Environmental Architecture

Or: Green Building

There is a lot of talk going on about how to build more environmental friendly structures. Solar panels, roof-top gardens, undergund building, recycled materials... these and many other innovative ideas are being brought up as alternatives to the concrete-centric construction paradigm that has dominated the American landscape for the past century.

This page is meant to be a collection of information aboout green building. Fell free to add your own examples of new ideas.

US Green building Council

Build a Green Bakery

An excellent website outlining how a small family Italian bakery was bought after it closed and turned in to an experimental model of green building and business of the 21st C. Theres an excellent article from Orion Online that gives some background: http://www.oriononline.org/pages/oo/sidebars/front/index_Streep.html

The links from the Build a Green Bakery website:

http://www.plyboo.com/ - bamboo plywood, a rapidly renewable wood source.
http://www.bondedlogic.com/index.htm - Recycler of natural fibers like denim
http://www.corkfloor.com/ - Makers of cork flooring, which uses the scraps from wine cork making. Comes from the highly sustainaible cork tree.
http://www.knoll.com/knoll_home.jsp - Wallpaper made from recycled materials.
http://www.environbiocomposites.com/ - Wall Panels made from sunflower seed husks and other bi-products of agricultural fiber.
http://www.annasova.com/ - Makers of paint that is milk based and composed of 99% food quality ingredients. Water based and contains no VOC (Volitile Organic Compounds)

Undergound Building

Visionary Malcolm Wells has been writing books and drafting blueprints for his unique, subterranean for more than 40 years. Check out some of his designs at http://malcolmwells.com/designs.html Be sure to explore the whole site.

Albany Greens