Slow Home: Annie House from Bercy Chen Studio
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 08.29.07
"Suburban sprawl is like fast food; cheap and easy but also unsatisfying and boring." says the intro Slow Home, which says "takes its name from the slow food movement which arose as a reaction to the processed food industry. In the same ways that slow food helps people learn how to become more familiar and involved with the food they eat, Slow Home provides design focused information to empower individuals to step beyond the too fast world of cookie cutter housing. " The ten steps to better housing (listed below the fold) are an excellent guide to sustainable living. The Folio includes a lovely collection of houses that meet founder John Brown's criteria, all with good pictures and documentation. The Annie House in Austin, Texas by Bercy Chen Studio is a good example.
From Brown's description of the the house:
The house is located in South Austin on a small infill lot. It was built for two families and therefore is split into two living areas. The house consists of two pavilions connected by a glass hallway.
The house is a certified city of Austin green building project and scored 3 stars out of the highest possible 5 star rating. Sustainable principles of design are incorporated throughout.
The house is constructed of a modular steel frame. The frame is infilled with prefab thermasteel panels to minimize construction on site waste. The structural frame is exposed, showing the construction process and articulating the house’s facades. The repetitive modular method as well as the prefabrication allows for greater efficiency during construction. The 2nd floor in one of the pavilions is a viereendeel truss which acts like a bridge and minimizes the number of vertical structural supports in the 1st floor.
Ten Steps:
1. GO INDEPENDENT
Avoid homes by big developers and large production builders. They are designed for profit not people. Work with independent designers and building contractors instead.
2. GO LOCAL
Avoid home finishing products from big box retailers. The standardized solutions they provide cannot fit the unique conditions of your home. Use local retailers, craftspeople, and manufacturers to get a locally appropriate response and support your community.
3. GO GREEN
Stop the conversion of nature into sprawl. Don’t buy in a new suburb. The environmental cost can no longer be justified. Re-invest in existing communities and use sustainable materials and technologies to reduce your environmental footprint.
4. GO NEAR
Reduce your commute. Driving is a waste of time and the new roads and services required to support low density development is a big contributor to climate change. Live close to where you work and play.
5. GO SMALL
Avoid the real estate game of bigger is always better. A properly designed smaller home can feel larger AND work better than a poorly designed big one. Spend your money on quality instead of quantity.
6. GO OPEN
Stop living in houses filled with little rooms. They are dark, inefficient, and don’t fit the complexity of our daily lives. Live in a flexible and adaptive open plan living space with great light and a connection to outdoors.
7. GO SIMPLE
Don’t buy a home that has space you won’t use and things you don’t need. Good design can reduce the clutter and confusion in your life. Create a home that fits the way you really want to live.
8. GO MODERN
Avoid fake materials and the re-creation of false historical styles. They are like advertising images and have little real depth. Create a home in which character comes from the quality of space, natural light and the careful use of good, sustainable materials.
9. GO HEALTHY
Avoid living in a public health concern. Houses built with cheap materials off gas noxious chemicals. Suburbs promote obesity because driving is the only option. Use natural, healthy home materials and building techniques. Live where you can walk to shop, school and work.
10. GO FOR IT
Stop procrastinating. The most important, and difficult, step in the slow home process is the first one that you take. Get informed and then get involved with your home. Every change, no matter how sma
Excellent guidelines but I wonder if one thing might be missed in all of this - Don't build a new home just because you *want* to live in a green home. If your home can be converted to being more green, it's likely going to be less of an impact to retrofit some green features than it will be to scrap the house and build another one. I notice a lot of "green" homes are located on lots where the pre-existing home was really fine - in fact, often these were homes built in the late 1940's or early 50's and they were built like tanks with 2 x 12 douglas fir planks as their primary walls and oak flooring, etc. Demolishing a home like this to "build green" is really a shame and it's being done in Austin as well as in cities across the nation.
I second Kelly's comment. Also, we truly need more experts in green retrofitting.
You know, 20th-century modernism really bugged me, but green modernist buildings are more fleshed-out -- trellises, pergolas, etc.
I see your point that there is no sense in having entire rooms for, say, wrapping Christmas presents (yes, this really happens) which never get used.
If only those big cubes could get a little more personality -- some nooks and crannies. Window seats, arches, etc., the things that really make people comfortable.
I live in Austin. I've seen this house many times. I can't imagine how it could possibly be considered "green". There are so many windows (Do any of them open?). Do you know how hot it gets here? All that beautiful 100 degree sunlight streaming in from every angle. I wonder how high their AC bill is. I think those old houses with the thick stone walls, long windows that opened, and high ceilings were probably more energy efficient than this one.
I have the same beef as many of the other comments. Taste and aesthetic are very personal. There is NO reason that modernism is inherantly 'better" than any other style, unless you like it. In which case it is better for you.
I think there is good design that is inspired by historical reference, and vernacular buildings, and bad design inspired by the same. I could go on for days citing quality architects, etc. But the bottom line for me is " Whatever gets you through the long dark night, design and aesthetic-wise" Honestly there is room for all good design, and all good design should be green.
In fact, I hold that design that contains toxins, or consumes beyond sustainability is inherantly bad.
I agree with Kelly's comments, and they apply equally to houses here in Australia. It's often better to renovate an existing home, respecting the design which happened before air-con, when it was common sense to apply basic passive design principles. And if you can't find an old house, then why not borrow from the old masters and incorporate the principles into the new? Handy when we have increasing power black-outs in mid-summer.
The slow home movement reminds me of Europe, where a very common practice is to buy an existing house and than adapt it to your own needs. This seems to be inherently more resource conscious (and greener) than the common practice of the sprawl in the subburbs.
Somestimes it is very dificult to be green in the subburbs because of the missing infrastructure (like walking instead of driving when there are no sidewalks!!!)
I also agree with Kirsten, that design that includes toxins or consumes beyond sustainability is bad design. Traditional or modern architecture, if it incorporates climatic requirements, is more an expression of personal taste and not of environmental conciousness.
If you are building a new home nowadays it is only smart to incorporate green building principles because longterm it saves money and makes your home more liveable and comfortable. It is a win-win situation.
More green retrofitting, please!
It's sexy and fun to read about new materials and homes and buildings, and much easier for manufacturers to sell.
I understand that the development of these new technologies and materials is easier to use in new buildings and then they can be used to retrofit, but as the owner of a 200-year-old home, the lack of green resources to remodel and retrofit at an affordable price is exasperating.
We are trying hard to be good, but it's just too hard. For example, we don't get enough sun to install a solar roof, so we have been researching greener options. NOTHING we have found as an alternative to standard architectural shingles is less than twice the price.
Further, as appealing as modern furnishings and fittings are, there is a real dearth of information on how to integrate them into older homes without taking apart the whole place. Design magazines claim to run articles on the subject occasionally, but no one is really doing it seriously.
Where's the garage?
I couldn't agree more with converting before building. Sometimes it just isn't cost effective or even worth the input of materials/energy but usually is better for all around.
To see the ultimate in not following even one of the suggested guidelines for green living you only have to drive over to The Dominion, just outside of San Antonio, for the Parade of Homes going on even now. Houses over 7000 sq ft, narrow halls, rooms that are there just to fill the space. Talk about waste, greed, and arrogance to the highest level.
The garage is that white box thing in the first picture