A Lakeside Summer Home Rebuilt on the Path to Zero
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

A Lakeside Summer Home Rebuilt on the Path to Zero

The blue cottage in a historic Chautauqua community in Lakeside, Ohio, had hosted families for nearly a century and had been the beloved summer getaway of Frank and Brenda Baker’s family for the past 15 years. So when a tree fell on their summer home in June 2009, it crushed more than just the structure. At first, the Bakers hoped to save some of the original building, but a thorough inspection determined that even the areas that didn’t take a direct hit were too compromised to be reused. That news prompted the Bakers’ plan B: to rebuild the cottage from the ground up as a model of energy efficiency and sustainable building while maintaining the character of its 100-year-old  predecessor. To that end, they hired both a designer and a builder experienced in both sustainability and historic preservation.

Frank and Brenda have christened their project “The Lakeside Green Cottage” and have engaged like-minded professionals to bring it to life. Their designer, Dennis Feltner is an advocate for eco-friendly design and plans to adapt the sustainable building principles used in this home into his future work.  Additionally, the construction contractor, Tom Dearth, is a Certified Green Builder through the National Association of Homebuilders. Partnering with the  Lakeside Association’s sustainability initiative, the Lakeside Environmental Stewardship Society, the Bakers host tours of the cottage to help educate the public about the value of green renovations. “We want to show people that eco-friendly building technology and historic character can go hand-in-hand,” Frank Baker said. 

“We really think this will be an asset to the community, and perfectly aligned with the Lakeside spirit and mission, he adds. 

Sustainable Building  Measures

The Baker cottage incorporates timber frame construction, with visible posts and beams used on the first floor.  Timber trusses support the roof and create vaulted ceilings in the second-story bedrooms. They used structural insulating products for the shell of the house, incorporating structural insulating panels (SIPs), insulating concrete forms (ICFs), and flexible EPS insulation sheets. The result is a super-tight building envelope that keeps conditioned air in, vastly reducing energy use – and energy bills.

In keeping with the Baker’s sustainability goals, materials from the original cottage were reused wherever possible, including the staircase, banister, and spindles; beadboard paneling; red pine floor planks; interior doors; bathroom fixtures, and some kitchen cabinets.

Products Used

PFB® insulating building products were used throughout the Lakeside Green Cottage. The high insulating properties of the products are due to their primary component, expanded polystyrene  (EPS), a rigid foam material that has special properties due to its structure. The individual cells of low-density polystyrene make EPS extremely light and strong, able to support many times its own  weight. The individual cells prevent heat and air from moving through the EPS, making it a great insulator. 

 

Advantage ICFs were used for the foundation of the cottage. These insulated concrete forms are interlocking blocks of EPS insulation with a void in the center. Once the blocks are in place and are filled with concrete, they create a poured, insulated foundation in one step. The ICF  blocks remain in place, isolating the concrete and preventing temperature conduction from the outdoors. Plasti-Fab Durofoam flexible insulation was installed beneath the basement floor, working in concert with the ICFs to create an unbroken “envelope” below grade. The foundation walls have an R-value of 23 and the floor is R15.

 

Insulspan SIPs are an “insulation sandwich” made of two sheets of structural oriented strand board (OSB) laminated to a continuous core of expanded polystyrene insulation (EPS). The resulting panels were used for walls and roofs, allowing the structure to be erected and insulated in one step. The span of solid insulation left no room for air movement, vastly improving energy efficiency compared to traditionally framed construction methods. The vaulted ceiling had an R-value of 38. And the whole home had 1.5 Air Changes per Hour.

Structural Timbers 

Timber framing, a centuries-old construction method, uses visible timbers as the building’s structural  “skeleton.” Timber framing requires less wood than conventional construction and makes use of a renewable resource. In addition, harvesting mature, healthy trees for this purpose ensures that the CO2 the wood has absorbed stays put, rather than being released back into the atmosphere. 

Riverbend Timber Framing created the visible posts and beams that were used on the first floor, with timber trusses supporting the roof and creating vaulted ceilings in the second-story bedrooms. 

The timber was forest salvaged Douglas Fir from fire-damaged forests and thus contributed further to the sustainability of the construction.

The Home Energy Rating 

The Bakers were committed to excluding fossil fuels from their summer home. So they used electric baseboard heat, electric hot water, and an electric stove, so they no longer use natural gas in their home; and when their local grid moves to renewable energy they will be totally fossil fuel free. Because it is a summer home they initially decided that it was not cost-effective to invest in heat pump HVAC or heat pump water heating. Nonetheless, this super airtight and highly insulated 2,479 square foot home qualified for the  NAHB’s National Green Building Standard certification at the Emerald level – the program’s highest and most demanding certification, which requires a  high level of resource and energy efficiency. The original HERS rating was 68 based on projected year-round use. 

