michelle kaufmann designs

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I just saw this photo taken by AriaDenver Project Manager Kate Hilberg of the first phase of homes (Casa Chiara) recently in the snow. This almost makes me miss the winter snow.

more on this project
www.ariadenver.com

Last Thursday we had a fabulous Re:Vision Salon on “Urban Agriculture” with Josiah Raisin Cain (Chief Design Officer with Design Ecology) and Urban Re:Vision. Urban Agriculture has become one of the hottest movements in the  sustainable design world. And rightly so. As Josiah described, the ideas with Urban Agriculture “are close to exploding” given recent media, products, planning and design focus. Josiah spoke about some unsettling (and for me, unknown) facts such as the average miles travelled for the average meal in the US (including miles for processing food) is 3000 miles. That is completely absurd as well as unsustainable. Another crazy fact he shared is that it takes the amount of water equivalent to one person’s showers for a year to produce one pound of beef.

Urban Edible Gardens solve many problems simultaneously. It helps reduce gas, cost, water (depending on system used), while increasing social justice and community connection. Challenges typically include space and scale. However, there are alternative ways of imagining our cities. Josiah showed projects with successful green roofs with edible gardens like this one at Trent University.

The green roofs reduce storm water runoff, act as increased insulation, increase oxygen, reduce cooling loads, and provide local food. They can be on the top roof of the building, or be on intermediate roof gardens, like this project by Daniel Libeskind.

And of course, you could do on your decks and walls of decks as well.

There are alternatives to the deep soil-based gardens that make sense when we plant them in the ground. There are Hydroponic systems and Aquaponic systems that use much less water by providing their own nutrients. Companies like InkaWall (Paul Giacomantonio from Inkawall was at the Salon) offer systems like this “BioCloth” that is 1” thick and can be hung outside or inside and produces food that hangs off of the cloth, using much less water than would be required if they were planted in the ground using traditional methods.  With proper lighting and ventilation, these can even be planted inside of a building as well. You could grow your own food in your downtown loft.

We have incorporated green roofs and used hydroponics boxes for planting food at the Smart Home exhibit (the mkSolaire) in Chicago.

Josiah spoke about how “slick” our current city buildings are. Water slides right off of them, creating many expensive problems for the city with storm water run-off. By integrating green walls and green roofs, it has the added benefit of making the buildings more “sticky”, and reducing storm-water run-off issues for cities, and reducing the costs required to sove those problems.

It all is so delicious visually, socially and physically. It also seems accessible and feasible. Hearing Josiah, Paul and others in the group speak about their project’s successes with green walls, roofs, and integrated urban gardening systems, I am excited and can’t wait to be incorporating some of these technologies into communities I am working on.  As Paul noted, “Urban Gardens can create prosperity where there is currently zero.”

For more info:
Urban Gardens at the Smart Home in Chicago
Trent University Green Roof

Fytowall
Inka Wall
The ABLE project
Elliot Coleman
Sky Vegetables

Photos by the very talented Paige Green. www.paigegreenphotography.com

Now that Phase 1 of the ariaDenver project (the sisters housing) is almost complete and the sisters have moved in, the Co-housing portion of the project is starting. Tomorrow there will be a presentation by Jim Leach on the benefits of co-housing and a description of living in a community with a vision of a healthier, more secure nad fulfilling lifestyle. Jim is a resident of one of his co-housing projects Silver Sage Village and is president of Wonderland Hill Devleopement (a company specializing in the development of co-housing projects).

In the ariaDenver project there will be two portions of co-housing. One will be reusing the existing convent building (which has great bones) for senior co-housing. There is also a portion of the overall project that will be new construction for an intergenerational co-housing project.

The co-housing project offers both privacy as well as communal spaces. There will be individual homes for families, but in addition, shared spaces as well - shared kitchens for “communal dinners” once a week, shared gardens for on-site food production, shared spaces for childcare, hanging out, inspiring a supportive network and encouraging a “lifetime learning environment”.

While co-Housing has been around for a while, it has recently become more popular. As Jim told me, “Cohousing is definitely picking up steam with a lot of both future residents as well as builders and developers. I think it is because people are rethinking their values both in response to the economy and to environmental concerns. I think people are primarily looking for community and a way to live more sustainably.”

Jim describes the approach to the ariaDenver project, “We will utilize the original convent building  for a senioir community of 20 to 30 living units and then develop an intergenerational community out of the newer east wing of the convent by adding to it and creating a pedestrian court between it and some new row homes for families. The architecture coudl be a really interesting interplay of the historic feel of the convent with a contemporary new element, much like some of the attractive European developments around historic buildings.”

Jim also talked about what got him interested in co-housing: “I was always interested in trying to see how far we could push solar, energy efficiency and green building in merchant built housing. Co-housing brought proactive buyers who wanted to live more sustainably. By getting together in a community, they were able to find the courage and commitment to do so. Our motto is Community is the secret ingredient in sustainability.”

I am a huge fan of co-housing and Jim Leach and am really looking forward to working with him. Kevin and I have been talking about the type of place we might want to live in the future, and Jim has described it perfectly.

