Green Building & Design

Living Micro: Single residents embrace tiny apartments

I am an Architect

Transforming Micro-Apartment at the Museum of the City of New York

Fast Sketch - 3 Bed Room Sustainable Low Cost Villa 90 m2

Epic Custom Desk Build - The Journey - Time Lapse

Sustainable Low Cost Villa 25 m2

Tiny Condo Kitchen Makeover

The Passivhaus

A passive house (passivhaus) is a super-insulated energy-efficient home that has  tiny to no heating bills,is build with  natural light using the passive solar  concept  and enjoys superior levels of comfort to normal homes.

The whole construction process is a funny mix of rocket science and common scence, although the tehnology used costs more than in a typical home, the benefits are huge:the investment tends to recover up to 1/3 of the additional cost in time by heating and energy bill savings;in order to build from ground-up or meet the retrofit standard some expensive  materials are required that ensure a long lasting period of exploitation; also, a careful design ensures that both the beneficiary and the builders understand concepts like air-tightness and thermal bridging.

For beginners you can check out the solar passive design series lessons that you can find here, for advanced you can study the Solar Passive Design Tool  ,and for medium any posts found on this site will do that you can find in the bottom left side of the blog in the Archive Posts Category...

CO Micro Apartment Entry for the adAPT NYC Competition

 Here we get a view of CO's 275 square foot its versatile interior, which can be used as a lounge, dining room, office and bedroom.

DIY-crafted Seattle micro apartment: 8 spaces stacked in 182 sq ft

Ten years ago Steve Sauer was looking for a place to keep some stuff. When he found a subterranean storage unit in the basement of a century-old Seattle coop, he quickly realized it had potential as a living quarters.

The main floor space fits a transforming table (that folds down from a cable to seat 6) and a 3-foot-deep Japanese-style soaking tub hidden below the entryway. The kitchen backs onto a bathroom which serves as the platform for a guest bed(room). There's also storage for 2 bikes (a pull-up bar doubles as a bike holder) and steps that double as benches.

After 7 years of work and 2 years applying for city approval, Sauer has his permit of occupancy for his tiny home and he would love to take what he's learned and create an entire building of high-end micro apartments.

LIVINGLIGHTLY-simple intentional living

What is SHADE?

Minimal UK compact home uses glass, plywood, steel, concrete

NYC "Swiss Army knife" apartment's walls open, fold & slide

How to Decorate a Small House | At Home With P. Allen Smith

How to design like an architect | A modern home

House reviews(Ep.11-Complete bathroom renovation)

In the video below you can watch a complete bathroom renovation on a very small buget, using as much recycled materials as possible, renovation that changed the overall look of the bathroom and costed a little under 2000 AUD:

House reviews-Ep.10(ReVolt House)

Great innovation of passive solar floating house, but the concept can only be implemented in calm waters like lakes and riverbeds, but a major concern is how the house will react to bad weather conditions...

House reviews(Ep.9-Achieving passive house perfection)

2013 BEST NEW HOME - Fine Homebuilding HOUSES Awards- 

the  BEST NEW HOME AWARD was obtained by architect Justin Pauly and builder Rob Nicely for the certified Passive House they built on the Monterey Peninsula in California. With its exceptional performance and equally considered style, this home exemplifies what we believe to be a fine home building.

House reviews(Ep.8-Attic transformation to an apartment)

In this video you will be able to see the major steps related to a complete attic transformation of ~25sqm from start to finish involving the vision, the design and the the implementation of the 3D project to the final result.

House Reviews(Ep.7-Paradigm Modular Green Prefab)

This modular home was designed by Bogue Trondowski Architects and built by Seattle-based Method Homes. This creative  little home of just under 700 square feet will also be certified LEED Platinum, according to Method Homes.
This inovative home design  can capture and recycle all of its own water with a Corgal galvanized steel water retention tank (5,000 gallons), Flotender’s greywater system, Infinity Drain, Axor bathroom and kitchen fixtures, and an EcoDry urine diverting toilet for composting systems. The water supports a vegetable garden with Sunnyside Organic seedlings.
The solar PV system used is a 4 kW array by LG on Sun Modo’s solar racking rest with no roof penetrations, which is installed by American Solar.
The Paradigm design is using  Insulfoam R-28 recyclable foam insulation, Thermafiber R-45 ceiling batt and wall insulation, Siga VOC- and formaldehyde-free tapes and membranes, local FSC-certified Western Red Cedar cladding and siding, a window wall by Western Window Systems, and Cascadia triple-glazed windows and doors, according to Method Homes.

