sustainable building: REALLY Recycled Housing!
- 06/10/09 06:02 PM
In the process of working with a client who is dedicated to sustainable living, I discovered a really cool company in Austin, TX. These folks really know how to walk the talk. Their homes are built and then hauled to the site ready to be occupied. They are constructed from reclaimed materials. The materials used are from deconstructed homes and would otherwise wind up in landfills. The utilize passive solar design, great insulation and thoughtful touches like single pitch roofs which makes collecting rain water much simpler. These are designed to be small spaces so they can be relocated but I can't imagine any … (4 comments)
sustainable building: Cradle to Cradle Thinking
- 12/28/08 06:21 AM
In 2003 William McDonough wrote, "Why not shift the focus of green design from managing the environmental impact of a destructive system to creating buildings and materials that generate wholly positive effects for people and nature." He suggests that we might begin to consider a shift to good design rather than just green design. As an example, he points to a highly rated green built building in which the air quality was worse than the outdoor air. Although great pains had been taken to seal the building from outdoor air leaks and it had great insulation and was very energy efficient, no … (5 comments)
sustainable building: Samuel Mockbee and an Architechture of Decency
- 10/08/08 07:33 PM
Given the current confusion in the housing market, I found myself looking for a different way to view the the context of the places we live. I picked up a book I have not looked at for a while RURAL STUDIO It tells the story of a teacher, his students and a poor community in Alabama. The teacher is Samuel Mockbee and the students are his architecture students at Auburn University. The introduction explains that Mockbee believes that his profession has an ehical responsibility to improve living conditions for the poor. To that end, he inspired his students to create real buildings … (3 comments)
sustainable building: Affordable "Green" Home
- 01/16/07 03:14 PM
Most of us are aware that "green" building is going mainstream. Most of us realize that it behooves us to mention features like passive solar heating, active solar systems, themal windows insulation upgrades or energy rated appliances and systems in our listing and advertising materials. Unfortunately many people still belive that sustainable building means huge expense. Recently my QB was helping his neice find a home. She was a typical first time homebuyer with a restricted budget. Fortunately, her expectations were more reasonable than most. They had just terminated a contract on a house she liked because the listing agent had missed several deadlines … (0 comments)
My blog is as much about a philosophy of life and living as it is about real estate as a business. E.F. Shumacher subtitled his book SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL "Economics as if People Mattered" In the real estate industry we realize that people matter and that where they live matters. We now also have a larger responsiblity, I believe, to get them to consider HOW they live. Everyone in the developed world using less energy and resources makes it possible for those who have access to neither to experience a better life and to make the difference between their being able to having a roof overhead or not or for their children to eat or not.
In the process of working with a client who is dedicated to sustainable living, I discovered a really cool company in Austin, TX. These folks really know how to walk the talk. Their homes are built and then hauled to the site ready to be occupied. They are constructed from reclaimed materials.
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