Improving the HERS Rating

Several years after the home was completed in 2010, the Bakers replaced the baseboard electric heating with heat pump mini-splits and plan to replace the standard electric water heater with a heat pump water heater. And they are planning to have their energy consultant conduct blower-door-directed air sealing to check for and remedy any air leaks that may have occurred due to settling over the last 12 years. Then they will obtain another HERS rating. They are projecting that these energy upgrades will lower their energy use significantly and they are projecting receiving a HERS rating below 50 – qualifying the home for zero energy ready status.

Zero Energy Ready

For a home to qualify as zero energy ready it must have a HERS rating of 50 or less and be capable of having all its energy needs met by renewable rooftop solar.  While the Baker’s home is designed with roof orientation, area, and slope sufficient to enable rooftop solar, adding solar panels would not be cost-effective since it is not a year-round residence. Nonetheless, the Zero Energy Ready Home status ensures that energy costs will be very low and that its operational energy use will have a minimal carbon impact. With these new ratings, the Bakers plan to continue using their home and their more recent energy-efficient upgrades to educate and inspire others to get their homes on the path to zero through the Lakeside Environmental Stewardship Society (LESS) of Lakeside Chatutauqua. 

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By Frank Baker

Frank Baker is the founder of Riverbend Timber Framing and Insulspan in Blissfield, Michigan. He is a founding member and President of Team Zero, a non-profit organization committed to building consumer demand for zero energy and zero carbon homes. He is also the current president of LESS and advocates for renewable energy with his son Peter through his website lenaweesolar.com.

 

Reference

Capturing CO2 from vehicle exhausts – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

Capturing CO2 from vehicle exhausts – Springwise

Spotted: Although the world is gradually moving towards the production of only electric vehicles (EVs), petroleum-powered vehicles will remain in use for many decades. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing that can be done to mitigate the emissions from those existing vehicles. To help, startup Qaptis has developed a technology that it claims can capture 90 per cent of CO2 emissions from internal combustion engines.

The technology uses heat from the engine to power reversible thermochemical reactions to capture and compress CO2 to a liquid before it escapes from the tailpipe. Once in liquid form, the CO2 is stored onboard, before being collected. It can then be upcycled into new fuel, plastics, or carbon fibres – or sold to CO2 end-users such as fertiliser manufacturers.

Qaptis, which was spun off from Swiss university EPLF, is supported by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment and has received a seed loan from the Foundation for Technological Innovation, as well as funds from a crowdfunding campaign. The company hopes to develop the technology in the form of a kit, which can be easily retrofitted to existing vehicles.

Qaptis is not the only company that is working to reduce the emissions of existing vehicles. US startup Remora Carbon is developing similar technology developed at the University of Michigan. Other companies are developing novel ways to lock up CO2, such as turning it to stone or sequestering it in giant algae ponds. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Email: info@qaptis.com

Website: qaptis.com

Reference

Energy Efficient Building Suppliers Make It Easy 
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

Energy Efficient Building Suppliers Make It Easy 

Energy-efficient building is much more than a fleeting trend: Around the world, the negative effects of climate change can no longer be ignored, from rising global temperatures to poor air quality caused by pollution. According to NASA scientists, reducing carbon emissions is crucial to turning things around. Further, it must be done on a global scale and within every industry, including home construction and renovation. 

The good news for home builders and remodelers is that energy-efficient, low carbon construction and remodeling isn’t out of reach, no matter your budget or geographic location. Today’s energy-efficient building suppliers are making it easier than ever to achieve net-zero emissions by providing state-of-the-art energy-efficient products and technical advice. Regarding material choice, there are a variety of sustainable options out there, even for homeowners working with a modest budget. 

No matter your architectural vision for an energy-efficient low carbon home, choosing a building supplier that can provide the energy-efficient products and materials you need can make all the difference. Here are a few standout companies in sustainable construction and renovation that you can order from wherever you live.

EEBA/Ecomedes                                                                                                                            

Sourcing and specifying sustainable building materials just got easy at EEBA/Ecomedes.

EEBA.Ecomedes.com is your comprehensive source for top-rated brands and sustainability certifications that you need for residential construction. Easily search by product category, brand, certifications and ecolabels, or greenest products to streamline how your teams source and specify. Once products are selected, easily review all product data and compare competitors. You can also add products to a project and start to calculate impact and evaluate how those selected products help you achieve your project’s preferred rating system.

ecomedes is providing solutions for building owners and designers to save time and money while making  environmental, social, and governance compliance easy. You can get started today at eeba.ecomedes.com.

Small Planet Supply

Founded in 2009, Small Planet Supply is an industry leader in sustainable building supplies, zero-energy education, and technical support while promoting social responsibility. The company was built on the backbone of the Passive House movement, which is widely recognized as the world’s leading standard in energy-efficient construction.  Small Planet’s catalog is full of innovative, sustainable products, including ThermaCork 100% natural cork insulation, created in-house by Small Planet. 

They have two warehouse locations, one in Tumwater, Washington, and one in Vancouver, B.C.,  and typically ship orders within the same or next business day. Shipping rates and carriers are dependent on customer location and package weight. Discounts may be available to local customers that are close enough to take advantage of the company’s reduced-cost truck delivery, which reduces emissions.