House Reviews(Ep.6-Small apt. fits everything ,used as office too!)

This is a video where you can check out how an independent business consultant apartment’s and office looks like.After seeing it you really start to think to the innovations he applies in he’s day to day work as a business consultant if he could recognize the potential of such a tight space (~500 sqfeet) and used almost every good thing he could find. Michael Pozner, former Head of Retail for American Apparel, and his architect Darrick Borowski, from Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture (www.jpda.net) re-imagined his tiny space to fit his needs.

Passive House Design Tools

PHPP-2007 free version - spreadsheet based design calculation tool aimed at architects and designers to assist the design of houses to the Passivhaus standard. This version of the calculation tool is a reduced functionality demonstration version. A full version including a manual can be purchased from the Passivhaus Institute for 130 Euro. The PHPP energy balance module has been shown to be able to describe the thermal building characteristics of passive houses surprisingly accurately. This applies particularly to the new technique for calculating the heating load, which was developed specifically for Passive Houses. The spreadsheet has 33 component worksheets that deal with considerations such as: summer climate, u-values, heating, cooling, the details of building areas, thermal bridges, window types, shading, heat loss through the ground, ventilation, electricity demand for both domestic and non-domestic cases, compact hear pumps and boilers. As it is spreadsheet based, designers can use PHPP to evaluate design solutions immediately without the need to wait for dynamic simulations to run. The tool provides a demonstration of the capability of the full PHPP spreadsheet to aid the design of passive houses to the Passivhaus standard.

Additional  Passive Tools -passive tools from Passive House Institute US

Energy-Design-Tools -energy design softwares from UCLA

House reviews(Ep.5-Frustred about your apartment's tight space?)

The architect worked for 3 months w/Resource Furniture & Clei in Italy; customizing the systems for this challenging space which was designed down to the ¼”. He may not have designed the bed systems, but making that space work took a huge amount of expertise/vision.

Founded in 2000 by Steve Spett and Ron Barth, Resource Furniture has gained a reputation for providing Interior Designers, Architects and Specifiers access to European Furniture not widely distributed in the US.

Every person has their own closet too. It's like a rubik's cube apartment. There is even a guest bed!

House reviews(Ep.4-Live in a box but think outside of the box)

This is how the " think out of the box principle"  has improved the functionality of the small 24 square feet apartment into 24 different rooms.The transformation is credited to an award winning Hong Kong arhitect whose childhood struggle with small space engaged him in a complete transformation of the same apartment he lived for so many years.

An overview on green home design(Video 6)

 Passive Solar Design Simplified Presentation

• Overview and Definitions(Video 1)
• Direct Gain Systems(Video 2)
• Indirect & Isolated Gain Systems(Video 3)
• Building Orientation(Video 4)
• Green building strategies(Video 5)
• Case Study(Video 6)

Transcript on Case Study:

• The objective:transforming an existing international style bungalow to a smart passive house
• The passive solar system chosed:Direct Gain due to proper building orientation
• The design included a proper solar shading
• Re-used materials principle for achieving a great insulation
• The design included the use of great ventilation and air destratification
• The most used rooms were placed on the south, and efficient appliances were used to save energy
• A great daylighthing was achieved using glasings in different parts of the room . 

An overview on green home design(Video 5)

 Passive Solar Design Simplified Presentation

• Overview and Definitions(Video 1)
• Direct Gain Systems(Video 2)
• Indirect & Isolated Gain Systems(Video 3)
• Building Orientation(Video 4)
• Green building strategies(Video 5)
• Case Study(Video 6)

Transcript on Green Home Strategies :

• Use multi-pane glass with U-factor <0.35 and Low-E
• Tune glass to solar orientation:use low SHGC glass on east and west
• Skylights not recommended
• Use natural ventilation,use convection to bring in cool night air in the summer
• Use cross ventilation
• Use ceiling fans or heat Recovery Ventilator and air destratification
• Frecquently used rooms should be located on south side
• Infrequently used rooms should be located on the nort side
• Make use of open floor plan
• Use natural sunlight for health and energy savings
• Bring in light high with clearstory windows
• Balance light
• Bounce light up ith light shelves and blinds
• Design circulation areas of rooms next to southern glass
• Use oodles for insulation
• Make use of thermal break
• Air-seal the building
• Use a light-colored roof
• Make use of solar hot water
• Make use of solar electricity(PV)
• Build high quality not high quantity
• Use high-efficiency appliances and lighting
• Use local and green materials

An overview on green home design(Video 4)

