Comments on: Seattle will get living buildings, but when?… listening in on a living building charrette

By: Johnny Hartsfield

Johnny Hartsfield — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:27:47 +0000

Thanks for the great post Katie!

I wanted to mention one thing related to the elevated vs. grounded home discussion. The homes we are designing and eventually producing are not dependent upon being raised on concrete piles. This characteristic might be one solution or option to the “Living Building Package” we will offer but it is not necessarily a prerequisite.

This first ‘deep green model home’ and subsequent homes will be designed and built to meet, at minimum LEED Homes Gold. Options will be available to home owners to purchase LEED Homes Platinum or Living Building Challenge level homes. Each home’s orientation will have features relative to and applicable to the specific site.

These homes will be available in a few months on a newly designed website, using state-of-the-art graphic and web development technology. It will be designed to give potential home buyers the ability to customize their own home. With this site, we aim to inspire and empower every buyer.

Each potential buyer visiting the GreenFab website http://www.green-fab.com/ will be able to click through a series of home options that allows them to customize their home based on a series of predesigned packages.

Stay tuned for the website launch in the near future and I look forward to many future discussions and comments. These homes are, afterall, designed for you.

By: Isaac Curtiss

Isaac Curtiss — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:35:19 +0000

Well the stilt idea would be nice for flood areas I suppose, but in general it just sounds impractical, and you would have to raise it enough so that small animals wouldn’t seek shelter in the small dark space below. (Not to mention your cat when she goes to have kittens.) and the unnecessary stairs would be a natural deterrent for the elderly and people with children.

I would design the house with the living roof and let people order it unplanted or with different plant sets to match their tastes and Geographic area. I know green roofs can be expensive but in the context of a ‘factory built” situation much of that cost would be mitigated. I recently interviewed an “after market green roof installer and she basically said much of the added cost is in ensuring that the house is structurally sound enough to support the three to five time greater weight of a living roof. If these homes were designed around the idea of efficiency, the cost increase would at least in part be offset by the decrease in total cost of ownership (lower energy use)
Check out my interview: http://www.builditgreenconcepts.com/green-community/health-a-green-living.html

By: eden

eden — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:32:46 +0000

It is great to hear that Johnny and his team are working an a project that is pursuing Living Building Challenge.

One correction to your post:
Living Building Challenge does not require that a building either needs a green roof or needs to be set above the ground…

There are 16 prerequisites, 5 of which are directly attributed to the Site and Materials Petals. For people who want to learn more about the Challenge, a copy of the current standard can be downloaded at http://www.ilbi.org.

By: Suzie | Roof Repairs

Suzie | Roof Repairs — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:58:41 +0000

I think that home would be perfect for places that hae flooding this could prevent a lot of people loosing their homes during these times but this would also depend on what and how the stilts of the home have been made.