10 Best Green Buildings - 2011 winners

10 best green buildings? Architects pick 2011 winners

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

A house in Racine, Wis., on the edge of Lake Michigan, is one of American Insitute of Architect's top 10 winners this year for sustainable architecture. It takes advantage of the lake breeze and the site's solar exposure to provide natural cross-ventilation and daylight.

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By Farshid Assassi

Buildings that conserve water and energy and use recycled, non-toxic materials don't have to look like boring boxes. To see jaw-dropping possibilities, check out the American Institute of Architects 2011 winners for sustainable architecture.

The 15th annual COTE Top Ten Green Projects program celebrates buildings that not only use few resources but don't harm their sites, have healthy indoor air quality and connect to public transit.

An elementary school in Greensburg, Kan. -- largely destroyed by a 2007 tornado -- also won an AIA award. It had a wind turbine that provides some of its power (the rest comes from a wind farm outside of town).

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By Farshid Assassi

The winners this year include a school in Greensburg, Kan., a town that was nearly flattened by a May 2007 tornado. The school has a 50-kilowatt wind turbine that provides some of its power (the rest comes from a wind farm outside of town).

Another is Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation in Austin, Texas, which used 88% of the materials from a 1950s warehouse to help build -- on the same site -- a multi-functional office space for 62 employees.

Also among the top 10 is a house in Racine, Wis., that won the top or platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. On a narrow lot in an old city neighborhood at the edge of Lake Michigan, it takes advantage of the lake breeze and the site's solar exposure to provide natural cross-ventilation and daylight. The AIA's other seven winners include:

Also an AIA winner for sustainable architecture is Lance Armstrong's LIVESTRONG Foundation in Austin, Texas, which reused 88% of the materials from a 1950s warehouse to build -- on the same site -- a multi-functional office space for 62 employees.

CAPTION

By Casey Dunn

1. Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles
   This urban infill, mixed-use, market-rate housing project was designed to incorporate green design as a way of marketing a green lifestyle. The design maximizes the opportunities of the mild, Southern California climate with a passive cooling strategy.
2. First Unitarian Society Meeting House, Madison, Wis.
   The 20,000-square-foot addition to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed national historic landmark Meeting House is approximately 40% more efficient than a comparable base case facility. The new building design features recycled-content and locally sourced materials.
3. High Tech High Chula Vista, Chula Vista, Calif.
   This public charter school serving 550 students in grades 9-12 with an approach rooted in project-based learning uses a building management system that integrates a weather station and monitors and controls the lighting and mechanical systems of the facilities, in addition to the irrigation and domestic water systems.
4. LOTT Clean Water Alliance, Olympia, Wash.
   While most sewage treatment plants are invisible to their communities and separated by a chain link fence, the LOTT Clean Water Alliance Regional Service Center is a visible and active participant in the public life of Olympia. ...Methane generated from the plant's waste treatment process is used in a cogeneration plant to generate electricity and heat.
5. Research Support Facility (RSF) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colo.
   With the goal of creating the largest commercial net-zero energy structure in the country, the building is meant to serve as a blueprint for a net-zero energy future and influence others in the building industry to pursue low energy and net-zero energy performance.
6. Step Up on 5th, Santa Monica, Calif.
   This mixed-use project provides 46 studio apartments of permanent affordable housing and supportive services for the homeless and mentally disabled population in the heart of downtown Santa Monica. The density of the project is 258 dwelling units/acre, which exceeds the average density of the Manhattan borough of New York City by more than 10%.
7. Vancouver Convention Centre West, Vancouver, British Columbia
   As the world's first LEED Platinum convention center, this project is designed to bring together the complex ecology, vibrant local culture and urban environment, embellishing their inter-relationships through architectural form and materiality. The living roof -- at 6 acres it is the largest in Canada -- hosts some 400,000 indigenous plants.
   
   Source :- USA TODAY

Use of Recycled Plastic Bottles

Hello friends,
As we saw the Use of recycling going to an extreme.. this one is another example of the same.
Since all are only talking about reducing the Plastic waste (majorly generated due to plastic bags and soft drink bottles); here is the great use of it....

