Here's a link to the EPA's program for environmentally preferred purchasing -- www.epa.gov/opptintr/epp/
Here is a website I stumbled upon. It has several case studies for modular homes including "porch house" and "deck house" and lots of pictures. I just quickly looked at it trying to hunt down some details and sections of modular construction, it is definately worth a quick look. PLUS. . . It looks like it was done in sketch up to me. . . Is this the new appealing CAD program?
http://www.lamidesign.com/plans/homepg.html
http://www.livemodern.com/Members/lavardera/lamidesigndevblog
We should start researching appliances for use in the house -- obviously, high efficiency ones. Here's one to consider -- the LG combination washer dryer. It is one machine that does both (minimizing materials and floor space) and recovers heat, rather than delivering it to the outside. The link is www.specializedappliances.com/lg/
Perhaps ongoing research can be linked through this thread on the weblog.
Here's the link to the conference where your work will be presented -- entitled SITE::OFFSITE
http://www.ar.utexas.edu/siteoffsite/index.htm
John
Following up on Christina's great comments, it would be great if everyone could take a look at the two Life Cycle Analysis tools we are considering (even if it's a quick look!). Awareness of the guidelines, especially the easy to read EarthCraft House sheets will help us to make design decisions. There are paper copies on Christina's desk in the red binder,and these are weblinks below to check out. If anyone has any thoughts please reply so that we can begin to build consensus on our analysis.
EARTH CRAFT HOUSE
ww.southface.org/web/earthcraft_house/ech_main/ech_index.htm
click on the guidelines link
LEED
http://www.usgbc.org/leed/leed_main.asp
After studio, the wheels in my head started turning, and although probably stating the obvious I thought I’d share it with you all so we can have it in written form to serve as a reminder.
We are all under the agreement that the usage of water collection for this house is absolutely critical. For me it was useful to go back to our texts for this studio The Philosophy of Sustainable Design and Ecohouse 2: A Design Guide. In particular the sections on water waste are good reminders of why we want to integrate water usage in the house. For example in the chapter “respect for energy and natural resources” there is a section that deals specifically with water use. “The planet Earth is comprised of 70.8 percent water. Of this, ninety-seven percent of it is saltwater. Of the remaining three percent, ninety percent is locked up in glaciers, leaving only 0.0001 percent of the freshwater for all our uses and all other terrestrial species on the planet. Of this tiny fraction an almost unfair amount can be found in just three countries- Canada, the United States and Russia, a fact that makes our wastefulness even more irresponsible… One flush of a standard American toilet requires more water than most individuals around the world get for all their water needs in an entire day.” (Mclellan, 81-82) when you look at these points it is impossible to not feel the need to address the issue of water as resource in a very deliberate manner and absolutely integrate it into the design. Right now, it is still an add on and not a main idea, as I think it should be. These books are also great resources for understanding how potential systems will work such as the grey water systems and solar hot water systems. Personally, I would feel that this project was a success if we could address only this one issue in an effective manner, given our budget and resources. Anything else to me would be icing on the cake, and anything less would disappoint me. (Keeping in mind that I am assuming energy star rating and material analysis).
In response to John’s probing us for what the idea of the house is, I think the connection between the way people live and the environment is a critical part of our design. This comes in the form of passive design and ideas regarding material choice and lifecycle analysis as well as our connection in/out and out/in. I think that the in/out ideas is not the underlying idea but it is a part of a larger idea about connection to the environment and going back to eastern traditions of living in harmony with nature. The visual and experiential connection of having indoor/outdoor places in the home reminds the inhabitants that they are unavoidably connected to nature.
In addition, I would also like to say as a reminder that while we do need to consider the neighborhood and context of the design, we as designers are supposed to challenge the status quo. If the way houses are being made is wrong, then we need to challenge it, and remember that it is okay to create a new vernacular as times call for it. Phew that was long winded... I really want to know what other people are thinking too, so please please respond because we can't take notes or everything during our meetings.
As someone on the 2-D drafting group, I think we need to discuss it ASAP because so far we've done everything by hand, and I have never used microstation which seems to be what other people are using to generate their plans. So, should we do the CAD system, I need to begin familiarizing myself with it now.
I spoke with John this morning re: the 2-D drawing set. I think it would be beneficial to have a studio wide discussion on these ideas, here in the ecoMOD forum. Here's what we came up with, briefly:
Clear organization (obvious)
Manageable (possible 11 x 17 format)
Evocation of both modularity and completeness of the whole
Hierarchical linkage between parts and systems (diagram)
The other issue is what medium do we use? Hand drafted or CAD?
Issues that I can see:
CAD:
Pros: Efficient, economical, adaptable, (which makes sense for modular construction method), transcribable (easily delivered in a usable format for the engineers), translatable (Microstation, etc.)
Cons: Industrial, sterile, absolute, irrevocable, etc.
Hand Drawings
Pros: softness, artistic, vitality, etc. If these are being presented to the community, hand drawings will have a more intimate acceptance than a CAD drafted plan. Something to think about.
Cons: Difficult to adapt/change and transfer to other users, (i.e., engineers). Not as efficient.
These are some ideas off the top of my head, there may be other compelling ideas why one method would be better than another.
So, what do you guys think?