First LEED Certified MedSpa

Our most recent project, the EpiCenter opened last week to a packed grand opening party.

You can read a review here. We worked with architect Justin Martinkovic, green consultant Zem Joaquin, and a great team of other brilliant people to build the first LEED Certified Med Spa in the country.

One odd thing that seems to get a great deal of attention is the ceiling. The initial ceiling was to be made of these gorgeous bamboo panels. When the price came in at $48,000, a cheaper product was needed. I came up with the solution, Homesote panels, cut into 2' x 4' panels and stained with AFM Safecoat Zero-VOC stains. The result is something that looks like leather, but the final cost: $1800. I painted the panels myself with help from the clients.

via Green Building Elements

Bowling 1, Health Care 0

Elizabeth Edwards wrote this wonderful piece (yes, John's wife) in the New York Times today about the election.

A snippet:

Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world.

It seems most people are fed up with the way the press handles itself, yet they continue to focus on the insignificant details.

Of the 3000 questions asked of the remaining three presidential candidates, only 8 had to do with the environment or global warming. Over a dozen were asked about Obama not wearing a flag pin in his lapel. That is the problem.

via New York Times

Bay Area designers have long had green outlook

Last month, I sat on a panel for the Luxury Marketing Council to discuss the issues of sustainability in the luxury market. The packed audience consisted of high end real estate agents, bankers, jewelers, and the like. I always love exposing these ideas to groups who do not normally come into contact with green that often.

They usually become incredibly excited at these ideas, a testament to the logic and need for sustainability.

On the panel with me was Mike Freed, owner of Passport Resorts the company that developed various Eco Resorts: such as Post Ranch Inn and Cavallo Point .


BTW, The Post Ranch Inn was designed by a mentor of mine, and fellow organic architect, Mickey Muennig .

Zahid Sardar, Architecture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote an article today about the success of Passports resorts as luxurious architecture.

Also on the panel with Mike and myself were:
* Kimberley Gardiner
Marketing manager for Lexus Hybrid

* Helge Hellberg
Marketing director of Marin Organic
(who, by the way, charmed everyone with his enthusiasm and personality!)


Full Story via SFGate.com

Canada Likely to Label Plastic Ingredient ‘Toxic’

Interesting news story about the health dangers of plastics in food packaging, specifically containing a chemical called bisphenol-a. Canada is officially labeling this chemical as toxic. The US Government has been absent on this issue. Of course, the plastics industry is a multi-trillion dollar business.

Full Story via New York Times

...bisphenol-a, or B.P.A is widely used to make polycarbonate plastics, which are rigid and transparent like glass. Because animal tests have shown that even small amounts of the chemical may cause changes in the body, however, researchers have focused on food- and drink-related applications of B.P.A.

The most disturbing part of the article:

...Warren G. Foster, director of the center for reproductive care and reproductive biology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, is more skeptical.

“If I was a fish and there was bisphenol-a in the water, I’d be concerned,” he said.

Follow the Leaders: 7x7 Magazine Names Environmental Leaders in San Francisco

I am honored to be named one of the environmental leaders in San Francisco by 7x7 Magazine for their April (Earth Day) issue.

The article begins:

You already know the elders of the green tribe–Gore, Waters, McDonough. Now, meet SF's next wave.

It is also great to see my friend, Matt Golden, from Sustainable Spaces as one of the honorees. San Francisco is a wonderful place filled with so many great people doing amazing things, and Matt is a perfect example of that.

Full Profile via 7x7 Magazine
All of the profiles for the issue

MetHome: How Green is my Renovation?

I participated in a round table discussion with some of the leaders in green building for an article in Metropolitan Home with:
Fellow Architect Rob Harrison
Planner Steven Lenard
Interior Designer Denise Shaw
Executive Director of Build It Green, Brian Gitt

My favorite part:

Freed: Some of my work is helping other architects “green up” their projects. But it’s ridiculous when someone unveils a 14,000-square-foot house and asks me, “What can we do to make it greener?” My usual answer is, “Why don’t we take off the second floor?”

via Metropolitan Home

Article in Metropolitan Home Magazine

I wrote an article for MetHome Magazine on fellow San Francisco architect Anne Fougeron. Fougeron is a wonderful modernist and her loft in the San Francisco South of Market (SoMa) district is an exploration of green adaptive reuse. The three main elements: folded steel stair, interior courtyard and penthouse addition, are a clever and unique approach to converting an old factory into a home.

Read the full story: Urban Ecotecture at MetHome

Lecture in Santa Cruz

I am speaking to the US Green Building Council chapter in Santa Cruz, California on Wednesday March 5th at 5:30pm.

This is a late addition to the ongoing array of speaking events I am giving around the country. If you're in the area, please come by!

Details here

The Eliphante Art House

The Eliphante Art House

The Eliphante Art House is the home of artist Michael Kahn and his wife Leda Livant built from found materials. Located in Cornville, Arizona, it represents a fine example of folk art home building.

An excerpt:

ANY fool can hire an architect to draw up a plan for a house, but it takes a truly inspired fool — which is to say, an artist — to start building and see where the earth and driftwood and shards of broken pottery take him, and an equally impassioned fool — say, a woman in love — to go along and carry the rocks on her back.