Rise

As a certified B Corp and a member of 1% for the Planet, Rise has high standards for home improvement product recommendations and endorsements. Rise Approved Manufacturers are judged on a variety of criteria, including whether the company can verify all of their environmental claims and the quality of the work environment where products are manufactured. As an “education-first” marketplace, the company also offers online home sustainability courses for eco-conscious builders at an affordable rate, starting at just $19 per course.

At Rise, energy efficiency is part of the entire purchasing process, and shipping is always carbon neutral, no matter your destination or order size. Rise achieves carbon neutrality by purchasing carbon offsets, and the company retains transparency throughout by providing tracking information and delivery updates via email. 

When ordering directly from Rise, new and existing online customers can take a 10% shipping discount by entering the code RISE10 at checkout. Shipping is available in the contiguous U.S. states and Canada. Canadian customers should place orders at Rise’s Canadian website

Eco-Building Products

Much like Rise, Eco-Building Products offers a variety of innovative products and manufacturer recommendations to customers across the U.S. and Canada. Following a lucrative venture in the world of coffee shops, owner Jim Barnes established the company in 2006. Barnes is a dedicated environmentalist and former recipient of the Northern Michigan Environmental Action council’s “Environmentalist of the Year Award.” 

The Eco-Building Products online catalog features green building products and materials at all price points, suitable for eco-conscious DIY home builders and contractors alike, with a wide array of solar energy options. Eco-Building Products is also a good resource for energy efficient van conversion and tiny house supplies and materials. In addition, visitors can find plenty of resources and building tips on its Tiny House Hub

At Eco-Building Products, based in Elberta, Michigan, shipping is offered within the contiguous U.S., although international customers may make a special order by calling customer support at (231)-399-0700. 

475 High Performance Building Supply

At 475, customers looking to achieve zero emissions and/or meet Passive House standards have many products to choose from, such as energy-efficient hot water systems and thermal insulation. The company website also provides helpful knowledge resources for the DIY builder in the form of videos, ebooks, and on-demand courses. 

The exclusive North American distributor of Pro Clima air-sealing products, 475 High Performance Building Supply, offers shipping throughout Canada and the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii. Curbside pickup of select materials may also be available to customers in the following cities, home to 475 High Performance Building Supply warehouses: \

  • Brooklyn, New York
  • Hillsboro, Oregon
  • Ridgefield, New Jersey
  • Waterbury, Connecticut

Going directly to local suppliers is one of the best ways to reduce emissions related to shipping and transit. 

Energy Efficient Products Available At Your Fingertips

Considering all we know about climate change and how every one of our actions can make a difference, there’s really no excuse to look the other way, because no matter where you live, the products and the know-how for taking action are at your fingertips. So when you plan your next remodel or new construction project, be sure to focus on reducing both operational and embodied carbon. Then utilize these companies that supply the energy efficient products and know-how needed to get your home, business, and life on the path to zero wherever you are. 

 

By Amanda Winstead      

Amanda Winstead is a writer from Oregon with a background in communications. She writes on science, business, and many more subjects. She can be reached on Twitter at amandawinsteadd

Amanda Winstead is a writer from the Portland area with a background in



Reference

A methane-reducing additive for animal feed
CategoriesSustainable News

A methane-reducing additive for animal feed

Spotted: When it comes to limiting global warming, it is not enough to tackle carbon dioxide alone – there are a number of other greenhouse gases that will also need to be significantly reduced. Top of the list is methane, which is around 80 times more potent at warming than CO2. In fact, according to the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), Methane has accounted for roughly 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times. And the biggest source of methane emissions is agriculture, specifically, livestock emissions.

One approach to reducing the methane emissions of farm animals is to use specially-formulated animal feed that reduces the amount of methane generated in the guts of ruminants. Dutch biosciences company Royal DSM has developed a feed additive, called Bovaer, which can reduce enteric methane emissions of dairy and beef cows by around 30 per cent. Recently, US-based animal health company Elanco has partnered with Royal DSM to bring Bovaer to US farms.

Bovaer would first need to gain authorisation for its use, but it has already been approved by regulatory bodies in Europe, Brazil, Chile, and Australia. Bringing the product to the US is important, as the US accounts for around 20 per cent of the world’s beef production. Research published by DSM and Elanco indicates that feeding Bovaer to all of the 9 million dairy cows and 14 million beef cattle in the US could result in a reduction of methane equivalent to planting around 1 billion trees or removing 69 million cars from the road.

In the press release, Geraldine Matchett and Dimitri de Vreeze, Co-CEOs of Royal DSM, commented that, “This agreement marks an important milestone for DSM, Elanco, and the climate change mitigation efforts of the U.S. This alliance will help us realize Bovaer’s potential as a powerful solution with a significantly positive impact on the planet. In addition, and fully aligned with our purpose-led performance-driven strategy, the alliance enables us as DSM to monetize our long-term innovation faster.”  

