Green Design and Architecture

I’ve always had a soft spot for nooks and crannies.

Hidden spaces turned into showcase areas, utility or storage space–whatever the owner fancies–these unexpected “bumps” in a house always felt warm to me, much like how a loved one’s imperfections end up so endearing.

We didn’t have an architect for our houses in Tagaytay, and my mom pretty much let my dad have his way in designing them.

I recently noticed these unplanned nooks and cranies– what gems!  I can already picture different ways of sprucing them up. 🙂

The Nuvali house will be in the finishing stage in one month (if all goes as planned).

On one hand, I would love for the house to be seamless, flowing in one fluid motion, every space accounted for, which is especially critical because of its compact size.

On the other hand, I wouldn\’t mind seeing nooks and crannies like these come September.

I want these cabinets!

One can never have enough storage room so these would definitely have to be everywhere in my house!

Also love this hidden door that leads to the bedroom:

Images from Dwell.com

When I first read about the Postgreen Homes in Philadelphia on Dwell.com, I got excited because their prototype, the 100K House, looked almost exactly like the dream green home I had in mind for my Avida Settings Nuvali home.

When I looked through their other projects, I got even more excited because these people behind Postgreen–the Ludemans–were already doing (in Philadelphia) what I wanted to do here in the Philippines:  build beautiful, true green homes that were affordable to the middle class.  

The Dwell article referred to the Ludemans as “citizen developers” and I love love love that.  When I was researching about green housing projects for inspiration last year, I came across intentional communities and how variants were coming about left and right.

One interesting version had the people come together first–think of one person teaming up with another to attract even more like-minded people.  They form the neighborhood association and draw up their dream community, and they get specific: where, how big, who, how, what.  Once they gather enough numbers, they property hunt together, and then build the physical community: the roads, permits, subdivisions of the lot, the master plan, etc.

I turned to my dad astounded that such a way of residential development actually existed, but he wasn\’t so sure it would work in the Philippines.  We are, for the most part, loyal only to our families.  The concept of community is weak in the Philippines, or at the very least, it is young.

The Postgreen system is unique in the sense that it doesn\’t aspire for a separate green community.  It builds its green homes in the here and now, fully integrated into existing neighborhoods in the residential districts of Philadelphia.

When I browsed through the other Postgreen Homes on their website, what I found extra interesting was how they built up and improved on the green features of their projects over time:

This one has a third floor and yes, a roofdeck!

The Avant Garage goes beyond the roof deck and includes a green roof:

Summary of features of Postgreen houses:

• Solar Thermal
• Solar PV
• Passive House Air Sealing
• Solatube Daylighting
• Super Insulated
• Air-to-Air Heat Pump
• Heat Pump Water Heater
• Dual Flush Toilet
• Energy Monitoring
• Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) <— aka HRV?
• Rain Collection
• Triple-Pane Windows
• Energy Star Appliances
• Low Flow fixtures
• Low VOC Finishes/Paints
• Double Stud Wall
• Green Roof
• Roof deck
• Private Yard
• Full Basement

I want to do this here, in Manila if able, because it’s where it’s most needed!  Will research which of these design features are applicable (also necessary) to affordable Philippine green housing.

In Avida Settings Nuvali, the only green requirement to build is the dual piping system, which was much of a let down for me. I hoped for more green suggestions from the developer at the very least, if not green requirements.  My own experience in having to fight for my green roof made me realize that although Ayala deserves accolades for initiating the country’s first large scale eco-community project, there is still much to learn and adjust in making this vision of a green community real… And as pioneer residents and stakeholders of Nuvali, that task falls on our shoulders as much as it does on Ayala as developer.

The goal: to build small, sustainable houses at reasonable prices right in the middle of the city, with easy transit access.

Who\’s doing it?  Postgreen Homes in Philadelphia!

Developers Chad Ludeman and his wife Courtney, shown in the picture with their son, built the $100K House (about Php4.2M) in 2009 as their prototype Postgreen Home in East Kensington, Philadelphia:

The 100k House project is our first and most well known project. Designed as a case study for building affordable LEED homes, these two houses have come to represent our ongoing efforts to build better homes for less. Both homes received LEED Platinum certification and the project won the USGBC LEED for Homes Project of the Year Award

The 100K house is about 111 square meters in area (1,200 sq ft), has two bedrooms and one bath.  Green features are as follows:

DISTANCE TO BUS: 2 Blocks
DISTANCE TO TRAIN: 4 Blocks

AMENITIES / DETAILS

• Solar Thermal
• Solar PV
• Passive House Air Sealing
• Super Insulated
• Solatube Daylighting
• Private Yard
• Full Basement
• Air-to-Air Heat Pump
• Dual Flush Toilet

The pictures tugged at my heart because they\’re almost exactly what I had in mind for my Nuvali house: concrete floors, open plan design, flexi rooms!  

Look at these bicycle hooks under the stairs– great way to combine form and function, which I think is at the core of green design.

The house is green through and through, from pricing, to construction cost and materials, to design and energy needs:

The 100K House is close to 70 percent more energy efficient than the older properties next door, thanks to heavy-duty insulation, tight-fitting windows.

I especially like the emphasis on the lifestyle shift that the Ludemans insist on when one decides to go green.  More than anything, it is a paring down, a return to simplicity:

…for average working people to embrace Postgreen’s ethos, they must take Phillips’s ideas about accepting less to heart. The Ludemans’ home consists of two floors, the first little more than a concrete-floored rectangle housing a living space and the kitchen. Upstairs is Chad and Courtney’s modest bedroom, a small room for their son, Teague, and a bathroom that boasts the only door in the house. Bikes hang in plain view beneath the stairs; a small island with an induction cooktop separates the kitchen from the living space.

The home’s furnishings and fixtures are equally humble. A row of bare CFLs hangs from the ceiling of the living area, and the appliances in the kitchen are sturdy, efficient fare from Frigidaire. 

More on the other Postgreen homes later.

Found via Dwell.com
Images from Dwell
Read more on Postgreenhomes.com

COOL!

The 60 x 60 ft. plant billboard, located along Northbound EDSA-Forbes, utilizes a thriving species of Fukien tea plant, which absorbs air pollutants. According to botanist Anthony Gao, each plant can absorb up to 13 pounds of carbon dioxide in a year, on the average. \”This billboard helps alleviate air pollution within its proximate areas as it can absorb a total of 46,800 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, on estimate.\” Gao says.

What\’s the plant billboard made of?

• 3,600 pots of recycled Coke bottles
• potting mixture made up of industrial by-products and organic fertilizers (both stable and light-weight)
• bottles designed to contain the plants securely and allow the plants to grow sideways
• drip irrigation system operated on a schedule to distribute water with nutrients to the plants

Image and info from engadget