Gottfried Green

This is where it all started for us- The Florida House in Sarasota. This was my tenth post on Gottfried Green back in June of 2006 when I first read about the learning center online. We were still in Brooklyn and only just closed on the property. I remember that first on my list when we arrived was to visit The Florida House. It was 12 years old but still was packed with a lot of innovation. We tracked down the architect Osborn Sharp Assoc in Sarasota and they created this beautiful design that was passive solar and had a grey water system. My Green Buildings was bidding our project- who at the time were the only green builders doing more custom and remodel vs. a few builders who were doing model green homes (which after visiting a few I found it hard to see what was green about them). Everything would come full circle. Osborn Sharp and My Green Buildings met through the bidding of our project and now they are the dream, green team in Sarasota working together to restore The Florida House at its new location. With all the greenwash out there, I can honestly say that they are the real deal in green in FL. They really care about the design as the fundamental aspect of what makes a building green. Design is also half the fun of this whole transition into a new way of designing and building with all the common sense to back it up.

Labels: cost, design, Sarasota

Here is a view as you would see driving up to the house from the road.
This is the Northwest corner of the house where our bedroom sits back from what will be the lanai.
This will be the length of the lanai which stretches 60x20 along the water facing side of the house. Since there is a 12ft overhang most of the late day sun will be blocked by this overhang while still allowing for us to catch the sunset.
The house looks massive from across the top lot looking over the lagoon. This has to do with the required flood elevation. The actual ac indoor space is 2000sf. As far as footprint we did our best. With a partial green roof and maybe some green exterior walls, I can further insulate and reduce how massive this house feels.

Labels: building envelopes

The NYTimes wrote about a couple who suffered through some hardships building a small, second home in Hood River Oregon but not because of the reasons you'd think. I'm sure it didn't hurt to have backgrounds in architecture, sustainable design and to be building in Oregon (more progressive in this sort of thing?). They did run into similar problems that we found here in FL which surprised me. The county, the bank and the appraiser all had problems because their design wasn't big enough and Tudor style like the others near by and didn't have a 2 car garage. Our bank had a problem with no pool, no concrete driveway, only one bathroom and wanting to wait to add a cooling system. I have to admit I gave in a little more and sacrificed some of what I wanted (without the AC they wouldn't give us the loan and unfortunately for me they were the easiest bank I found to work with us on anything and have a decent interest rate). Without the architecture/green design experience it proved impossible to find all the knowledge and experience to build green in the way that I had hoped and so I am stuck with trying to keep as much of the project for later as I could. It's not saying what the building envelop is but some of their green ideas are in the article, "A KEY concept for the house was “to literally have no footprint,” Ms. Donohue said. The roof is engineered to sustain plants and soil to absorb rainwater. Planters with native grasses, which are embedded in the cedar deck and walkway, also help absorb rainwater while screen-covered inserts in the concrete storage units allow floodwater to flow in and out. “There’s the idea that nature is running through the building,” Mr. McKean said. Other features include tigerwood flooring certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a vegetable wax finish, a water-conserving toilet, an on-demand water heater and in the bathroom a solar tube — a type of skylight that intensifies natural light — to use in place of a regular electrical fixture."

Labels: cost, design, prefab

From the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center, "The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center has received Platinum LEED ® Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Following a rigorous assessment, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program awarded the Legacy Center 61 points of 69 possible points, more than any other building yet rated in the world." Elements like Photovoltaics, Earth Tubes, Radiant Floor, Wood Heat make up the renewable energy systems. Also, here are some low tech solutions for energy savings from the site:

Low tech solutions yield about half of our energy savings:

Of the energy used by conventional buildings, half typically goes to heating, cooling, and lighting.

Bringing in daylight reduces interior lighting needs.

Higher than standard levels of insulation in the walls and ceiling keep the building cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than typical insulation would.

Promoting cross ventilation—and providing windows that open and close—allows air to flow freely and allows us to turn off the mechanical ventilation equipment.

Overhangs allow the sun in during the winter yet block the hot sun during the summer.

A “thermal flux zone” reduces heat flow between the main office and the outdoors.

Altogether, savvy design reduces the work load on the mechanical systems, and the smallest, most-efficient equipment was selected to do the job.

Labels: building envelopes, design, Energy, materials

I can't say how many times I've had to stop and help a gopher tortoise to cross the road. It's always a wrong time wrong place situation for the tortoise. If they could only keep to digging their burrows and remaining safe. I guess even then they find themselves between a rock and a hard place literally. A friend sent me news about the practice of "entombment" where developers build on top of the burrows and the tortoises are left buried alive ultimately unable to dig through the concrete and asphalt laid on top of them. To spell it out more directly here is a quote from the article in The Washington Post, "Trying to dig out, day after day, but not being able to, it's got to be pretty horrible," said Matthew J. Aresco, a biologist at a 50,000-acre conservation area in Florida who helped bring the tortoises' cause to light. "It's truly appalling." This has turned out to be a win win situation as the fine the developer would have had to pay to bury the tortoises was more expensive then having them relocated. When it works out this way it makes for one less excuse when destroying the environment for the sake of development. Visit Nokuse Plantation for more information about the rescue effort. From the site: "Nokuse Plantation is 48,000 acre private conservation initiative in the Florida Panhandle conceptualized and funded by M. C. Davis and Sam Shine. It is designed to be both a model and a catalyst for future landscape level conservation projects, which is the only way to preserve nature’s intrinsic biodiversity."

Labels: permits, wildlife

Mr. Gottfried seems to have lost the camera so I won't have any new photos until next week. In the Herald Tribune, another story about water use and the lack of common sense. I should have a daily section on the blog about how FL bites its nose to spite its face. A couple decided to forget lawns and go with a Florida-Friendly Yard, one that conserves water and needs almost no fertilizers or pesticides. Given the drought you would think this would be made an example of here in Southwest FL. Well, it is being made an example of- what you shouldn't do. The homeowners assoc. of their subdivision says they are violating their rules and will be required to pay a fine of 15k if they do not relay sod in their front yard. They should be able to get out of it using a 2001 state decision that homeowner's assocs can not ban Florida-Friendly Yards.

Labels: landscaping, water

There is a small area of the lot partially cut off by a lagoon. This is a view of the house looking in from this part of the property.

Progress continues as the stem walls are appearing quickly. This is the view from the waterfront. The outer most part is the support where the lanai will sit.

Labels: building envelopes