Reducing methane emissions from agriculture in the long term is going to be vital to keeping global warming below 2°C. Luckily, there are a number of innovations in the pipeline that could help with this. These include producing animal-free dairy products, and a huge array of cultured meat and fish products. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Website: elanco.com

Contact: elanco.com/contact

Reference

David Hammons’s “Day’s End” is a Masterpiece
CategoriesArchitecture

David Hammons’s “Day’s End” is a Masterpiece

 Send us a photo. Tell us a story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Photo Challenge is underway with an Early Entry Deadline on May 27, 2022! Start your entry for architecture’s biggest photography competition here. 

Not everyone is happy with Day’s End, David Hammons’s massive but easy-to-miss sculpture on New York’s West Side waterfront, which stands squarely across the street from the Whitney Museum of American Art. In a diplomatic yet skeptical piece in ArtReview, critic Evan Moffitt writes that the sculpture raises “uncomfortable questions” about the legacy of New York’s piers, which were once a clandestine meeting point for the city’s queer community, and are now home to jogging paths and wine bars for the one percent. 

The implication is that this sculpture, an 18 million dollar Whitney commission, is just the latest example of “gentrifier art.” This fact is particularly irksome to Moffitt because Day’s End is being sold as a memorial to an earlier, grittier incarnation of the city. The Whitney’s official press materials prominently mention the LGBTQ history of the long-since demolished Pier 52, which Hammons’s sculpture resurrects in ghostly outline. For Moffitt, there is a stark contradiction between the marginalized social history that the Whitney is claiming to venerate, and the role the museum has played in transforming the Meatpacking District into a gilded playground.

The sculpture at sunset. Photo by Elvert Barnes.

 “The new Day’s End… is a product of immense physical and bureaucratic resources, a framework that is perfect and unchanging,” Moffitt writes, referring to the tremendous amount of legwork that went into ensuring that the sculpture’s slender beams could withstand the changing tides of the mighty Hudson. “This is less reflective of a flaw in Hammons’s design than of how impossible it is to incise a landscape so thoroughly policed and privatized.” 

This line of argument is taken further by Kathleen Langjhar in The Architect’s Newspaper, who writes that Hammons’s work “selectively engages” with history, and that much of the praise that greeted the sculpture’s 2021 opening, including from The New York Times, is rooted in “a general attitude that sees culture as an unmitigated good, a solvent for cleansing the wrongs of the past.” On this reading, Day’s End is not just another example of gentrification art, but a cunning attempt to disguise the violent process of displacement that gave rise to the sanitized Meatpacking District we know today. 

Like the sculpture itself, these critiques raise more questions than they answer. For one, what is Day’s End actually about? What is it claiming to memorialize, exactly, and on whose behalf? If the Whitney is discussing this work in a self-serving way – and of course they are – does this necessarily define what the work is in itself? 

There seems to be more going on here than meets the eye. For one thing, why did Hammons, who has spent almost six decades refusing to cooperate with major art institutions like the Whitney, suddenly make an exception in order to create this work? Given everything we know about Hammons, who has spent his career using the tactics of conceptual art to advocate for the Black community, it seems unlikely that he did it to advance the interests of art museums and property developers. And given the mercurial brilliance of his body of work, it is also hard to see him as a dupe. 

According to David Hammons and Whitney director Adam Weinberg, the initial inspiration for Day’s End was not gentrification, queer history, or any of the other topics that have dominated discussion of the work, but rather the previous artwork that once stood on the site: Gordon Matta-Clark’s  architectural intervention, which was also titled Day’s End. In 1975, the self-described “anarchitect” cut a large opening on the river-facing facade of the Pier 52 shed, transforming the abandoned pier into a kind of observatory or makeshift cathedral. (Matta-Clark was reportedly inspired by the shed’s resemblance to early Christian basilicas). At “day’s end,” golden light would pour into the gritty space, a glimpse of heaven in the midst of a postindustrial hell. It stood for just three years before the shed was demolished in 1978, the same year that Matta-Clark passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 35. 

The fact that Hammons had Matta-Clark in mind when he conceived the piece, and not the pier’s history as a nexus of queer culture, has troubled a number of commentators. It turns out that Matta-Clark resented the presence of the LGBTQ community on Pier 52. Although Matta-Clark had no more right to the space than they did – his installation was created without permits, under cover of night – he padlocked the entrances to the shed while he was working on his piece. He described the frequent visitors to the space as “menacing characters,” part of a “sadomasochistic fringe,” and complained that their presence detracted from the power of his work. While Matta-Clark was interested in reclaiming the dark, abandoned corners of New York for art, he had little time for the people who had already found a use for these spaces. Moffitt complains that Hammons’s piece, by memorializing Matta-Clark, “contributes to the hagiography of a homophobe.” 

