michelle kaufmann designs

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One of the eco-principles we use when designing homes is using eco-materials – materials that are renewable or recyclable. A good example of this is to use glass tiles made of recycled glass. One of my favorite examples of beautiful recycled tile is Maienza-Wilson’s gorgeous house in Montecito (image above and below by Jim Bartsch, courtesy Maienza Wilson). They used tiles from Oceanside that were at least 50% content of recycled or post industrial glass tiles, used in different sizes, finishes, and colors. The result is modern eco-elegance in every bathroom.

For their wine room, they used copper and wine colored glass mosaic tiles on the softly arched ceiling giving the room a liquid feel, but with warmth, similar to a wonderful glass of red wine.

For the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry (the mkSolaire that I designed), we used glass tiles from Bedrock Industries that are made from chardonnay bottles. I love the poetry and history of using glass in new, modern ways that have a story behind them. The variations in the color and texture have me wondering where the various bottles came from, and a bit of connection to the past (like an old weathered wood floor).

There are many options with varying colors, finishes, sizes, so there is a ton of design flexibility. However, currently, the recycled glass tiles do typically cost more than non-recycled glass tiles. However, the costs seem to be lowering, and hopefully will be similar to the path of organic foods with lowering costs with increased supply and demand, and will soon the cost increase will be negligible.

So next time you are looking for tiles for your kitchen or bathroom, consider using recycled glass tiles for eco-luxury and beauty.

For more information, here are some links:
www.globallygorgeous.com
http://www.maienzawilson.com/
www.glasstile.com
MSI Smart Home 
www.bedrockindustries.com 

This lovely chandelier appears grand and luxurious. But what is most interesting is when you look closer and see that it is actually made from bare old re-used incandescent bulbs. These out-dated inefficient bulbs are now being replaced with CFLs or LEDs by people wanting lower energy bills. But rather than having them go to the landfill, London designer Tim Fishlock came up with a beautiful approach to give them new life, while still providing an efficient CFL light source for the piece. His “What Watt?” chandelier uses these old bulbs to diffuse the light from the CFL and crate interesting shapes, shadows and textures.

It reminds me of a similar idea we used in the Smart Home: Green + Wired mkSolare at the Museum of Science and Industry. Ted Harris designed these lights below for the exhibit that were CFL lights to efficiently produce the light, but the old incadescent bulbs were used to filter the light, adding some color and pattern.

source: Contemporist

When I think of the word Igloo, the Inuit name for shelter, freezing cold locales are the first thing to pop into my mind. Even colder than my native Iowa, and that is pretty darn cold. Perhaps the first form of completely sustainable building, Igloos are typically made of snow blocks formed into a dome shaped dwelling. Due the the insulating properties of snow, once a constant temperature is reached inside the Igloo, anywhere form 20-30 degrees, the temperature never changes no matter how much the outside temp drops.

The beauty of these structures, beside their functional design, is that come spring, they melt back into the landscape, leaving no trace of their former existence, much like an Andy Goldsworthy art installation. The following year they are made again, with brand new design opportunities.

Today, from Canada to Sweden, the art of the winter domicile has been taken to new heights. Using snow and ice, a new take on this very old technology is blanketing the northern climes like an Arctic snow storm. Snow and ice hotels, hewn from natures abundant white stuff, and are open for business. And they are the hippest new spots. The Ice Hotel Sweden, covering over 30,000 s.f., includes an Absolut Vodka Ice Bar, An Ice Chapel, a sauna and the requisite hot tub.

North Americas only ice hotel, Hotel de Glace, in Quebec, Canada boasts an igloo media room 25 feet high and 40 feet in diameter. With it’s 10th year anniversary under way, Hotel de Glace offers a unique mix of city and far northern living under one icy roof.

High tech meets old world in this offering outside of Davos, where giant balloons are covered in tons of packed snow. The balloons are deflated when the snow has hardened leaving behind the ultimate in eco-housing! Also sporting a sauna, bar and whirpool baths, these luxury dwelling are a far cry form what our northern ancestors might have envisioned.

