Top Secret News from Crown Point Cabientry

My “secret source” at Crown Point Cabinetry sent me an e-mail this week regarding a top-secret paint finish they’re now offering.

I thought that you would like to know that Crown Point Cabinetry is now offering a hand-applied paint with Farrow & Ball Estate Eggshell Eco-Finish. We are adding this to our offerings in addition to “old fashioned milk paint” and our sprayed paint finish.  This will also help Crown Point meet the needs of a high quality low/zero VOC requirements that the LEED process specifies.

This finish has been getting rave reviews from “repeat” builders who know our product. The stress tests have been outstanding, and the client can use the same paint to match trim, etc. In fact, we are now Farrow & Ball Stockists, and can order the paint for the clients! As you may know, I have paint background in painted finishes, and will be able to assist our clients in their color selection and paint quantity to purchase.

There are 132 colors to choose from, each which comes with a specific primer.

Farrow & Ball Paints

Make sure you use the secret words, “Fivecat Studio sent me“.

Integrated PV Solar Panels

If architects have any say in the matter, this is where photovoltaic panels are going; fully integrated into the building materials. A standing seam metal roof that pays for itself; does it get any better than that?

From EnergyPeak.com:

EnergyPeak is a true Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) product. This means the standing seam panels that create a high performance metal roof system are the very same panels that generate photovoltaic power.

EnergyPeak panels are manufactured in the factory by adhering UNI-SOLAR thin-film solar laminate
directly onto the surface of the standing seam roof panel to create a singular composite
photovoltaic roof panel. This composite photovoltaic roof panel is amazingly strong, having been tested and proven to withstand wind speeds in excess of 160 mph.

Read more.

What’s your return on investment? Check out EnergyPeak’s sample ROI Report here.

Richard Meier: Green Architect

From GreenBuildingsNYC.com:

Designed by Richard Meier and Partners Architects, the $65 million Weill Hall at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York recently earned just the sixth LEED Gold certification for a university laboratory building in the country. Energy consumption is obviously a huge consideration for science buildings, and Weill Hall is projected to use 30 percent less energy than a comparable building. This allowed the design team to push for LEED Gold during the construction phase rather than the original goal of Silver.

Read more.

Where Luxury Meets Sustainable Design

Annmarie and I visited Block Island on our “first” honeymoon (we went to Italy for an architectural tour a few months later). Unfortunately, it rained the entire time we were there, so we experienced most of the island through the foggy window of a rented GEO Tracker (remember those?).

The following is a “guest post” from Nick Downes of Aquidneck Properties, a luxury real estate developer dedicated to responsible land use, sustainable design and green building practices. The post discusses a new home they are building in collaboration with one of my favorite firms, Estes Twombly.

Good design and site planning inherently minimize negative impacts on the environment and define luxurious living at Swede Hill House in Rhode Island.

Perched atop a hill on four protected acres on Block Island, Swede Hill House takes in grand panoramas of Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.  The 3,000-square foot home is among the first in Rhode Island to register under the LEED for Homes program and is seeking silver certification from the United States Green Building Council.

Newport, Rhode Island based design+build firm Aquidneck Fine Properties and award-winning architects Estes/Twombly collaborated on the project that promises to stand as a shining example of sophisticated coastal living.  The low-profile four-bedroom home and separate guest suite with rooftop solar panels boast elegant spaces complemented by pristine natural surroundings.  Clad in white cedar shingles, indigenous stone and copper, Swede Hill House draws inspiration from the traditional New England farmhouse vernacular and features connected sheds and barns wrapped around a courtyard.  The living room, dining room and gourmet kitchen invite casual living and stylish entertaining.

Impressive ‘green’ design elements include solar-heated swimming pool, domestic hot water and some interior heat, heat recovery ventilator, rain water cistern for irrigation, low flow toilets and shower heads, efficient HVAC systems, compact fluorescent and LED lighting and locally sourced stone and reclaimed wood. Construction is slated to be completed by summer 2010.