Ironically, while Matta-Clark may not have liked the LGBTQ subculture that thrived alongside the original Day’s End, his work lives on in public memory in large part due to the work of photographer Alvin Baltrop, a gay, African-American artist who lovingly documented sunbathers on the piers in the 70s. The very community Matta-Clark resented is, it seems, responsible for the long afterlife his installation has enjoyed. 

This is the kind of irony that Hammons appreciates more than his critics do. Moffitt bristles at the fact that the plaque adjoining Day’s End mentions Matta-Clark and not Baltrop or the history of cruising at the piers, claiming that these omissions amounts to violent erasure. But as Jacques Derrida would note, every attempt to commemorate or conserve is simultaneously an act of erasure. If this is violence, it is a kind of violence that is inscribed in the essence of signification itself. It would be impossible to encompass the entire history of the piers in the space of a plaque.

Of the work, Hammons has said “a great tailor makes the fewest cuts.” Photo by Elvert Barnes

By leaving the form of the sculpture radically open, Hammons’s work speaks to the impossibility of his critics’ demand – that is, the impossibility of an objective monument. Every monument is a “cut” in the historical record, privileging some elements over others. The best one can do is create a space for discussion. And Hammons’s Day’s End, in echoing the architectural form of Pier 52, literally does this – that is, it creates space. That is all it does, really. Its form is an outline. As Hammons noted when discussing the piece, “a great tailor makes the fewest cuts.” Without speaking to it directly, Hammons’s Day’s End provoked a discussion about the queer history of the piers. That history – and other histories, yet unmentioned – is simply part of the work, regardless of the intentions of its patrons and creators. The work exceeds the Whitney, and exceeds Hammons.  

Throughout his career, David Hammons has explored the mystic power of objects and materials. He once said that he spends “85 percent” of his time on the streets, observing his environment and gathering inspiration. His most enduring works are made from discarded materials, from garbage. He has created art from liquor bottles, hair, felled telephone poles, garbage bags, and even snow.

While Hammons’s work is deeply political, it is never didactic.  Take his famous 1986 installation, Higher Goals. Working out in the open, on the streets of Brooklyn, Hammons decorated felled telephone poles with bottle caps. He then fixed basketball hoops to the top of the poles and placed them upright again. The hoops stood 20 to 30 feet in the air, far higher than any player could comfortably reach. “It takes five to play on a team, but there are thousands who want to play,” Hammons explained “Not everyone will make it, but even if they don’t, at least they tried.”

With brutal clarity, this piece illustrated the way fame is dangled in front of Black youth, a means of keeping marginalized communities complacent with false hope. And yet, there was more to it than that. The intricately decorated hoops also spoke to the resilience of the Black community, how the youth still dare to dream even in desperate circumstances. Looking up at the sculptures, one wonders what could happen if that energy could be channeled somewhere else. 

Another example of a work by Hammons that defies easy interpretation is his Bliz-aard Ball Sale in 1983. This performance piece was deceptively simple. Hammons literally sold snowballs on the side of the road. Perfect snowballs, made with expert care and available in different sizes. At one level, this whimsical performance was a commentary on capitalism’s ability to turn anything into a commodity. It was a joke. But in another sense, there was something beautiful about the snowballs, their delicacy and ephemerality. By selling them, he was offering customers a taste of their childhood, a tactic not unknown to marketers. There is an art in marketing, the work suggests. Perhaps it is a dark art, but it is an art all the same. 

“[ H ] David Hammons – Blizaard Ball Sale (1983)” by Cea. is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Day’s End is another Hammons work that is mischievous in its undecidability. It certainly is an homage to Gordon Matta-Clark, an artist who Hammons never crossed paths with, but who shared Hammons’s interest in art’s power to transform forgotten spaces and materials. But it pointedly does not resemble Matta-Clark’s installation. There is no half-moon in the new Day’s End, no play of light and shadow. The sculpture simply points to its original context, and in doing so has provoked a lively debate over the legacy of a small part of the waterfront that, previously, no one thought about very much. 

If Hammons’s Day’s End is a monument at all, it is a very non-traditional one. In bolder moments, one could even call it an “anti-monument.” The work advances no specific narrative, presenting only a frame for contested histories. 

Cover photo by Elvert Barnes 

 Send us a photo. Tell us a story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Photo Challenge is underway with an Early Entry Deadline on May 27, 2022! Start your entry for architecture’s biggest photography competition here. 

Reference

The Double Stud Wall Simplified – Low Cost, High Performance
CategoriesSustainable News Zero Energy Homes

The Double Stud Wall Simplified – Low Cost, High Performance

Simplify

The double-stud wall is a well-established method for creating a very economical, durable, and high R-value assembly in new construction – and is one reason it’s included as one of the basic 475 Smart Enclosure System assembly types. We know pushing standard code-minimum construction toward high performance is complicated. So we’re always looking for ways to simplify – to simultaneously reduce cost while optimizing efficiency and occupant comfort. Integrated with Pro Clima air sealing and moisture control components, the double-stud wall provides unmatched economic value, safety from moisture damage, and long-lasting performance.