Snow and Ice as building materials could make sense for Winter Olympic hotels – that could create thousands of hotel rooms the year of the Olympics and be gone with little waste the next year.

As with so many aspects of design and construction, we can look back in time to discover the perfect blend of Form & Function and sustainability. Like snow, are there other materials are all around us that we could be using for constructing buildings but we somehow overlook?

A client/friend of mine recently turned me on to this amazingly beautiful furniture by BDDW in New York. Each piece has history and tells a story. The “live” edges and irregularities in the wood not only add poetry, make each piece unique, but also greatly reduce waste in the wood.  Much of the wood is reclaimed or from naturally fallen trees. I really appreciate the splicing together of different types of wood and different sizes, reducing waste and creating beauty at the same time. I am in love and cannot wait to see this furniture in our client’s house.

www.bddw.com

Today the Twitter team moved into their new office which has been designed by the super talented Sara Morishige Williams (@sara).  She worked with an existing shell of a building in downtown San Francisco. I was able to get a sneak peek last week while she was working on it, and was excited to see the photos today.  Sara shared some of her ideas: “I wanted to bring the outdoors in, while making the space playful yet useful and sustainable.”

Sara’s sense of play with color and whimsical elements, as well as her attention to detail had me walking through the spaces filled with joy and a curious sense of discovery for what was around the corner.  The entry Twitter sign (above) was fabricated out of reclaimed barn wood and hot rolled steel (fabricated by Lundberg Design).  Sara chose lovely paint colors that are also no-VOC. It was great to walk through the new space and have no “new” smell (that we now all know is actually toxins from off-gassing paints).

One of my favorite details is this wall (above) with bird decals that Sara made from a photo (below) she took in Nebraska when visiting the father of her husband and Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (@ev).

She is currently working on her own version of a “trophy wall” in the lobby which is framed work from various artist friends, some clever writings on Twitter, as well as work created by Twitter employees, and also Twitter user gifts and submittals. When completed, the frames will extend further and make the shape of two wings. This is such an interesting take on multiple voices making one larger form, much like Twitter’s users and Twitter itself.

In one of the conference rooms there is an amazingly luscious table designed by Sara and Mark Rogero with Concreteworks (@concreteworks). The base is reclaimed barn wood and the top is made of concrete with  40% fly ash and 100% recycled aggregates. The bird motif floats into this room embedded in the concrete.

Sara also made interesting choices in the furniture. There are Chiquita stools by Kenneth Cobonpue with a top of natural rattan poles on top of a cushion below. The stools are visually striking, and surprisingly comfortable as the poles sink softly when sat on. I love these. We had a few in our office as well.

Sara also mixed in some furniture classics, as well as some custom pieces made by a local furniture company called Furniture Envy. They have some pretty great prices. A good place to check out.

This “Tell Your Stories Here” neon sign is by Mary Conrad (@M_Ry).  By the way, Mary currently has a show at Michael Rosenthall Gallery.  The paint behind the sign is one of the “wallpapers” you can choose on your twitter account.

There are very cool “live edge” wood hooks in the lobby by John at Live Wire Farm and also a sweet touch with pillows on everyone’s chair when they came to the office today by Throwboy (@throwboy).

And how many offices have their own DJ booth? I am so jealous.

There are wonderful details throughout the office that are old objects now given a new life by Sara like these deer that Sara found and painted.

The new Twitter office space is sustainable design with surprising twists. Sara is a unique and talented designer and I look forward to seeing much more from her in the years ahead.

www.saramorshige.com

Photos from Flickr pages of Twitter, ryansking as well as twitpics from @caroline, @wfarner, @robey and @jennadawn.

Ebay’s green team has joined forces with Zem Joaquin, founder of Ecofabulous, to transform everyday items into stylish must-haves. They have launched a contest with a $5000 prize when you enter your own ideas for transforming an old object into a beautiful new item.

