PreFab in Chicago

MSNBC has this video showing Michelle Kaufman's latest prefab masterpiece at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

The best part of the video occurs in the middle with a time lapse shot showing the prefabricated modules being assembled. The entire house was installed in a week.

More on Michelle's Blog
Even more on Treehugger
Press Release
Museum of Science and Industry

HowYouEco Interview

Luke at HowYouEco recently interviewed me with his patented list of 3 quick questions. Check out the site. It is beautifully done and provides some great information.

Keeping Chlorine Out of the Pool

There are several ways to eliminate chlorine or significantly reduce the use of it, although the pool industry remains skeptical of their effectiveness and it is often difficult to find builders to install them.

From saline, to UV lights, to ozone injectors, to natural aquifers, there are now several viable options for creating a pool that does not require harmful chemicals to stay clean.

via the NY Times

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

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

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

Review of the book on Inhabitat

A nice review of the book appeared on Inhabitat today. Now they see a LOT of books and resources, so a kind word from them means a great deal.

I have to admit, it's strange to work on something for a year, finish months ago (I finished the manuscript back in July) and NOW have people talking about it. As my friends will tell you, I cannot keep secrets, so keeping the book quiet while writing it was very hard! I love people are finally getting the information in the book.

An excerpt:
Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies provides an introduction to every facet of green building, from start to finish, including the materials, architecture, and construction methods of green building and remodeling for both homeowners and professionals such as architects, interior designers, and contractors.

...You won’t be a dummy with this book in your library... check out [this] truly helpful, informative reference guide, and get smart about green building in the New Year.

Thanks, Piper and Inhabitat for the kind words!
Few reviewers can seem to resist making a Dummies joke, and I think I've heard them all! Keep 'em coming.

Full Review at Inhabitat

Buy your copy of "Green Building for Dummies" now!

Inhabitat Holiday Party Photos

The lovely ladies of Inhabitat: Piper Kujac, Sarah Rich, Jill Fehrenbacher, Emily Pilloton

One of my favorite blogs, Inhabitat, shares office space with my favorite community organization, Architecture For Humanity, and my favorite design competition, Urban Re:Vision. Friday night was their collective holiday party.

This is why I love San Francisco: here you can find a room filled with the greatest people doing the most interesting things on the planet. In attendance: Michelle Kaufman, Allison Arrief, Cameron Sinclair, Sarah Rich, Jill Fehrenbacher, Emily Pilloton, Stacey Frost, Willem Maas, Bill Cahan, the gang from Ecolect, the gang from Branch and the gang from Worldchanging... plus so many friends and interesting people. (Google any names you don't recognize!)

Perhaps the most interesting thing is how connected these various groups have become. They're all friends, all working to change the world and all full of hope for our future. Hard to believe that the truly most influential people in design today are a handful of young, hip bloggers (like those pictured). Women seem to be leading the charge. There are noticably more women than men in this group. I don't know what this indicates, but it's something to consider.

Full story via Inhabitat

Flickr gallery of photos from the event

Western Interiors Home Show

The Western Interiors Home Show is coming on October 26th in San Francisco. I will giving the keynote presentation, and am very excited to see the interior design world finally taking green so seriously.

There are some amazing speakers, so join me at the conference.

Our friends at West Coast Green are also helping to host the event, and some of the features:

-giving away 2000 cfl's at the green home pavilion - where you can chat with me on Friday and other green experts throughout the conference.

- All of the exhibitors had to meet the same strict green product criteria as that of West Coast Green, so they are thoughtful products and companies

Conference site

KBB Top Product Picks for your kitchen

Kitchen & Bath Business (KBB) recently interviewed me about my favorite kitchen products. It is hard to narrow it down to a list of just five, but that's all KBB would allow me to include. From the article:

First on his list are Oceanside Glasstile mosaics. Not only are the tiles made of 20 to 86 percent recycled glass (depending on the color), "they're gorgeous and work well with curves," said Freed, who likes to incorporate arced walls into his designs. For an added punch of color, he pairs the tiles with grout in a cool tone.

For countertops, although several materials have caught his eye, Alkemi by Renewed Materials (5) especially piques his interest because of its unique appearance. Formed of 100 percent recycled scrap aluminum set into a resin, Alkemi comes in different colors and offers an intriguing alternative for those, like Freed, who are tired of granite.

Another company that transforms recycled metal into beautiful product is Eleek. Freed likes the company's aluminum tiles, which can be applied to an entire countertop or backsplash, and its sinks, which are available in aluminum or bronze and an assortment of shapes (Ellipse is shown) and bowl configurations..."