Go Sheathingless

With Pro Clima component integration, we’re taking it one step further. Below we illustrate a sheathingless double-stud wall (that’s right: no structural sheathing) that provides the following characteristics:

  • Minimized material costs
  • Maximized moisture drying potential
  • Removal of formaldehyde, VOC’s and other toxic chemicals commonly found in SPF, rigid foams, OSB, and plywood
  • Easily adjustable wall thickness to meet your design R-value
  • Space between walls for continuous insulation
  • Utilization of dense-pack insulation (Gutex wood THERMOFIBER, cellulose, fiberglass, mineral wool, or Havelock Wool).
  • No special materials or connections needed for the framing components
  • Fits with the typical platform framing method

You can still frame your walls on the deck and raise them into place,  but without all that sheathing they’ll be a lot lighter. With this system, you build a house out of 2x4s, fibrous insulation, SOLITEX MENTO Plus weather-resistive barrier outboard, INTELLO Plus smart vapor retarder inboard, and not much else.

The Framing

The wall consists of an inner load-bearing wall and an outer exterior finishing wall. The floor and roof loads are stacked on top of the inner wall studs. This method can allow the use 24″ o.c. advanced framing assembly if your floor and roof loads meet the design criteria. The inner wall is framed like any other stick-built wall, with the exception that the shear load is carried by 2x lumber nailed, or metal strapping mechanically fastened, diagonally, to the outside face of the inner stud wall – in the insulation cavity.

It’s important to note that each structure will have very different shear and uplift retention requirements due to variables in building height, the number of windows, local codes, shape of building, seismic requirements, etc. The outer wall is connected to the decks as outriggers, there to support the insulation and finished facade elements, and consequently, it requires minimal framing material and opening headers. In taller walls, it’s important to connect the inner and outer studs for additional strength as well as partition the bays every second bay – to make dense-packing of the double stud cavities easier to reach proper density and maintain quality control.

The Integrated Service Cavity

With this approach, the inner wall studs act as the service cavity without the need for additional strapping to support the interior finish – making it an integrated service cavity. This approach takes planning but allows for fewer steps and less material. An excellent example of this approach is demonstrated in our Project Spotlight: Vermont Integrated Architecture. Leicester, VT.

Two Air Barriers Too

To optimize the insulating value of the dense-pack insulation – airtight membranes are placed on both sides of the fibrous insulation, thereby preventing thermal bypass, as well as optimizing the drying reserves of this highly insulated wall. At the interior side is the INTELLO PLUS membrane, airtight with intelligent vapor control, making it vapor open in the summer to facilitate inward drying and vapor retarding in the winter to prevent vapor accumulation into the insulation. The INTELLO Plus is reinforced so that it substitutes for the typical mesh used in a dense-pack installation. At the exterior side is SOLITEX MENTO PLUS: airtight, waterproof, reinforced and vapor open, allowing for maximum drying potential to the outside without being restricted by an exterior sheathing, like plywood or OSB, which are Class II or low Class III vapor retarders.

Windows & Penetrations

The window is installed into a plywood box that ties together the inner and outer walls. We offer a wide selection of window air sealing tapes, but to keep it simple you need only TESCON PROFIL, or the even faster TESCON PROFECT, for the airtight connections at the interior and exterior of the window. (And don’t forget to pre-make your window corners!). At the sill heavy-duty self-sealing waterproofing is provided by EXTOSEAL ENCORS. There are multiple ways to create a thermal bridge free window installation – there are many variables depending on the window type and brand.

The most important thing is to make sure that the window is precisely connected to your interior and exterior airtight and moisture control layers. This will ensure that your installation will not have condensation due to air movement at this thermally weak intersection. Small air leakage at this connection will allow the interior winter humidity to enter the insulated cavity. Making an air-tight connection at all openings is the best way to prevent future structural damage.

Learn More

For more details and variations on this concept, download  475’s free CAD details and ebook for 475 Smart Enclosure Double-Stud Assemblies.

By 475 Building Supply

This guest blog was originally published on the 475 Building Supply blog.

Reference

Harnessing satellites for sustainable travel   – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

Harnessing satellites for sustainable travel   – Springwise

Spotted: When we talk about sustainable tourism, we often think first and foremost about environmental issues. But sustainable tourism is about much more than that. It brings together all aspects of sustainable development, including social and economic issues. According to social enterprise Murmuration, It’s about maintaining a “spirit of the place that values ​​the geographical characteristics of a destination through its biodiversity, its cultural wealth, its heritage, and the well-being of its residents.”

Based in France, Murmuration is focused on sustainable tourism and has recently announced the launch of Flockeo – a community platform that allows travellers to choose sustainable destinations.

The Flockeo platform is inspired by the European Commission’s ETIS indicator system, which assesses the sustainability of tourism destinations. By combining satellite and statistical data, Flockeo provides users with information on environmental, social, and economic indicators. This data can be used to evaluate the sustainability of a destination and make informed decisions about where to travel. With this information in hand, Murmuration aims to work together to build a more sustainable future for tourism.