Progression of a Green House

The Hays Hill project is just about complete. Paul (our client) shared a great slide presentation that he created using 7 months of progression photos. The transformation from little red cape to “green” shingle style cottage is simply amazing.

Helen and Paul… thank you.

Michelle Kaufmann Designs Closes Shop

Apparently, the economy has taken out the ambassador of prefab green design.

From Residential Architect Magazine:

Tuesday night I got a call from Michelle Kaufmann, AIA, LEED AP, with the “sad news,” as she called it, that her company was closing up shop. Sad news, indeed. Michelle Kaufmann Designs was residential architect magazine’s Top Firm for 2008. How quickly businesses can unravel in this economy. The very attributes that set Michelle’s company apart from so many residential design firms—big dreams, big talent, big moves, big risk taking—are what also made it vulnerable when big problems occurred in the banking and home building industries.

Read more.

***

Thanks Bob for the note.

Green Planet Paints

We’ve been a Benjamin Moore firm for years (no other company compares to Ben Moore’s durability and infinite color selection), but in a search for “greener” finishes, I found Green Planet. We haven’t specified Green Planet yet, so this is not an endorsement. I just thought I would share what I found.

From GreenPlanetPaints.com:

Green Planet Paints® presents its new premium line of high-performance interior paints.    Combining the rich complexity of mineral pigments with leading edge plant chemistry, Green Planet Paints® has taken earth-friendly paint to a whole new level.   The result is a truly sustainable paint that is tough, easy to apply and a pleasure to the senses.

Whether the project is a home office, a new baby’s room or a ‘face lift’ for your kitchen, Green Planet Paints® is the perfect solution for the green-minded painter, designer and do-it-yourselfer.

Features:

• Two vibrant finishes: Flat and Eggshell
• Renaissance Palette:  48 mineral and clay based colors
• Exceptional Performance
• Rugged Durability
• Zero VOC
• Easy Application
• Up to 4 LEED Points

Clayton i-house

From Yahoo News:

From its bamboo floors to its rooftop deck, Clayton Homes’ new industrial-chic “i-house” is about as far removed from a mobile home as an iPod from a record player.

Architects at the country’s largest manufactured home company embraced the basic rectangular form of what began as housing on wheels and gave it a postmodern turn with a distinctive v-shaped roofline, energy efficiency and luxury appointments.

Stylistically, the “i-house” might be more at home in the pages of a cutting-edge architectural magazine like Dwell — an inspirational source — than among the Cape Cods and ranchers in the suburbs.

Read more.

***

Thanks Michael.

Affordable Photovoltaics??

My friend Michael, a solar power expert, was sharing some of his knowledge with me last week. I told him that most of my clients are VERY interested in photovoltaic (PV) panels, but the prohibitive cost has always cut them from our projects.

Apparently, things are changing.

Here’s a very interesting quote from Micheal:

I recently sized a 4kW system at $44,915. Certainly a tough nut to swallow. Here’s the real eye opener…

If the project is NYSERDA eligible, i.e. passes the shade test which is not less that 10% shading, appropriate orientation etc. New York State will kick in $3 per watt up to 4kW and $2 per watt up to 4kW after that for residential. That’s $12,000 off the top passed along to the customer immediately.

Additionally 30% can be taken off the purchase price (not the aforementioned NYSERDA price) through the stimulus package (the $2,000 cap is gone). That’s an additional $13,200 tax credit.

Finally, New York State will allow for a $5,000 tax credit.

Total for everything is $30,200 in tax incentives and credits.

The customer would actually wind up spending, after all is said and done, $14,500. The ROI (Return On Investment) is somewhere between 7 – 10 years. So if they plan on staying in the house longer than that, they get all their money back.

I was shocked. You would typically spend twice that for a car.

Interested? NYSERDA has launched a Clean Power Estimator. Check it out for yourself. Then give us a call and we’ll set you up with Michael.

Icynene Video

I have received many requests for more information on foam insulation. Icynene  produced this very informative video for the California Energy Commission. It provides a basic introduction to Icynene insulation and shows how it is properly applied during construction.