New Eco Homes

New Ideas for Sustainable Living

Manel Gutierrez

• Publisher: Harper
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780062395184
• eBook ISBN: 9780062395191
• Subtopic: Architecture General

A stunning, full-color showcase of the latest innovations in sustainable architecture and eco-friendly design, featuring thirty-five diverse homes.

Today’s architects, designers, building craftsman, and homeowners are becoming more environmentally conscious, choosing eco-friendly living spaces with small carbon footprints that are built with sustainable materials. New Eco Homes explores various aspects of modern eco design, from its environmental and economical benefits, to factors considered when choosing materials: how much energy went into manufacturing the product, whether it is long lasting, and whether it can be recycled or safely disposed of as it eventually breaks down. It also examines important details involved in building, such as climate regulation, drainage systems, and regional planning. Each of the thirty-five projects contain photographs, floor plans, and detailed drawings that illustrate certain sustainable features, revealing how much the parameters of ecological design have expanded in just a few short years.

New Eco Homes includes an introductory interview with an international specialist in green building, site plans, architectural drawings, and a complete directory of resources. Combining concern for the environmental with aesthetic sensibility, it is an essential resource for architects, designers, and homeowners interested in creating warm and inviting homes that are not only beautiful to inhabit, but help protect and conserve our natural environment as well.

SOFT HOUSE

Kennedy & Violich Architecture, Ltd.

Location Hamburg, Germany

Surface area 9,902 square feet

Photographs © Kennedy & Violich Architecture © Michael Moser

	Landscape integration Good transportation and walkability
	Photovoltaic solar energy: orientable panels CO2 low consumption
	Local material: wood Recyclable materials Sustainable wood
	Natural daylighting Natural ventilation
	Domotics: Soft House smart building management system (BMS) Smart curtains

Completed in June 2013, this is a set of four housing units designed for life and work. The project’s construction gains its character from a traditional structure made of solid local wood, which can be fully recycled at the end of the building’s life span. The architectural shell is simple, solid, and durable. The organization of the design shows how a domestic infrastructure can become a “soft” attractive, ecological, solid-wood construction.

The clean domestic energy, lighting, and elements that liberate the internal spaces are transformed into a type of mobile furniture, and are interactive, upgradable, and connected to the home’s wireless network, an intellig...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• House on the Morella River
• Balancing Barn
• A House for the Best Years
• Cobogó House
• Soft House
• Areopagus Residence
• Biocasa_82
• Casa 31_4 Room House
• Easterbrook House
• Nannup Holiday House
• Santa Cruz Straw Bale House
• Through House
• A21 House
• Brick House
• The Nest
• Stand 47 at Monaghan Farm
• A Sustainable Neighbourhood
• Single-Family Home in the Jizera Mountains
• Enclosed Open House
• Ice House
• Zeb Pilot House
• Water-cooled House
• Glossary
• Directory
• About the Author
• Credits
• Copyright
• About the Publisher