Perhaps most importantly, satellite data can be used to monitor progress over time and ensure that sustainable tourism practices are actually having the desired effect. Without this crucial information, it would be much more difficult to make the case for sustainable tourism on a global scale. Thanks to satellite data, Flockeo is able to provide a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities that exist in certain areas.

In addition to providing data on sustainable destinations, Flockeo also offers an interactive map for users who want to learn more about the destinations that interest them. The map provides a wealth of information about each region, including the ecosystem potential and the risks related to water and urbanisation. The map is also colour-coded so users can quickly assess the impact of human activities on each region.

Other recent sustainable tourism innovations spotted by Springwise include a route planning platform for green and cost-effective travel, a plugin that makes it easy for booking agents to serve disabled travellers, and a climate tool that connects digital checkouts with carbon offsetting.

Written By: Katrina Lane

Website: murmuration-sas.com

Contact: murmuration-sas.com/en/contacts

Reference

A platform keeps teachers and parents in sync
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform keeps teachers and parents in sync

Spotted: A US-based tech startup is hoping to make it easier for parents, teachers, school administrators, and students themselves to work together to help students stay on track. The company, Schoolytics, has developed a platform that tracks individual metrics, including grades, due dates for upcoming assignments, and missed work, keeping everyone informed.

Schoolytics is currently being used in more than 500 schools. The platform includes separate dashboards for students, parents, teachers, and school administrators. While parent and student dashboards track assignments and grades, the teacher dashboard shows metrics such as class-wide assignment completion rates and automatically generates honour roll lists and progress reports. The administrator dashboard allows school leaders to view metrics by school and year, while also generating reports for individual classes.

Schoolytics actually takes most of its data from Google Classroom, a learning management system that became very popular during the pandemic, when schools and classrooms were forced to go move online almost overnight. However, while Google Classroom makes it easier for teachers to collect data, it does not offer analytics features, which is where Schoolytics comes in. The startup provides a front end that makes it easy for teachers to track specific types of data.

The pandemic and the move to increased online learning has given a new impetus to platforms and other innovations aimed at making education healthier and more focused on learning. Springwise has recently covered a green school building built entirely of bamboo and 3D-printed schools that can expand access to education. 

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Website: schoolytics.com

Contact: schoolytics.com/contact

Reference

“22 Gordon Street” Reimagines the Bartlett School as a Monstrous Manifestation of Architectural Experimentation
CategoriesArchitecture

“22 Gordon Street” Reimagines the Bartlett School as a Monstrous Manifestation of Architectural Experimentation

Send us a photo. Tell us a story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Photo Challenge is underway with an Early Entry Deadline on May 27, 2022! Start your entry for architecture’s biggest photography competition here. 

The 2022 One Rendering Challenge winners have been announced, concluding an incredible competition that celebrates one of the most integral processes in design: rendering. The top Student Prize went to Christian Coackley for “22 Gordon Street” — a mysterious and detailed reimagining of UCL’s famous Bartlett School of Architecture building (where the artist is currently enrolled). The building, previously known as Wates House, famously underwent massive and ambitious refurbishment over the last decade when millions of pounds were invested to open up the façade of the building and reveal new creative spaces within. The rendering, however, is not only concerned with the evolution of the building itself; it uses the architecture school building as a metonym to imagine an alternative model for architectural education and the profession as a whole.

“In light of enduring issues we are facing globally, such as a climate and ecological emergency, schools of architecture must nurture a culture of collaboration in architectural education to meaningfully address them. Therefore the drawing speculates on the third iteration of The Bartlett School of Architecture. In contrast to the building’s previous 2 iterations, Wates House (1975) and The Bartlett (2016), this next installment of the school will be constructed over the course of 1000 years by the students and tutors themselves,” Christian stated. Using Photoshop and ZBrush, the winning rendering meditates on the impermanence of design and the inherently evolutionary nature of building, as structures must adapt with evolving human needs.

22 Gordon Street: In its first iteration as Wates House (1975), and later as The Bartlett (2016). 

“The future generations of the building’s inhabitants will recover a lost material culture of hand-crafted ceramics,” imagines Christian. “This interchangeable orchestra of students and tutors will weave themselves together through the poetic symphony of a shared material culture, ushering in a new era in architectural education: The Age of Belonging.”

Architizer’s Editor-in-Chief Paul Keskeys discusses the creative process behind the winning rendering, which included a community engagement process in addition to the more technical considerations. Christian also shares images of his other work.

Paul Keskeys: Congratulations on your success! What does winning the 2022 One Rendering Challenge mean to you?

Christian Coackley: I feel extremely lucky and grateful for the outcome of the competition as it is a product of the endless support from my family, friends, and tutors who are at the core of why I do what I do. It is truly awesome to be recognized in such a competitive field, however, I also appreciate that ideal outcomes and perfect results are not a true reflection of what this discipline is about.

