Solar Powered Townhouses Open in Cambridge, Massachusetts
To create this sustainable housing for downtown Cambridge, Homeowner’s Rehab Inc hired Mostue & Associates Architects and held multiple “green meetings” to develop a Sustainability Charter for Trolley Square.
The 40 affordable residential units and 2,800 square feet of commercial and community space, an underground garage, and 14,000 square feet of open space are designed to bring an infusion of energy and foot traffic for the many locally-owned businesses along this stretch of Massachusetts Avenue.
Originally the roof was not designed for solar, because funding came late. It had no parapet, which put some constraints on construction. Consequently, Lighthouse Electrical Contracting had to install the 43 KW solar system so it could withstand 120 mile per hour winds.
Walking is encouraged by an internal raised garden that is planted above the garage roof, forming a central plaza. Entrances are raised above the courtyards, and are personal and individual, suggesting the townhouses in the area.
Eco benefits:
Photovoltaic array installed on the roof provides solar energy
Energy-efficient lighting and appliances
Common area lights use occupancy and daylight sensors and timers
High efficiency boilers, thermostats and variable speed fans
Cellulose insulation in walls exceeds code by 30 percent
Windows are insulated with argon-filled glazing and low-E coating
Low flow showers and dual-flush toilets
Storm water retention tanks slow the flow of storm water
Drought-tolerant native plants on the grounds get rain harvested irrigation
No asphalt/parking lots: underground garage is under a central planted courtyard
Low-VOC paints and sealants throughout
Source: DesignAdvisor
Painting Your Home: A Look into The Psychology of Colors
The following article was written by Philip Rudy who helps run and maintain a painting contractor website. If you would like to write a guest post please contact us.
Color psychology is a prime consideration for artists seeking to inspire powerful emotions in the people that view their work. However, you can also use the psychology of colors when painting your home to increase its market selling potential and make it stand out in your neighborhood. Most people are familiar with the concept that bright colors add the illusion of size while darker colors can often make a home seem smaller. However, when painting your home, a look into the psychology of colors requires a slightly more advanced approach – especially when considering the time of year that you plan on selling your home and the buyers that you are targeting.
Seasonal Colors Set the Right Mood
When you decide to paint your home before putting it on the market, you can boost the property appeal by taking the season into account. For example, during the warm summer months, using a cool color might, at first glance, give the illusion of a smaller property. However, this darker color also inspires feelings of comfort with potential home shoppers and promises a welcome break from the summer heat. In contrast, you can use bright, rich colors to contrast with harsh winter weather and give the illusion of welcoming heat. If you go for a bright color, don’t forget to use semi-gloss or gloss paint on wood trim to give your paint job that special twinkle.
Design Dilemma: Changing the Color of Your Wood Floor
You may have a light beech wood floor, a dark mahogony wood floor or a mid-tone oak wood floor. And you’ve probably lived happily with whatever floor you happen to have. Then, one day, you may have awakened to find you were ready for a change. Can you really make a change in your wood floor color without completely pulling up the planks?
You bet!
Your options include:
Colored oils. If you’re looking to vary the tone of your wood without making a drastic change, a colored oil may be your best option. Solid wood floors in pine, oak or beech that usually finished with a colorless oil can be shifted into a different wood tone by selecting an oil of a different color. You can find oils in variations of brown, gray, off-white and black. Check with the manufacturer of your floor and the manufacturer of the oil to ensure that whatever oil you choose will work with your floor.
Wood stains. If you opt for a wood stain you’ll find you can achieve a greater variation in color than with simple colored oils. If you want to take your beech or pine floor much darker, it’s possible to achieve that through using a wood stain. Not only is there a huge range of stain colors, but it’s even possible to adjust a stain color yourself by concentrating or diluting the stain. Most wood stains come in colors like “antique pine” and “light oak” but you can also find stronger more definitive colors of black, white and red if you’re going for a more contemporary look.
Varnish. You can change the color of your wood floor also by choosing a different colored varnish. You can choose either a water-based or oil-based varnish which will also help lend some resilience to your finish. If you want to go darker, a clear varnish will usually create this effect. A colored varnish in shades like “beech,” “rich mahogany,” “oak” or “pine” can allow you to change your pale floor into something much darker or to give your honey-coloured wood an even warmer look.
