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Sunday, February 27, 2011
coordination
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what does sustainability look like?
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The same is true of architecture, for the most part. Environmental sustainability often produces no major visible effects. Caulk and insulation are pretty much invisible, for example, and water- and energy-saving fixtures and appliances are often indistinguishable from their guzzlin' cousins.
What should sustainability look like? Is there an innately sustainable aesthetic?
In the meantime, though, be sure to include a 220V outlet to recharge your car.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Writing
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Another part of David's day job is writing about architecture. The new theme issue of the Journal of Architectural Education (on Precedent) includes his essay, "Misprision of Precedent."
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Day job
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Sunday, February 20, 2011
Efficiency
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This house strives to work efficiently, from its consumption of resources to its use of space. It conserves resources through construction methods that use less material (such as the wall panels, which need just 3" to provide the strength and insulation of a 15" thick wall on a typical Miami house) and techniques that minimize the energy needed to operate the house (like providing lots of natural light to over 90% of the house, and shading the windows to avoid excessive heat gain). Between conserving and generating electricity, the house should only use a quarter of the energy of a new house built to code. Prefabricating most of the shell of the house will help us produce just a fraction of the on-site waste that conventional construction creates, and using recycled materials will reduce the amount of new resources consumed in the building process.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Precision
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The structural steel for the house should arrive the week of April 4, around six weeks from now. The steel pieces arrive pre-drilled so that they can be quickly bolted together on site. Part of the reason we're leaving the steel frame exposed is to show off the precision of the prefabrication system.
But before the steel can go up, a number of things have to happen in sequence:
Thursday, February 17, 2011
South Miami Green Task Force
Check out the initiatives of the South Miami Green Task Force, including the weekly farmers' market in front of City Hall, and next Wednesday evening's presentation on urban biking facilities.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
why not keep the existing house?
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
a perspective
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The steel prefabricators for our project prepared this rendered perspective, which gives a good sense of what the house should look like. The structural frame is steel, and the walls and roofs are made of panels with thin steel faces on either side of a thick layer of foam insulation. We'll discuss the advantages of steel in later posts, but for now, consider a few compelling things:
a plan
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The first gesture was probably the porch. Since the house sits at an intersection of two small streets, we decided to address the corner with a porch, which is analogous to the way we like greeting our neighbors. We'll write more about the house's stance toward social engagement in future posts.
Next came the living room and dining room, which form a single large space on the west side of the site.
demolition
On January 5, we had the existing house demolished. The existing house was built in two phases, beginning in 1968. Demolishing a house - even if you sort the rubble for recycling - is not exactly the most sustainable option for development. However, two things made the house unsalvageable: the garage sat on the corner of the lot, right at the intersection of two streets, and thus right at the point where we want to have a porch to greet our neighbors (not a box to store our cars); and the house was riddled with termite damage and mold. It took less than a day to reduce the house to dust, which is pretty humbling for two architects to watch.
rolling out the new blog
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Permit? check. Financing? check. Kick-off meeting with steel supplier? check. LEED certification started? check.
Over the next few months, we’re going to post regular updates on the design, construction and commissioning of our new home in South Miami, Florida. Subscribe to the blog (via Blogger, RSS or Facebook) to stay abreast of our progress.
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