Amazing houses made from recycled plastic bottles

Whenever we think of a shelter, from construction to habitation, we crave to beautify it with the best we have at our disposal. Since most of us have neither the resources nor funds to realize our aspirations, why don’t we utilize the superfluous scraps? I am talking about the items that we generally consider as trash: more specifically, the plastic bottles. Using them constructively, eco-creators have fashioned certain eco-homes that simply defy the limits of affordable and sustainable housing. Here we have listed some of them, marvelously made abodes –miracles of recycling – that you would sure love to inhabit:

• Eco-tec’s casa ecológica (Ecological House)

Using some 8,000 PET bottles, EcoTec created the casa ecológica constructed in Honduras. A “living roof” (green roof) made from sod and turf ‘insulates the house better than conventional roofs.’ Weighing 30 metric tons when wet, the 102 square meter (m2) living roof of the casa ecológica has PET bottle walls to support the weight.

• New Schoolhouse in Guatemala built from 6,000 plastic bottles

Reutilization of as many as 6,000 plastic bottles has resulted into an innovative school in Guatemala. Peace Corps volunteer Laura Kutner used plastic trash as construction material and filled the bottles with plastic grocery bags, chip bags, and other waste. Truly Inspiring and innovative, to say the least!

• Mexican House made from plastic and glass bottles

• Serbian House take in 13,500 of them, seeks a place in the Guinness Book of Records

Tomislav Radovanovic, a Serbian mathematics professor from the central town of Kragujevac, has created this 60sq meter house. Working for five long years, Radovanovic made use of plastic bottles for the larger part of the construction –‘only the foundation of the property is concrete.’

• Argentine constructs amazing house from 1200 PET bottles, 1300 Tetra Pack cartons

Alfredo Santa Cruz sought his family’s constructive support to make his dream home. Not satisfied yet with the outcome, he offers ‘free courses about construction with recovered materials (asking only for travel expenses and a place to stay)’ so that others could follow what he had executed to perfection.

• Bottle House at Seattle’s Music and Art Festival

A translucent sun dome made from hundreds of empty recycled bottles is a proof positive of artist Jasmine Zimmerman’s inventiveness. Not exactly a home, the sun dome will grow vegetation. Once the festival nears its conclusion, the eco-home would travel to various places.

• 25,000 plastic bottles re-purposed to make Bolivian bottle house

Some young environmental activists in Bolivia collected about 25,000 plastic bottles and built a home out of them in six months time. Filling the bottles with sand and reinforcing it with steel and cement, they created strong walls. The first of the ‘bottle houses’ was completed in Warnes, in the eastern province of Santa Cruz. The fanatical group plans to build ten more houses.

Source :- greendiary.com

Sustainable Architecture and Existing Home

How to Incorporate Green Sustainable Architecture Into Your Existing Home
By Joan One

Joan One is a freelance journalist and creative writer who immensely enjoys writing and researching into any topic under the Sun. She specializes in writing ...

As more people around the world try to find more ways of reducing their carbon footprint, environmentally conscious homeowners are turning to ideas for the incorporation of green architecture into their existing homes. Sustainable architecture is based on the idea that the design of a building or home should have the least impact on the environment as possible. Green architecture therefore creates a cleaner living environment, while using cost effective energy saving building techniques.

In order to incorporate sustainable green architecture into your already existing home, you will first need to contract the services of a sustainable architect to bring to reality your dream for greener living. A sustainable architect knows that every component in a building can comprise of sustainable architecture, such as renewable building materials, building design, active and passive heating and cooling, water conservation methods as well as natural and artificial lighting. The architect will be able to advise you on how best to incorporate green architecture into your home through the use of sustainable materials for your home finishes. For instance, you may include sustainable materials for your wall surfaces, countertops and flooring with finishes such as salvaged steel, recycled plastic as well as locally mined and produced tiles and stones.

When it comes to paint, opt for the low toxic paints and finishes to coat both the exterior and interior of your home. Install a low flush toilet which will enable you to conserve water usage. As you do your shopping, always check the product labels and only buy home building products that contain low levels of volatile organic compounds. Be sure to conduct an energy audit of your home where it will be inspected for any spots with leaks which require added insulation. Remember that a tightly sealed home which is properly insulated will help you save on heating bills and usage.