The most dramatic change: paint.
Stains, oils and varnishes can give your wood a different tone, but it seldom leads to truly dramatic changes. That’s especially true if your wood is a dark variety to begin with. So what if you want to take your ebony floors to a much lighter finish? Try paint. Not only will you be able to create almost any shade you choose but you can also create different patterns. Again, check that you are buying paint made to withstand the beating that floors normally take. Be sure to use a primer first. Depending on the paint color you choose, you may need several coats. The big benefit of painting a floor is that you can dramatically change the look and feel of your home at relatively low cost. And if you tire of the color you’ve chosen, just grab a paintbrush!
Images: decor.lux-interior.com; apartmenttherapy.com
Studio Mumbai Wows Me Again
The garden of a lyrical, subtle house from Bijou Jain of Studio Mumbai is a key player in this design. It appears to walk right through the house. A quiet craftsmanship is evident throughout the Belavali House, set in a lush mango orchard in tropical India.
Every detail you see has been created by Jain’s artisanal team. Even the brass door hinges are handcrafted.
Brass and teak throughout soften and contrast to the silky smooth concrete, hand-polished to an deep, purplish, greenish, iridescent luster that defies a color name.
Silky smooth concrete forms floors and walls both inside and out.
Attention to detailing creates a smooth radius at every 90º junction, forming a seamless surface that is both beautiful and, in the tropics, practical.
As with the gorgeous Palmyra House – Studio Mumbai uses a lot of teak louvres. ‘Most of the houses I do are built for the rain,’ says Jain. ‘The monsoon is stunning. There is no noise from the rain, but there is a certain sound; a sort of silence in the rains. There is something lyrical about it.’ Read the rest of this entry »
Off-Grid in Costa Rica: ISEAMI Teaches Eco Architecture
The ISEAMI institute – Institute of Sustainability, Ecology, Art, Mind and Investigation – is a simple and gorgeous eco structure designed by Robles Arquitectos and sited in the OSA peninsula of Cost Rica.
Sited far away from everything in the jungle – it is of necessity, entirely off the grid. Local jobs are few and the natural environment must be protected. This structure is intended as a teaching opportunity for sustainable tropical design.
Power comes from a solar system on the roof. It is perfectly oriented to have the optimum conditions to generate 10,800 kWh a year of electricity. The house is sited far from power lines, so all the electricity is stored on-site. Some additional electricity is fed in from two micro-hydroelectric turbines in the nearby river.
Giant polycarbonate skylights bring in diffused cool daylight: the deep overhangs keep out most direct sunlight.
Part of the roof is used for a solar hot water heater that provides hot water, warming the pool and heating the water for washing dishes and taking showers. The house is so far from civilization, there is also no public water supply, so the water is brought in from the forest.
The exoskeleton design is informed by the climate. The region is extremely humid, but at an almost perfect year round temperature, and so the house is designed to be open and airy to maximize the movement of air to offset the humidity, including above the ceiling.
Centria‘s Versawall and Versapanel SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) were chosen for construction, normally a commercial construction material.
Because the interior and the exterior face of a SIP is already sealed into single units, they could be used both for the roof/ceiling, and for the walls. Chosen for their ease of installation, light weight, low maintenance and resistance to humidity, they brought the construction cost down to $63 per square foot.
Bright LED lighting uses a tiny fraction of the energy of incandescent lights, and gives off no heat.
Around the exterior, TREX louvres, that are constructed of recycled plastics modulate temperatures and resist rot. Any off-gassing does not endanger indoor air quality.
Robles Arquitectos aims to not only minimize the impact of structures on the environment – but also, to minimize the impact of the surrounding environment, the humidity, invasive insects, and potential for mold growth on the building.
The Brittany Groundhouse: a Sophisticated Earthship
Here’s a rustic 21st century eco holiday home that offers a chance to recharge in a magical setting. Imagine driving in at night to this welcoming solar and stone cottage set in the forests of Brittany.
The Brittany Groundhouse is available for rentals from owner-builders Daren Howarth and Adi Nortje at certain times of the year. Simultaneously ancient and modern, the house takes from the past and suggests a more sustainable future.
Step outside to see the sun drum up the power to run the electrical needs of the dwelling – including handcrafted LED light fixtures that use only a tiny fraction of the energy of CFLs. The surplus is sold to the grid.