To attend the event tomorrow at 6:30pm , or the ariaDenver co-housing kick-off workshop on November 21st, rsvp with georgette@whdc.com or call Georgette Vigil at 303-449-3232.

For more information on the co-housing project, see Jim Leach’s Wonderland Hill Development’s website: www.whdc.com and www.ariadenver.com and AriaDenver blog

The Casa Chiara project is being finalized, and the Sisters are moving in. Moving day in the current Denver snow has turned out to be quite an adventure. However, these are very strong women, and piles of snow are not going to stop them from moving into their homes.

This photo below was taken just a few days ago, as landscaping was being planted.  Amazing how quickly the weather can change, and also how quickly the buildings and the landscape transform appearance. I (and I would imagine the Sisters as well) look forward to the weather changing again, and seeing how the 8 homes look with Denver’s crisp blue skies and the plantings taking off.

Thank you, Kate Hilberg, for sending the photos.
For more info on this prefab multifamily project, see Aria Denver Project on this blog, or www.ariadenver.com.

After hundreds of entries, thousands of online public votes, and much heated discussion among the jury, the winners of the Eco-Home competition by FreeGreen for the rebuilding of Greensburg have been announced. The first place winner is a design titled “Meadowlark House” by Steven Learner. This is one of the few designs that all the jurors agreed upon.  It has a smart, simple plan, a strategic use of windows, and could most likely be built for an affordable cost.

Stuttio Workshop recieved a second place ranking for their “Root /Breathe / Endure” design. This was one of my favorites, as it has a smart wall building assembly including solar water tubes and a thermal storage wall combined with a artwork,  a lovely connection to the edible garden from the kitchen, and I think all the interior spaces would have wonderful qualities of light.

The fourth place winner, Studio Sunna, had one of my favorite designs “Openhouse”.  The layout is incredibly strategic with the placement of openings that provide light, breezes and outdoor spaces but also incorporate low-tech elements such as the sliding wood sunshades on the outside to reduce heat gain and offer privacy. Learning from barns. They thought about passive house techniques and approaches and incorporated them into the small, yet powerful house.

I was disappointed, however, that some of my other favorite designs did not make it to the top 10, and therefore were not a part of our jury. This one below, “Passive House HIB”  designed by Paravant is elegant and beautiful, as well as efficient. It utilizes passive design components and techniques that allow the warmth from the sun during the winter but not the summer. I love the sliding screen over the winter garden and the courtyard.

Below is one of my favorite elevations in the “EcoLodge” entry. One could imagine this being lush green in the summe, and also a poetic snow house in the winter - always stealth-like and visually connecting to the landscape.

Ok, this “Tree House” entry below probably would cost more than the budget, but It has some interesting ideas in it with the window screening.

In the end, not only just the winners, but many of the entries prove t is longer enough to judge a design on how it looks. Homes should look great, of course. But they also need to perform. I evaluated entries based on how the spaces feel with plenty of non-direct natrual light, maximum views and breezes, materials and systems for having healthy air quality, spaces that feel larger than they are through smart design, but also how the home would perform over time in terms of energy and water efficiency. A great design can have it all. All homes should have it all.

www.freegreen.com
Previous Blog Entry
www.greensburggreentown.org

The Eco-Homes Competition for rebuilding Greensburg,Kansas design enties are in and awaiting your input.  There are hundreds of designs, and some pretty interesting ones. You can check them out and vote by clicking here
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All votes will be tallied and the top ones will be a part of the final judging (I am a part of the jury with friends and colleagues such as Allison Arieff, Lloyd Alter and Steve Thomas to name a few). The winner of the contest will receive a $10,000 first prize, the two runners up each receive $1000, and the top winning designs will be housed on FreeGreen.com and available for free to the public and will be built in Greensburg, Kansas as a part of the Chain of Eco-Homes Project.

About the Chain of Eco-Homes:
The Chain of Eco-Homes is a 12-home project located in Greensburg, Kansas. The purpose of this residential development is to create “Living Laboratories” featuring a variety of building techniques, sizes, prices, energy efficiency features, and green living products and services. Each home will be unique, and each will be available both as an informational center and as eco-lodging where people can experience green living first hand. This will be the first such project in the nation, and will be key to developing eco-tourism in Greensburg, Kansas.

I am off to dig through the website and entries - which is always fun.
www.freegreen.com/greensburg

Seeing these photos of the modules successfully being shipped and set to the New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, CA couldn’t make me more happy (and also extremely thankful). The monks at the Hermitage are honestly some of the most special people I have ever met and the site of their monastery is nothing short of being epic.  I can’t even say how fortunate I feel to be working with them. I have stayed at the Hermitage a number of times. In fact, they have retreat rooms available for rent - with private gardens and sweeping ocean views. I HIGHLY recommend a trip there and staying there.

Their current buildings have lived beyond their years. They were built inexpensively and without proper structure and insulation, so now they have mold and are no longer structurally sound. While they need so many of the buildings to be replaced (including their very unhealthy and unsafe cells), their budget has allowed for the first phase of the overall project to be built: the infirmary. The monks have made the life commitment to this place, and therefore require local healthcare as they age. They have been in great need for an infirmary.
You can see more on the overall project by clicking here.