Joan One is a freelance journalist and creative writer who immensely enjoys writing and researching into any topic under the Sun. She specializes in writing "green" eco-friendly topics aimed at enabling environmentally conscious readers to find simple ways to reduce their carbon footprint and help save our planet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5658185

Inspiring Creations with Recycled Materials

Hello Friends,
Came across an article about use of recycled materials... I was amazed seeing this..
Hope you all will also like.

12 incredible creations that take recycling to an extreme

In the modern world many perfectly shaped materials are thrown away in landfills, which could have been used elsewhere to reduce production of new items and emissions associated with new production. Some creative minds are working to help the environment by creating unique works of art from discarded materials, at all scales. Some do this for sheer pleasure for art and conscience, while others do it on largest possible scales to bring out an all new meaning of the word recycling. Here we have tried to feature arts and creations of such brave minds that have given an all new direction to the concept of trash art and have left us mesmerized with the grandness of their works. Hit the jump to read on for 12 such out of the world creations, we love for their efforts and vastness in form.

• Bruce Munro’s Inland Sea

Artist Bruce Munro has reused about one million unwanted compact discs to create a shimmering inland sea at Long Knoll Field in Wiltshire, England. Apart from some local collections, the massive sea used more than 600,000 discarded CDs that were sent from as far away as Brazil and California. The 120sqm carpet of glittering CDs reflects light from the sun and the moon across a 10-acre field.

• WHIM Architecture’s Recycled Island

WHIM Architecture are proposing a gigantic recycled island that will be made from plastic waste collected from the North Pacific Gyre. The bold project will not only help clean the oceans, but it might just be a perfect home for climate refugees. Waste will be converted into 4000 square miles of recycled plastic land upon which plastic communities will be built. The habitable area of the island will be designed as an urban setting with a green living environment.

• Container City

Several Mexican designers have taken container recycling to a grand scale by creating a “Container City” out of them. The city offers 4500 m2 of urban space about two hours from Mexico City and makes use of 50 metal containers that are recycled into hippie stores, bookstores, art galleries, bars, restaurants, bakeries, juice bars and work and living spaces.

• Minnie Evans Bottle Chapel

Constructed as a garden retreat this recycling wonder is located at Airlie Gardens, Wilmington, NC, and has been constructed entirely from recycled bottles, cement and chicken wire by local artist Virginia Wright-Frierson.

• Grandma Prisbrey’s Bottle Village

Built by Tressa Prisbrey (better known as Grandma Prisbrey) over a period of 25 years this bottle village is created from recycled beer bottles. The project includes 13 full-size structures, an impressive mosaic walkway and several shrines and wishing wells.

• Holiday Inn’s Key Card Hotel

The designer of this amazing plastic palace amassed about 200,000 unwanted plastic slips and converted them into a guest house. The hotel includes a guest room, bathroom and lobby, all fully furnished with life-size furniture all made from the same materials.

• Spiral Island

Created from over 250,000 plastic bottles and other recycled materials, the Spiral Island is open to public and could be one of the most impressive DIY projects of modern times.

• Minister’s Treehouse

Created by Horace Burgess the Minister’s Treehouse is a 10-story treehouse in Crossville, Tennessee. The enormous treehouse covers an area of between 8000 to 10,000 square-feet and is built entirely from wood that has either been donated or is salvaged from barns and garages. The designers has spent $12,000 on the building, most of which went into purchasing about 258,000 nails.

• Beer Bottle House

This Beer Bottle House is the creation of Tito Ingenieri who has spent 19 years in building this recycling wonder using about 6 million beer bottles. Quite obviously, the home doesn’t look sleek or chic but considering that the guy has spent close to two decades on the same, we have to give him some credit for recycling.

• Toilet Seat Waterfall

Created as an art project in China, this unique waterfall is made up of thousands of recycled toilet seats, urinals and sinks.

• Rock Garden

The Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India has been created by Nek Chand, a government official who started the garden secretly in his spare time in 1957. Today the garden is spread over an area of 160,000sqm and is completely built of industrial waste, home waste and other thrown-away items. The garden features man-made interlinked waterfalls and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap.

• Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew Temple

Created by some monks, this Buddhist temple reuses about a million recycled beer bottles. This spectacular structure uses the green colored bottles of Heineken Beer and brown colored bottles of Chang Beer, which not only makes it look beautiful but also serves as a good book to educate the disciples on the benefits of recycling and environment conservation.

Source:- ecofriend.com