Shades of green building

[JWmHarmon]

From Residential Tuesday - Architecture Week

Re-Imagining the House - Palo Alto, 2008.0624

The article discusses Jon Stoumen's "vision of working with nature to build living spaces that are easy to live in and easy on the environment."

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=8459

I grew up on a dairy farm in northwest Ohio (USA). We had Lombardy poplar trees on the west side of the house and a huge 40-50 ft. pear tree in the front yard. Both trees provided shade in the summer and let the sun through in the winter.

We also opened and closed drapes to admit or reflect sunlight.

My grandmother in north central Ohio had a grape arbor in her back yard. I remember going out there in the summer when it was to hot to be in the house (pre air conditioning days). I noted how much cooler it was under the grape arbor. That was great except for the bees.

With the rise in fuel prices and years of experience with nearly complete disregard for environmental issues, working against nature instead of working with nature, the recent developments in "green building" is an opportunity to reexamine the best practices of the past.

I am please to see buildings in cities with "green" roof gardens, solar shading and natural light and ventilation.

I have often thought of making a framework over the top of my house to support a huge grape arbor that would completely shade the house in the summer. Maybe it is time to get started.

Meanwhile, we can continue to seek ways to build, working with nature instead of against nature.

[djswan]

Make's it harder for them to see you from Goggle Earth too.

[JWmHarmon]

Also from Residential Tuesday

Sekisui House Announces the Zero Emission House - Sekisui House Press Release, 2008.0618
http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=18691

4. Roof: High Capacity Photovoltaic Generation System on South Face; Roof Vegetation On North Face (under development)

A 14.5kW photovoltaic generation system fitted to the south face ensures effective use is made of the sun's energy, while its tiling structure preserves the appearance of the building exterior. The energy generated by the system is more than sufficient for the needs of the average household.

Sunagoke moss, which efficiently stabilizes CO2, is planted across the entire north face. Roof vegetation such as this is one measure to prevent heat island phenomenon, in which temperature rises are accelerated by heat radiation from structures and because of other factors, particularly in summer. Sunagoke moss is resilient in dry conditions and requires almost no maintenance; combining it with roofing materials makes it possible to limit the temperature rise on the surface of the roof and also limit increases in room temperature.

[solidred]

The picture you paint of Ohio living strikes me, sitting at present in a city office, as idyllic. It also strikes me as eminently sound that with time, observation and nature, a person in the more rural environment can begin to recognize nature's abundances and opportunities for adaptation and self-balancing. However, it's surely the urban realm that's the great challenge. There isn't much 'getting close to nature' downtown, except for token plots of greenery and small slices of open sky way above. Everywhere else, it's the grand artificial energy system of modern life.
To my understanding, 'think local' doesn't work much in such an environment: it's all about strategic thinking.

One thing that makes me feel good about modern life is that there's so much scope for thought and invention here.

[lekizz]

I absolutely agree that urban centres must be the focus for green initiatives, but I'm not yet quite so pessimistic about the possibilities. All of the strategies mentioned above could be applied to cities. Except perhaps every building having a fruit tree in their front yard.

I look out from my 13th floor vantage point and see numerous flat roofs baking in the sun, which could be greened without a tremendous additional expense. Greener facades would be possible with a bit of imagination. I know ex-London Mayor Ken Livingston was a proponent of green roofs in the city and hopefully Mad Boris will continue the trend. Evidently the green initiatives in a city are beneficial to many more people than the building occupants and it needs to be emphasised that political action at a city level needs to be enacted, particularly in terms of advice, planning controls and economic incentives.

The great thing about cities is their efficiency, their dense populations allow public transport systems to be their most effective. People can live closer to their workplace. There is alot to be said for social sustainability.

[solidred]

I reckon the way to secure 'Mad Boris's enthusiasm for the green roof concept would be to propose something from JWmHarmon's original post: vines! It would give rise to some really interesting new appelations too...
Then again, I'm reminded of that old quote about the difference between doctors and architects, along the lines of 'at least doctors can bury their mistakes. Architects can only plant vines'.

It all stands to reason though. The history of architecture until a couple of centuries back had been, pretty much, the concept of edifices or modest collections of edifices in a wider, largely natural environment. Now that great swathes of that natural environment are covered in buildings and infrastructure, the notion of combining the benefits of both in a single hybrid operation seems sensible. If not simple... witness the failure of corb's city on piloti with a park underneath, for example. The psychological dynamic has to be as sophisticated as the technological one.

[csintexas]

It will be interesting to see how we adapt to a lower energy society. Big cities where here before oil so I reckon they will continue.

I suppose density is actually much greater than it was 100 years ago, is that true or false?

I have a very nice shade tree over my porch we call a Mulberry tree. Around here it grows too a very manageable 30ft height and has broad dense leaves that make it almost like a canopy in the summer.

[Antisthenes]

carob?

[csintexas]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulberry

Interesting, I had not read about it before.

[djswan]

[csintexas]

Thanks dj you reminded me to water my fig tree.

I just planted it last year and it still hasn't developed good enough roots to withstand this drought we have been in lately.

[djswan]

Chris, Thank you for posting the pretty picture. I didn't see any trees in that O2 adaptive reuse form thread. Or in the My House is Ugly thread.

Cover it with plants and some bees and something else.

It may be time to hide.

[ARC1TEC]

The environment of the house is important for comfortable living.
Useing solar panels is important for reducing the hole in the ozone.
These are two seperate environments and both disciplines should be learnt by the architect.
The question is, how do you pay?
Your farm in Ohio does sound very pleasant but watch out the office worker looks like he's got his eye on it for sometime in the future.
I don't think Boris Johnson is so enthusiastic about the city environment.
Do you?

[Kevin]

The hole in the ozone??

[ARC1TEC]

Useing solar panels to reduce the amount of carbon created by coal when used to make power, thus reducing the hol in the ozone layer.
Photovoltaic cells being the most sophisticated solar panel. Old radiators painted black used to heat water stored in the radiator being the simplest solar panel.