Sustainable Condo

My condo isn’t this snazzy. And I wouldn’t let all of Vancouver into it. The Sustainable Condo is an educational travelling exhibition that serves as a life-size, walk-through catalogue of green products and building technologies available today. With a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and home office all fully furnished, visitors can see that living green doesn’t mean sacrificing comfort or style.

Reducing resource consumption was a major goal of the companies that cooperated to build the condo. Water from the shower, washing machine, and dishwasher can be reused as grey water for the toilet, and overhead lighting is handled by two-watt LED spotlights. Flooring and other building materials are made from sustainably forested wood, as is the furniture provided by Ornamentum.

The condo also showcases ways to reduce consumption through multi-function furniture: the living room’s TV swivels to function as the office’s computer monitor, and cushions were mounted on the underside of removable hardwood floor panels so they can be flipped over and used for sprawling. The units planned from this initial prototype are designed for maximum flexibility in order to extend the useful life as long as possible. The finishes used are low-fume; the concrete is low greenhouse emission; the list goes on and on. A habitat this green is something we can all aspire to. Tentative plans are to show the condo next in Toronto and Atlanta. ::Sustainable Condo [by KK]