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Green Built

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The following pages and articles on this website are also tagged "Green Built":

  • Nevada City Cohousing Earns National Award
    February, 2008

    The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) has announced that McCamant & Durrett Architects are the recipients of the Silver 2008 Energy Value Housing Award for their Nevada City Cohousing project. The NAHB searches for the best in the country for the top honors in energy-efficiency, design and innovation.

    On receiving the award, firm principal Chuck Durrett responded by stating, “We are honored to have been selected from a field of 500 other projects." Katie McCamant, M&D's other principal, said, "What is key for me is to create walkable communities where people use less of the earth’s resources while living a better quality of life."

  • Making cohousing affordable: Strategies and successes, part 1 of 3
    by Betsy Morris, Coho/US Research Director
    July, 2007

    A glance at a detailed map of U.S. cohousing communities would show that most of us are living in areas of relatively high property values: on the coasts, in college towns or on the outskirts of high-tech growth centers. That’s one reason why making cohousing affordable to the widest possible number of people has been of intense interest to prospective community members throughout the history of the cohousing movement.

  • Stepping stones to sustainability
    by Liz Walker, photos by Jim Bosjolie
    June, 2006

    This is a historic moment on Planet Earth. Life as we know it is about to change dramatically as global climate change accelerates, and as we reach “Peak Oil,” when demand outstrips supply for fossil fuels that are increasingly hard to extract. As we look toward a future in which our traditional energy sources are severely depleted, cohousing neighborhoods have an increasingly important role to play in modeling a greener lifestyle.

  • Green: Sustainability through Comprehensive Design

    Mary Kraus, Kraus-Fitch Architects

    From the initial design process through day-to-day neighborhood living, cohousing offers unique opportunities for creating a more sustainable society. Beginning with an outline of what is inherently sustainable about cohousing, this presentation will examine a wide range of sustainable design opportunities available to cohousing groups – from climate-sensitive site design and energy-efficient detailing to the bigger picture of relationships and context. Sustainability is not just about solar collectors – it’s about understanding how everything fits together to allow lower-footprint living.

    Mary Kraus is a principal architect with Kraus-Fitch Architects, Inc., specializing in cohousing and ecologically sustainable design. She has been living at Pioneer Valley Cohousing, the first cohousing community to be completed on the east coast, since move-in 14 years ago. Mary can be contacted at mkraus [at] krausfitch [dot] com.

  • Green: Getting a Zero Carbon Footprint

    Charles Durrett

    There are brilliant minds working today to design new solutions that will make a difference on the impact we have on our environment. But if we do not build places where people can come together, learn about their green responsibilities and possibilities, and support each other to implement these changes, these brilliant solutions will go unused. Charles Durrett, internationally recognized architect and author, will demonstrate how cohousing offers a sense of community that holds people accountable to others and to their environment. McCamant & Durrett consistently employs green and sustainable practices because together with the group they are able to discover and implement zero energy solutions that really work -- a solution where people can save and steward successfully.

  • Green: Green Design Case Studies 2: Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm

    Nubanusit Neighborhood & Farm is New Hampshire’s first green residential development and its first cohousing development. It consists of 29 clustered homes, a Common House, an organic farm, and professional office space in a restored historic house on 113 acres of land along the Nubanusit River in Peterborough, within walking distance of the town’s center. The homes are registered for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification. The presentation will give an overview of the process of weighing the pros and cons of the different alternatives when “choosing green.”

    Michael Bruss, builder, has 30 years of experience in the construction business and is the founder and president of Bruss Construction, based in Bradford, NH. He is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accredited professional and has extensive experience in green building technologies and the adaptive reuse of historic structures.

  • Green: Environmental Design in Cohousing in the Northeast US

    Marc Rosenbaum

    This session will examine the state of the art in environmental design in cohousing in the northeast US. The focus will be on energy use, renewable energy supply, waste treatment, and building durability. The bulk of the presentation will be case studies of built projects. Some guidelines for prioritizing green investment will be given. Presenter: Marc Rosenbaum, P.E., Energysmiths, has consulted on environmental design for cohousing since the early 1990s. Projects include: Pine St., Pioneer Valley, Alchemy Farm, New View, Island Coho, Cobb Hill, Pathways, Mosaic Commons, Peterborough, Ulster County, and Putney Commons.

    Marc Rosenbaum, P.E., Energysmiths, has consulted on environmental design for cohousing since the early 1990s. Projects include: Pine St., Pioneer Valley, Alchemy Farm, New View, Island Coho, Cobb Hill, Pathways, Mosaic Commons, Peterborough, Ulster County, and Putney Commons. He is a longtime student of how to make good buildings.

  • Green: Green Design Case Studies 1: Daybreak & Ann Arbor

    Grace H. Kim, J.D. Lindeberg

    Daybreak Cohousing in Seattle was built with a strong commitment to sustainable design. However, the budget realities of construction often cause communities to value engineer out many of the sustainability strategies. So how does a community to balance their shared values and a limited construction budget? Daybreak’s journey from sustainability workshop to final construction offers ideas for low- or no-cost passive strategies, and lessons on how to make the most of more expensive active technologies.

  • Green: Renewable energy at achievable scale and cost

    Bryan Bowen, Bryan Bowen Architects, P.C.

    This is an informative session on what alternatives exist for renewable energy for your communities, how to find out about rebates and tax incentives, and how to implement these systems successfully.

    Bryan Bowen Architects, P.C. is a multidisciplinary design collaborative:explores how we may live more lightly upon our earth in beautiful and healthy environments. In addition to a focus on cohousing, the practice includes passive solarsingle-family homes, eco-retrofits, multifamily housing, mixed-use projects, and commercial work.

    Download: Slides

  • Green: Net-Zero Energy homes and community buildings

    Bryan Bowen, Bryan Bowen Architects, P.C

    We'll define Net-Zero Energy, look at general strategies for achieving it, and review some case studies of remodels, new homes, community buildings, and new neighborhoods.

    Bryan Bowen Architects, P.C. is a multidisciplinary design collaborative:explores how we may live more lightly upon our earth in beautiful and healthy environments. In addition to a focus on cohousing, the practice includes passive solarsingle-family homes, eco-retrofits, multifamily housing, mixed-use projects, and commercial work.

    Download: Slides

  • Green: Common Sense Sustainable Site Development

    Best Site & Land Use Strategies - That Can’t Be Cut in a Budget Crunch

    Jack Wilbern/Meda Ling, Cohousing Collaborative

    What is Sustainable Site Development? This discussion will look at Cohousing’s potential as a catalyst for renewed understanding of the interrelationship between environment, economics, and human society, and will examine several common sense approaches toward building truly sustainable communities.

    Jack Wilbern and Meda Ling are principal partners of Cohousing Collaborative, LLC, a cohousing development company serving the mid-Atlantic region.

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