Interview with Living Homes Green PreFab

Like most architects, I have a special place in my heart for pre-fab buildings, especially if they are part of the new crop of green pre-fab ones. Financial Times has this great article with Steve Glenn of Living Homes:

Please don’t call it the greenest home on the planet,” says Steve Glenn of his house in Santa Monica, California. “A yurt or a mud hut in Africa might be the greenest home on the planet – not this house.”

His first living home received an impressive Platinum LEED certification.

Hear Steve Glenn live at The Commonwealth Club on July 9th

Learn more about Living Homes here.

CNet Story on Energy Efficient Lighting

CNet recently interviewed me for a story they did on energy efficient lighting.

The most interesting part of the story are the comments at the bottom of the page. There seems to be some confusion about LED bulbs. In reality: LEDs consume less energy than incandescents but still more than a compact fluorescent (CFL Bulb). CFL bulbs are still the most energy efficient when you compare it to an equal amount of light given off. This will change soon, I'm sure, but for right now, the LED bulbs still use slightly more energy than a CFL.

Environmentally friendly cleaning products

There is a great story in the NY Times on using environmentally friendly cleaning products in your home, especially around babies.

Childrens' immune systems are not developed as fully as adults, making them more susceptible to these chemicals. A recent look at Childrens asthma rates and Childrens autism rates inidicate how toxic our interior environments really are.

My friend Stephanie Dietz has a wonderful company called Verde Green. They provide green office and home cleaning services. In our office, we use Seventh Generation and Method Home products and encourage our clients to do the same.

NY Times Story

GreenZebra

The GreenZebra coupon book was written up in the Chronicle last week. It is a nice story of how Anne and Sheryl began the company.

If you haven't heard of GreenZebra, think "Entertainment Book" like the ones your parents used to lug around when you were a kid to get bargains at places you never heard of. Unlike it's older preceedent, GreenZebra touts only green companies (including organicARCHITECT) and brings these sustainable options into the hands of consumers.

I admit, I was dubious about participating in the book, but it has brought us clients, new friends and nice people calling to thank us for our website.

To purchase the book for $25, visit their site.

New York House Magazine (really a green building magazine...)

I met Jim Andrews at the recent Healthy Environment, Healthy Economy Conference in Albany. Jim publishes New York House Magazine and we sat on a panel together.

I read the issue on the flight back and it is really well done. You don't need to live in New York to enjoy it either.

If you hear of any other Green Happenings in New York, please let us know.

You can read Jim's version of our encounter here.

Robots building our homes?

The future of the profession of Architecture is in Rapid Prototyping and Contour Crafting. Imagine, robots building our buildings in a matter of days, not months.

Behrokh Khoshnevis pioneered Contour Crafting. The University of Southern California professor now has a machine ready for real-world use. His contour crafting machine is scheduled to erect its first house in California within the next few months. The two-story house will built in less than 24 hours out of only concrete and gypsum, and without the help of a single human hand.

The possibilities for housing the poor, for disaster relief housing and free form building shapes could revolutionize the entire industry.

“The architectural options will explode,” predicts Dr. Khoshnevis at USC in Los Angeles, “Right now, your shoes, clothes, and car are already made automatically, but your house is built by hand - and it doesn’t make sense.”

The typical American house generates nearly 4 tons of waste in its' six month construction. Robot building could bring that amount to nearly zero waste.

Watch a video of the robot in action here (YouTube).

From Wired
Times Online
and Inhabitat

Personal Wind Turbines

From TreeHugger, comes the Stormblade: a true personal wind turbine for residential use. The Stormblade Turbine can convert up to 70% of wind power into electricity, double the current average.

Note: also check out Eco-Living: The Best of TreeHugger.

In the personal wind turbine market, I also am interested in:
Sunforce Wind Generator
Use the wind to generate power and run your appliances and electronics. Great for cabins, 12V battery charging, remote power, backup power and hobbyists. Delivers up to 400 Watts.

Sunforce 400-Watt Wind Generator
Lightweight, weatherproof cast aluminum wind generator for powering buildings or pumps, or charging batteries for large power demands

Sunforce Wind Generator
Carbon fiber composite blades ensure low wind noise

Buildings find it easier being green

Sometimes I think that if I see one more green building story beginning with some inane reference to Kermit the Frog I think I will scream.

After all, how many times can you read "Kermit was right;" or "It's easy bein' green;" or my favorite, "Channelling Kermit?"

CNN/Money have a mainstream story this month showing what we have known for years: green building just makes sense. From energy use, to operating costs to improved occupant satisfaction, we already know this about green buildings.

When we will see stories entitled, "Only morons still build with toxic materials"? Or, "Traditional materials no longer make sense"?

CNN