Zem is an eco-fashionista, a friend, and the woman with more energy than anyone I have ever met. I love watching her videos like this one that shows how to transform different found items and give them new life. As she says, the greenest piece of furniture is one that already exists. She is also choosing a pick of the day from Ebay. It is all quite fun and inspiring. It makes me want to get out my paint stripper and start creating.

I love fire. I hate to admit it, but I do. When Kevin and I were designing and building  our Glidehouse, it was the one decision we really struggled with. While we knew that having a wood-burning fire place was not good for the environment by emitting ashes, soot and carbon toxins, we didn’t want to give up on being able to have the warmth and glow of an evening fire in the winter. So, we included a wood burning fireplace in our house. In the years since we have been living here, we have enjoyed it many times, however, always with guilt. So we have decided to switch to guilt-free fire. We moved to gas fire with a glass rock base.

I am amazed how easy it was. We (well, ok, to be honest “we” really means Kevin, which probably explains how “easy” it all was for me) went to the FireCrystals website www.firecrystals.com and looked through all the different glass rock options. We decided upon the “Black Nugget” type.  We also ordered a few accessories including a U-burner and since we have propane gas, we also ordered a pan.

First Kevin cleaned out the firebox and  painted the backdrop of the fireplace to all be black to make the actual flames more dramatic, and have the box be visually less messy than the existing gray backdrop. He used high-temperature paint and we let it dry overnight (and also kept our windows open, because we were not able to find no-VOC high temperature paint, so there was off-gassing happening).

As soon as the materials arrived, “we” got to work. (I guess mainly it was Kevin and I stayed in “advisor” role in the background, providing “entertainment” and counseling).  Surprisingly not that many tools were needed. Just a pipe wrench, a crescent wrench, gas tape and a barbeque lighter.  The directions say to install a damper clamp (if you don’t already have one) to insure the minimum venting.

Kevin laid the FireCrystal pan in the bottom of our fireplace with the U-burner. He cleaned off the threads to the inlet pipe and applied gas tape to the threads in a clockwise rotation. He applied gas tape to the threads of the male end of the supplied elbow fitting, then screw elbow into the inlet pipe. He then took the supplied flex line and screwed it into the male end of the elbow and tightened.

He was then ready to connect to the burner. He placed the female end of the flex line fitting onto the front end of the U-burner pipe and applied gas tape and secured it tightly.  He positioned the pan and U-burner towards the front of our fireplace.

After testing to make sure it was working, we laid on the FireCrystals over the pan, U-burner and filled the bottom of our fireplace.

Since the type of FireCrystals we chose was more expensive than some, we actually ordered a less expensive type for the bottom layer, and then used the Black Nugget type crystals for the top layer.

After we filled the entire base with the crystals, we were ready for the fire. By simply turning on the gas, and using the lighter, we had instant glow, warmth and romantic ambience. All guilt-free.

So whether you are doing a new home, or just want to update your exising fireplace, this is easy to do (well, easy if you are or you have someone saavy like Kevin). It can be indoors or outdoors. Next up, a fire pit for outside….

www.firecrystals.com

I have been enjoying reading Nathaniel Corum’s book Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook and have been amazed at how easy it looks like it can be to build. Nathaniel goes the benefits of Straw Bale construction including the ease of construction, DIY capabilities, low cost, ease of community involvement (especially with good friends and good beer), organic materials that are non-offgassing, good insulation for less energy requirements, thermal mass efficiencies, and minimized waste.

The book is a very helpful guide for walking one through all the steps for the actual construction.  Add a great design, good friends, and a bunch of straw bales, and you can make yourself a lovely cottage, studio or home.

Reading this book got me more interested in the possibilities of straw bale. They don’t have to look a particular way. In fact, I love this straw bale house (below)- Felix Jerusalem’s Stoh Haus in Switzerland. It is made from compressed straw bales with a translucent siding in front of that. The look is clean, unique, and the construction is smart and efficient.