What were the primary challenges of conceiving your work, from forming the idea to the actual physical process of rendering?

The idea was formed around my interest in experimenting with a socially engaged method of research to inform architectural design. Through the act of creating a ‘Dining Room’ outside of 22 Gordon Street, I was able to host conversations with students, tutors, and passers-by that allowed me to learn more about others’ experiences at the school, and their thoughts on the culture of architectural education. The guests of this occasion were encouraged to add to one of five clay sculptures that had been worked on by a previous guest. The result of the 3-day event was 5 co-created sculptures and a better understanding of what The Bartlett meant to its users.

The physical process of creating the render derived from the approach of taking more time to do one thing, rather than doing many things that take less time. This approach to drawing is one that I have struggled with as it requires placing a level of patience and belief in the design process that I hadn’t done previously.

Did you use your usual techniques and software for creating this rendering? If you tried something different, how did that go?

Since I wanted the architecture to reflect the very human conversations that took place at ‘The Occasion’, I turned towards the ZBursh software that is used for making character models in games. Within the software I was able to develop a language that allowed for me to abstract the human form into architectural prototypes that could be deployed within the render. One can notice that the render is split between two distinctly different architectural languages. On the right is a skeletal structure that is taken from images of physical clay sculptures created by the guests and I, and on the left is the organic skin that was created using ZBrush. These two contrasting languages eventually begin to weave themselves together over the course of the project. This is shown in one of the projects final interior renders, which depicts the head of school giving Britain’s immortal Queen Elizabeth a tour of the new Bartlett.

Detail of the One Rendering competition winner. 

What connection does this image have to you and your personal feelings about architecture?

The image reminds me that architectural education, practices and The Bartlett itself, are all made up of human beings. They represent the potential for skilled and passionate individuals to come together as a collective and create something that could not be achieved in isolation. However, it unfortunately feels that we are still a long way off from establishing a culture of collaboration rather than competition in architectural education.

When first joining The Bartlett, I felt that the only thing that could separate yourself from the rest was by working harder and longer than others. This mindset was not wrong, but it was not disciplined, and I was one of many students unwittingly participating in one of the profession’s systemic issues; long hours culture. This issue stems from the competitive culture that is established through the act of valuing product over process, an aspect that was critiqued by David Nicol in his text ‘Changing Architectural Education’. He proposes that this is ‘most clearly reflected in the conduct and focus of assessment’, where students are often not rewarded directly for their efforts in analyzing the needs of a client or community. Rather this process is seen as an additional aspect that may be included alongside the main conceptual design proposal. Furthermore, the students’ projects are boiled down to a collection of portfolio pages that become a ’tangible product’ for employers to consume.

Do you have any other work that compares to this in terms of lighting, atmosphere and composition?

Instead of responding words, Christian lets his other images speak for themselves: 

What one tip would you give students and architects looking to win next year’s One Rendering Challenge?

I would suggest trying a technique or approach to design that you want to develop further or have never tried before. I feel it is best to never be 100% comfortable in what you’re doing otherwise it can prevent you from discovering things you never previously envisioned. But most importantly… Keep Drawing!

Send us a photo. Tell us a story. Win $2,500! Architizer’s 3rd Annual One Photo Challenge is underway with an Early Entry Deadline on May 27, 2022! Start your entry for architecture’s biggest photography competition here. 

Reference

A platform makes it easy to turn smartphones into multimedia museum guides
CategoriesSustainable News

A platform makes it easy to turn smartphones into multimedia museum guides

Spotted: Almost anyone who has been to a museum will be familiar with audio or multimedia guides – devices that provide still images, video clips, sound effects, music, and spoken commentary to accompany an exhibition. The first of these devices was developed in 1952 at the Stedlijik Museum in Amsterdam, and, over time, they have developed into the familiar iPod-like device still in use today. These bespoke devices can be cumbersome for users and expensive for smaller exhibitions. Now, startup Shoutr Labs has developed a system that is both easy to use and easy to develop.

Shoutr’s platform not only turns visitor’s smartphones into multimedia guides – it also makes it easy for museums and other attractions to develop those guides without programming expertise. It includes a content management system (CMS) with a drag and drop app builder, multilingual content, and the ability to easily manage content. Visitors can access the system on their smartphones without downloading an app.

The system is used together with the shoutr.Boxx, which saves all content in a local storage location. By allowing users to retrieve the data on the attractions’ local wireless network, the shoutr.Boxx removes the need for visitors to use mobile data (a potential issue for holidaymakers with high roaming charges or a poor connection). Shoutr also makes it possible for attractions to incorporate advanced features into their presentation, such as Augmented Reality.

Springwise has spotted several innovations that aim to make the arts more broadly accessible. These include a foundation using digital technology and a floating museum to bring contemporary art to the masses, and an AR art exhibition in the London skyline.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Website: shoutrlabs.com

Contact: shoutrlabs.com/en/contact

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