The Eliphante Art House Website

NYT: The Greener Side of Recession

In the New York Times is this item as to whether the environment suffers during hard ecomonic times.

An excerpt:

The environment is actually hurt in hard economic times. Companies will reduce their investments into research and development and green programs...

The Greener Side of Recession

HuffPo: Why Economic Stimulus Should Be Green

Why Economic Stimulus Should Be Green

James Boyce has a thought-provoking piece in the Huffington Post on what the government should be doing to protect our environment:

There are hundreds, nay thousands, of examples of politicians talking the talk about the environment, how we need to create green jobs, and green industries, encourage green living, blah, blah, blah, alternative energy is my energy, blah, blah, blah...

Part of the problem with our current economic woes is massive short-term overconsumption.

Part of our environmental problem is massive short-term consumption.

The Onion: Plot of Greenspace

A little humor for a chnage:

Onion: 3-By-4 Plot Of Green Space Rejuvenates Neighborhood

An Excerpt:

Notorious for its abandoned buildings, industrial warehouses, and gray, dilapidated roads, Detroit's Warrendale neighborhood was miraculously revitalized this week by the installation of a single, three-by-four-foot plot of green space.

LA Times Review of the Book

The LA Times has a wonderful review of my book, alongside the new book from my friend, Jerry Yudelson entitled, Green Building A to Z.

The best part:

This isn't a goofy book for goofy people, despite the "Dummies" title. Author and architect Eric Corey Freed, like Yudelson, has a high profile in the green-building industry and obviously broad knowledge of the subject.

This is an easy and engaging book to read with lots of lists, tips and checks and subheads in an informal handwriting script that explains things such as what engineered lumber is, the pros and cons of insulated concrete forms and planning your site to incorporate outdoor rooms.

Los Angeles Times Book Review

Alternate Link

My interview with CalFinder

CalFinder is a site where you can find contractors to help you with a building project. They interviewed me to talk about the perceptions of green building and what is waiting for us in the future.

An excerpt:

The act of renovating your building is expensive, whether you’re green or not. Being green doesn’t cost you any more, in fact it’s an opportunity to save money.

via CalFinder

HousingZone interview with Urban Re:Vision

HousingZone has a wonderful interview with Urban Re:Vision founder Stacey Frost. An excerpt:

When we started Urban Re:Vision, we created a very basic platform from which to pursue our goals. We asked ourselves the question, “What If?” What if we could live in an environment that is toxin-free, works sustainably and provides a direct connection between residents and their community? We are posing that question to both design professionals and concerned citizens through our six-part international competition that deals with a variety of key issues facing our urban communities. We have been rewarded with consistently innovative, intelligent and inspiring proposals.

The design competitions from Urban Re:Vision have already generated some incredible ideas and innovations. Enter your own ideas at Urban Re:Vision.

via HousingZone

Review of the book from Michelle Kaufmann

Visionary architect and prefab queen (and friend) Michelle Kaufmann wrote a lovely mini-review of the book.

Michelle Kaufmann's Blog

Interview on the John Adam Show

I was interviewed for the John Adam Show, the topic was "Green Business is the Place to Be..."

I talked about the book and a plan for completely getting us off of Saudi Arabian oil imports.

Listen to the broadcast here
Episode Synopsis
Episode Information Page

Grist: Eban Goodstein's article on Choose Your Future

Eban Goodstein, professor of economics at Lewis & Clark College and director of Focus the Nation, has a wonderful piece today in Grist on global warming and what YOU can do about it.

It is clear that we are standing at a critical moment in human history. Unless we begin to cut global-warming pollution within a few short years, a window for our children and the creatures of this earth will close. Forever...

Choose Your Future is a program from his group that allows people to take part in saving our planet.

Full story via Grist

NYT: Carbon Offsets

This story on carbon offsets is a great intro into understanding something I find myseterious.

Corporations spent more than $54 million last year on carbon credits toward tree planting, wind farms, solar plants and other projects to balance the emissions created by their work.

But where exactly is that money going?

F.T.C. Asks if Carbon-Offset Money Is Well Spent

2008: Year of the Green?!

The Seattle Times has a great little story today postulating that 2008 will be the year for green. Actually, I thought 2007 was a great leap ahead, so I'm excited to see widespread acceptance of sustainability this coming year...

via Seattle Times

Tomorrowland: A design competition for eco-smart city-living aims to turn “what if” into “what is”

The innovative and forward thinking Urban Re:Vision is featured in a cover story in via Common Ground Magazine this month. As one of the advisors on this wonderful project, I have been amazed at the caliber of the entries.

An excerpt:
Imagine a city where energy is renewably generated from helium-filled “solar balloons” floating hundreds of feet above the rooftops. Imagine a city where public transportation doesn’t follow regular routes, but is instead efficiently directed on the fly, on demand — via cell phone and GPS technology. A city where residential structures designed to keep people apart — like walls and fences — are replaced with facilities that bring neighbors together, like shared kitchen gardens or childcare centers. A city where commercial systems are designed to generate social capital, as well as cold hard cash.

Those are a small sampling of the ideas already received by the design competitions, with the promise of much more to come.

I encourage you to submit your own ideas, but in the in the meantime, read the story:
via Common Ground Magazine