In the latest episode of Top Design, the remaining designers tackled a project near and dear to my heart: renovating a space in a green fashion. Guest judge Danny Seo, whose green designs and ideas I love, offered the contestants advice on remembering the R words (reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose, and be resourceful, among others) in their spaces.
The designers were challenged to use all materials in the office (including ugly desks and bad carpet).
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Whether she's making cool eco craft projects or designing innovative homes, Michelle Kaufmann is definitely one of my eco heroes.
Michelle designs green, prefab homes that are both beautiful and cost-effective. These homes are guaranteed to achieve either gold or platinum LEED ratings, the two highest ratings from the US Green Building Council.
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One of the highlights of West Coast Green for me was meeting Brandon Morrison, the designer and craftsman behind Whyr'hymer Furniture, an eco-furniture design business he owns and operates with his wife, Sundeep. I love their furniture's lines, which in some pieces are very Arts and Crafts-inspired, and in other designs, seem to blend this sensibility with a modern aesthetic.
All of the furniture from Whyr'hymer is made from FSC-certified wood, and the finishes are either water-based or natural waxes and oils.
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Last year, I told you about my brother's handmade home, which he built in an eco fashion for a surprisingly small amount of money. However, nothing much had been done with the home's interior. This year, he and his wife made a lot of interior changes in the home to spruce it up.
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This 1920s-era home, which was just on the American Institute of Architects' San Francisco Chapter Home Tour was renovated using green principles. While I love modern homes built with green design principles, I'm even more fond of these gorgeous old gems.
Source
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While I may have some criticisms of LEED, the USGBC green building program, there's no question that the program is an important step in the right direction. Hopefully, thanks to green building guidelines and programs, green building will someday soon become a standard part of any construction project, and not an afterthought.
Austin, TX, has the oldest regional green building program in the country, with its Energy Star program established in 1985, and the green building program evolving from it six years later.
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The Skyline Residence, which was designed by Belzberg Architects, was designed to be sustainable as well as economic. While definitely larger than life at 5,800 square feet, the house is indisputably gorgeous. Check out the slideshow for a look at the home, both inside and out.
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Renowned industrial designer Enzo Mari has partnered with Hida Sangyo, Japan’s leading furniture atelier, to launch an eco-friendly furniture and décor line this coming Fall.
The 34-piece collection is crafted from Sugi wood, a sustainable material found exclusive in the Hida-Takayama region of Japan. Sugi, also known as Japanese cedar, is one of Japan's most beloved resources and was nearly wiped out after World War II.
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Strawbale is a natural building method that uses bales of straw to create a thermal mass, which provides an incredible insulating effect in a home. The straw is often placed between a post and beam wooden frame, and then covered with stucco or a natural earthen plaster. Not only are these homes extremely eco and energy efficient, they're also surprisingly graceful in form.
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I've been a fan of Michelle Kaufmann's green designs for modular, prefabricated homes for quite a while now. Last Fall, her mkLotus house was displayed at West Coast Green, which I was lucky enough to attend. These houses are built to accommodate such green features as a graywater system, geothermal heating, and solar panels.
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