Passive Solar Design Simplified Presentation

• Overview and Definitions(Video 1)
• Direct Gain Systems(Video 2)
• Indirect & Isolated Gain Systems(Video 3)
• Building Orientation(Video 4)
• Green Building Strategies(Video 5)
• Case Study(Video 6)

Transcript of Building orientation

• Nothing above 15deg to the south ,using the Solar Pathfinder
• Long side within 15deg of true south
• Using most of the glass facing south
• Minimize glass on east and west to avoid summer heat
• A great strategy is to plant trees on east and west
• Block the high summer sun externally:X~ltitude+20deg
• Allow the low winter sun in Y>=sun at solstice
• Make use of:roof overhangs,trellises,awnings,external shutters,louvers and arbors
• Use dense material inside a building to store heat energy
• Thermal mass is most effective when spread out,in walls and located in direct sunlight
• Use at least 3-9SF of 4”thick thermal mass per SF of south glass
• Use stone,brick,concrete block(filled),white oak and adobe but become useless if covered with carpet

An overview on green home design(Video 3)

Passive Solar Design Simplified Presentation

• Overview and Definitions(Video 1)
• Direct Gain Systems(Video 2)
• Indirect & Isolated Gain Systems(Video 3)
• Building Orientation(Video 4)
• Green building strategies(Video 5)
• Case Study(Video 6)

Transcript of Indirect & Isolated Gain Systems

• Indirect gain systems rely on conduction to transfer heat to living space
• Isolated gain systems rely on convection to take the hot air to living space

An overview on green home design(Video 2)

 Passive Solar Design Simplified Presentation

• Overview and Definitions(Video 1)
• Direct Gain Systems(Video 2)
• Indirect & Isolated Gain Systems(Video 3)
• Building Orientation(Video 4)
• Green Building Strategies(Video 5)
• Case Study(Video 6)

Transcript of  Direct Gain Systems

• The sun heats the living spaces
• With proper thermal mass the south glass~% of the floor area=passive solar
• Without proper thermal mass,south glass~7% of floor area=sun tempered

An overview on green home design(Video 1)

 Passive Solar Design Simplified Presentation

• Overview and Definitions(Video 1)
• Direct Gain Systems(Video 2)
• Indirect & Isolated Gain Systems(Video 3)
• Building Orientation(Video 4)
• Green building strategies(Video 5)
• Case Study(Video 6)

Transcript of Overview and Definitions

• Sustainability is ensuring that our actions and decisions today do not destroy the opportunities of future generations
• Buildings today consume~40% of our energy causing huge ecological impacts
• The sun provides the earth more than 10000times the energy we currently use
• Passive solar will help you save over 80% of heating and cooling bill and will ensure your home’s confort by making it less dependent to traditional sources and thus giving you better return than most investments and can also be of any architectural style
• Passive solar is the use of the sun in a building(without using technology)
• Active solar is using the sun to create hot water or electricity(with the help of technology)
• PV –short for photovoltaic(using active solar to create electricity)
• Solar Thermal is using active solar to create hot water
• Direct Gain Systems –heat the actual living spaces of a home and are used for mild to cold climate
• Indirect Gain Systems-heat only a part of the home spaces but the heat is then redirected to other parts of the home and are used for mild to very cold climates
• Isolated Gain Systems heat adjacent spaces and are used for cold to very cold climates
• Keep in mind that you can combine the systems to improve your home’s passive design in terms of comfort and health maintaining a reasonable cost of build .

Alaska Passive House

House reviews(Ep.2)-Why we need an arhitect

John MacPeek bought what was an old storage room for the building's water tanks and wich actually looked more like a storage room than anything habitable(wich summed to aprox.25m or 270 square feet) ,but with the help of architect Lola Domenech managed to transform this ''over-sized closet'' by opening it to the sea and implementing space-saving ideas like a walk-through shower, a bedroom that becomes a lounge and a refrigerator in a drawer.

Why we need building science

Watch this video to find out why it is imperative we get both the envelope and the HVAC system right if we hope to achieve any reasonable measure of "green" to our buildings!

House reviews(Ep.3-Design your dream home(apartment))

The founder of the treehugger.com ,Graham Hill wanted an ecofriendly apartment that would encorporate both the modern design and fuctionality of a modern one so he launched a  design contest that summed up 303 projects.

The Project Winner of the contest was the "Life Edited" design project of two romanians students at "Ion Mincu" University of Arhitecture and Urbanism:

• CATALIN SANDU &
• ADRIAN IANCU .

Their project achieved transforming one room apartment into 8 functional spaces along with a fully functional designed kitchen and a small bathroom.