Their site is in the southern portion of Big Sur in an area called Lucia. They are located up on the hill off of highway 1.  There were numerous delivery assessments completed by a number of different experts to evaluate if the modules could make it through Big Sur’s narrow winding highway and then also up the switchback steep road to the Hermitage. With each assessment it appeared doable, but just barely. And with prayers.

The day of the shipping required miraculous effort from an AMAZING group of people - contractors, truck drivers, set crew, the factory, and a special thanks to Bede Healey (the monk in charge of the project) and to Scott Landry and James Kean (the architects from our end).   It was truly a collaboration, and that is what made it happen successfully. And the prayers surely helped as well.

We designed the infirmary to be long-lasting with no maintenace. So we chose to use Cor-ten steel for the siding. In these photos, the Cor-ten hasn’t rusted yet which is why it just looks like shiny steel. However, with the amount of salt in the air, the beautiful velvet color and organic texture of the Cor-ten will surely be showing up very soon. Stay tuned in future photos.  In order to “talk to” the existing Chapel building (the heart of the Hermitage and a building that will be staying for many, many years to come), we used integral color cement board with an ochre color that relates to the color of the Chapel.

The infirmary is composed of 4 modules that are put together. And one of the many exciting parts of the modular construction is when you can walk inside the same day the modules arrive. This photo below was taken an hour after the one above. It is showing the infirmary kitchen with the windows on the countertop as a way to wash the countertop with light so one doesn’t have to turn on lights during the day.

I am so grateful and in awe of this incredible group of people that helped dream of,design, build, ship, set and complete this building. And it is a great birthday present to the birthday boy, Scott Landry. (happy birthday, Scott!)

To find out more  about the Hermitage click here.
www.contemplation.com
For more information the Retreat rooms and staying at the Hermitage, click here.
They are also taking donations for reconstructing the rest of the Hermitage. To find out more about this, click here.

Stay tuned on the blog for updated photos as the infirmary is “buttoned up” and completed.

Last night we had our first Re:Vision Salon, where a group of Re:Visionaries get together to discuss topics of relevance and importance in designing a better world.  David Baker, the king of beautifully designed affordable housing, was the one to frame the conversation on Density. He started with a short video he made titled “Better Living through Density”.

In the video David talks about looking at density as citizens per square mile, rather than the typical unit per acre. Convincing charts show that population density is inversely proportional to carbon output. The video shows examples of some benefits of density including parks, cafes, restaurants, roof gardens, walkable everything, using some of David’s projects as examples.

You can watch his video by clicking here.

The discussion was like one of those really great dinner parties. It was a fabulous group of some of my favorite people including Eric Corey Freed (who also just become Director at Urban Re:Vision – very exciting!), Allison Arieff, Tracey Taylor, John King, Nicholas DeMonchaux, Eve Blossom, Janelle Kellman, the creative crew of Urban Re:Vision held in the Architecture for Humanity / Urban Re:Vision office space.  The conversation circled around ideas about the misconceptions of density, as well as the importance of sharing information on the reality of carbon, water, and energy usage in urban areas versus suburban areas. David talked about how it is actually more dangerous to live in a rural environment than an urban one, and the prejudice against urban living doesn’t match the data showing its benefits.

Janelle asked the question of “what is the appropriate size for a home”? Nicholas share an interesting measurement that has to do with measuring square feet x time (time of driving/commuting) as a metric of livability. When using that type of measurement, a home in the city that may have a smaller area but much less time ends up having a higher livability metric than the house in the suburbs that has more area but also more time to get anywhere.

David shared this interesting statistic: for every American there was 6 square feet of retail per person in 1950. Today it is 20.9 square feet. I am hoping that with the financial meltdown, the overall sensation of scaling back, and conserving resources, means we are on the decline and becoming comfortable with less area. This surely is the case with our products, like the ipod, where we are wanting more in less.

Eve Blossom stated that we need to show data on health as it relates to density. Studies show that denser living not only creates healthier environments (less air pollution to name one issue), but people who live in more urban areas tend to be healthier themselves.

Stacy Frost (founder of Urban Re:Vision) asked How can we make the ugly word “density” equate to “freedom”? That is the key. And that is what she and Urban Re:Vision have been working on with their recent competition: Re:Vision Dallas and their Reburbia competition that asks “How would you redesign the dying suburbia?

Here is the Reburbia winning entry by Frog’s Dream: McMansion Turned into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants.

And one of the winning entries of the Re:Vision Dallas by Atelier Data + Moov here.

The discussion kept circling around how do we hack a place like Oklahoma City to accept density before the high cost of oil makes it painful enough to spark change and at that point it is too late?  I personally think David being on a reality show would do the trick. If people saw how pleasurable it can be to bike everywhere (David doesn’t own a car), grow food on the roof garden, not have to mow the lawn on Saturdays and walk to cocktails anytime, how could one not want to live in the city? If David is already now in the filmmaking business, surely reality TV is around the corner. Now that I would tivo.

www.dbarchitect.com
www.urbanrevision.com