Home, sweet green home: building, remodeling or just tweaking? Create a stylish, affordable house that enhances your life as it protects the environment - Community

The two-story home stands on a shaded lot in the middle of a residential district in Orlando, Fla. Some dismiss its traditional Southern styling as old fashioned; others deem it a classic. But it might surprise both factions to discover that the object of their debate is a high-tech showcase for the greening of American architecture.

This is Orlando House, a city project designed to teach home-owners and builders bow to apply environmentally harmonious principles to their own projects. The frame is made of steel, the siding's cement, and the decking consists of recycled plastic.

Except for the bamboo flooring, very little wood was incorporated into the structure. Floridians have trouble protecting good wood from termites. "The newer pesticides aren't as strong," says Orlando House co-architect Alison Ray. "That's good news for the environment, but bad news for controlling termites."

Whether the goal is to control insects, boost fire resistance, lower energy costs, or enhance durability and value, a new generation of builders is utilizing alternative materials and construction methods that are less demanding on the environment. By "thinking green," they're creating spaces that are healthy and ecologically aware, inside and out, through the use of sustainable and recyclable resources, native vegetation and energy-efficient products.

Ray applied these concepts to her own home. She and her husband used steel for the structure, concrete for the foundation, asphalt shingles for the root, and recycled cellulose for insulation. Ray believes that energy concerns and dwindling forests demand greener ideas for fine construction industry. "No matter know much we don't want to change, ultimately we're going to have to."

Where does the resistance come from? According to environmental consultant Jennifer Roberts, author of Good Green Homes: Creating Better Homes for a Healthier Planet, some people continue to associate "green-built housing" with high costs and unconventional styles, such as tree houses, geodesic domes, or dwellings made of tires and soft-drink bottles.

"We don't need to sacrifice affordability, style or comfort," declares Roberts. "We can have homes that save energy, homes that enhance our well-being, and homes that honor the natural abundance and beauty that surround us. We can have the good life and the green life."

bamboo and bunnies

Nathan Kipnis, an architect in Evanston, Ill., welcomes such affirmations. He recently completed his own 3,600-square-foot home using bamboo flooring; it's as strong as oak, he claims, but more renewable. "Bamboo regrows in seven years or less instead of 50 to 100 years for oak," says Kipnis.

He also used energy-efficient appliances, passive and active solar heating integrated into a radiant floor system, and passive cooling with overhangs that provide shade. "My house reduces emissions of C[O.sub.2] by about 17,500 pounds a year," says Kipnis. "That's equivalent to five cars."

Many ideas that homebuilders are using have trickled down from commercial projects. When the Phillip Merrill Environmental Center was built in Annapolis, Md., the project was defined by green concerns. The 32,000-square foot building, designed by the Smith Group, an architectural firm in Washington, D.C., houses the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which works to reduce pollution, restore habitat and replenish fish stocks in North America's largest estuary.

The new office is set on the shores of Chesapeake Bay, so the foundation was sensitive to the building's impact on the environment. The site chosen was that of a defunct beach club. The structure was designed to fit within that footprint--not to disturb additional land which includes mature hardwoods.

The green sensibility extends from the structure itself, where natural sunlight and ventilation are maximized, to the policies of its occupation: Employees are provided with lockers and showers so they can drive, bike or kayak to work; a series of trails takes visitors and employees by streams, ponds, wetlands and forests; and native plants and trees have been added.

"This encourages the birds to nest and the rabbits to run," says Robert Anderson, the project's manager. "Plus the more you use native vegetation, tire less you need to use pesticides and chemical fertilizers."

the greenest strategy

To build green, it isn't necessary to start from scratch. The firm of Boora Architects in Portland, Ore., maintained environmentally friendly strategies while refurbishing the Garrison Theater at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. The wood came from forests certified as sustainable, where loggers don't take more timbers than can grow back. The carpets were ordered from a company that uses solar and wind energy to power its plant. The acoustic panels are made of recycled glass and wrapped in cloth made of recycled plastic.

But the greatest contribution to the environment was the decision to work with the original structure, says project designer Stephen Weeks. "Recycling and reusing the old building instead of tearing it down and filling some landfill with the refuse wax the greenest of any of the [potential] strategies."