Using traditional Earthship building technologies, and with the help of a team, the pair hand-built their earth-sheltered eco home from stones and earth they found on a site that has been lived in continuously for thousands of years. Read the rest of this entry »
For Athletes in Training: A Raised Ring Has No Impact on its Site
Sited within a huge reservoir in Caceres, Spain, on a peninsula that seems as if it was created just for this building is a space created by Jose Maria Sanchez Garcia for athletes in training, in a tranquil, landscaped setting.
A minimal raised ring design provides just over 2,000 square feet of interior space in peaceful harmony with its surroundings. The low impact new Sports Research Centre is an Emerging Architecture Awards winner. The continuous ring shape is a familiar shape for athletes who train and compete in circles.
The athletes can walk in the clean air all the way around on top of the 23-foot-wide building on a curved rooftop walkway with an elevated view of the beautiful surroundings. Read the rest of this entry »
Grid House Suspended Between Green Roof + a Green “Ground” Floor
A peaceful water mirror forms part of the roof of the Grid House by Forte, Gimenes & Marcondes Ferraz Architects, and it echoes a larger body of water at the end of the site.
But most of the roof is a green roof.
The house is suspended above ground, designed for a humid part of Brazil.
It is designed on a grid. Some of the grid’s modules are closed environments, and other ones are totally empty frames… for now.
Because of the empty spaces, the trees from the garden below are able grow up through the structure.
These trees will then seem to sprout from an extension of the hilltop grass that forms the green roof that you can traverse like a garden by walking on the green roof, which extends the land on each side. Read the rest of this entry »
Design Dilemma: Bringing Home Some Vacation Style
If you’re like many of us, you may have just returned from a summer vacation where you ate to your heart’s content, relaxed, and perhaps discovered new beauty in exotic locales. Part of the fun may have been staying in an interior with a totally different look from your own home. Maybe a mountain chalet, an Italian villa, a whitewashed Greek cliffside abode, or an island hut. Want to keep the magic flowing once you’re home again? Here are a few ideas:
Indulge in textiles. Nearly every exotic locale has its own traditional textiles which can include rugs, wall hangings and fabrics for clothing, curtains and interiors. An easy way to bring your vacation experience home is to pick up a particularly striking textile piece and bring it home with you. Use it as a wall hanging, a bedspread, a drape, or to recover a piece of furniture or a cushion.
Go minimal. Something you may have noticed in your travels is that most people around the world live simply. And if you stayed in a hotel or a vacation rental, chances are you also stayed in a place that was uncluttered and lightly furnished. Why not try the same look at home by clearing out the clutter?
Above, a French weekend home is colorful, but uncluttered. Below, designer Paolo Navone exercises restraint in her simple, all-white Greek isle vacation home.
Invest in a mosquito net. Gauzy, romantic, and oh-so necessary in many warm climates, a mosquito net is an easy way to bring a little bit of vacation romance to your bedroom. Plus, this is one decorative touch that’s also quite functional!
Toss the electronics. Okay, you probably don’t want to actually get rid of all your high-tech devices, and yet, part of the beauty of the vacation experience is the break we all get from TVs, computers, stereos, video games, etc. So make your home feel more restful by reducing the display of high-tech gadgets. You might invest in furniture that can keep your electronic toys out of sight, or you might consider eliminating some electronics altogether. (Banish the TV from your bedroom, to start). It’s a great way to feel like your on vacation, without spending a dime!
Images: apartmenttherapycom., elledecor.com, Vogue.
Dolce Gusto: Your Own Personal Coffee Shop
We all love coffee. What would you say about a personal coffee shop, right in your kitchen? With the futuristic Dolce Gusto it is now possible! The single serve coffee maker makes great Lungo, Aroma, Cappuccino, Latte Macchiato Ice, Chococino and three types of espresso. Dolce Gusto does not only look fantastic, it’s smart and user-friendly: equipped with a 15 bar pressure pump and an automatic pressure adjuster, it extracts the best flavors and delivers the drink of your choice the best way it can be prepared. Also, it saves energy by going to stand-by after being idle for more than 20 minutes. Enhanced by a blue LED back light, the modern Dolce Gusto coffee maker comes in 4 colors: white or charcoal gray for € 150, and metal red or grey for € 180. [via]
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