’s movement, so Mr. Van der Ryn [...]
summer solstice = big energy
Happy Summer Solstice! June 21st, the official beginning of summer, has much symbolism in many cultures, but also, since it is the longest day of the year with the most hours of sun also means it can be the biggest Solar PV energy producing day as well. Enjoy the long, sunny (and productive) day!
bottles as bricks
I love opening up my email in the morning when it includes examples like this one of innovative ways to re-use materials with low embodied energy. These images are of homes and buildings built with bottles that are filled with mud, making them as strong as bricks. This is a low-cost, easy-to-build way to not [...]
diy coat rack
I am not a fan of visual clutter, which is why I love this super simple, yet elegant idea for a coat rack. Designed by Vytautas Gecas, it uses just two materials: a concrete base vessel and a series of wood rods with rounded edge tops. You could vary the height of the rods, [...]
