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AROUND THE HOME << Recent (Pg 2) Archived >>
Listen to our live radio segment on Around the Home on The Lucy Ann Lance Business Insider on 1290 AM every Friday between 8:00am and 11:00am. Each week at 8:40 am a BRAG Ann Arbor Member offers an insightful discussion on home-related topics, focusing on the Washtenaw County area.
Design Strategies to Create an Open-Faced Kitchen
One that's part of a dining area, family room or so-called great room…
By Jef Forward, Forward Designers & Builders
Look for existing “under utilized” space
• Re-evaluate the Formal Dining Room. This is a great opportunity to pull down
a wall and open the spaces, and you can do so and still maintain a formal
atmosphere. Add double sided cabinetry to serve both sides of the room.
• Re-evaluate standard closets used as a pantry. They are big space wasters.
Change this out to 24” pantry cabinets with pull out shelves.
Build bridges, not walls.
• Islands and peninsulas are the kitchen's new walls.
• Because you can see over and around them, they connect the kitchen to an
adjacent dining area, living room or family room and yet define the kitchen's borders.
• They also allow the cook to maintain visual and conversational
contact with family members and guests in adjoining spaces.
• Combine functionality with raised ledges to accommodate seating,
or lowered tables. This works to centralize circulation space.
Define the kitchen canopy
• Even with an open floor plan, it's important to keep the kitchen
from visually spilling over into other spaces.
• Adding a ceiling treatment - They define the kitchen's borders
in a subtle way without blocking views into or out of the kitchen.
• A coffered, pitched ceiling, or unique decorative soffits will achieve this
• Going for a high ceiling in the kitchen can boost the perception of spaciousness.
• Going low in a dining area imparts a sense of intimacy.
• Add wall transitions – create large openings in walls with arch or box details.
Its an open feel, with a vertically defined border.
Stagger the height, length and depth of cabinets.
• This approach will add more functionality - Cater to your specific needs at
that specific location. Cabinets are so much more versatile than they were
even 20 years ago.
• Insert a plate rack or an open shelf unit between two long cabinets.
• If you have ample work surfaces, put in a couple of extra-tall cabinets that
sit on top of the counter.
• Add mail cubbies or cell phone stations
• Adds more visual dimension to a kitchen. Breaks up the rigid horizontal
lines of a utilitarian kitchen.
Create visual interest with varied materials.
• Vary cabinet door styles. There's no law that says all cabinets have to be identical. Use solid doors on some cabinets and glass doors on others. Or outfit a couple of doors with wire mesh, lattice or even shirred fabric. Use one style of door for perimeter cabinets and another for the island.
• Choose more than one cabinet paint color, wood stain or decorative finish. For example, use barn-red cabinets for the island and natural maple everywhere else. Choose light wood stains for some, dark for others. For just a little rusticity, choose a "distressed" or antiqued finish for just one or two cabinets. For continuity, choose cabinet styles and finishes compatible with built-ins and furnishings in adjacent spaces.
• Alternate countertop and backsplash materials. Reserve granite for an island and use a neutral solid surface material for all the other countertops. Top a baking counter with a slab of marble. Use ceramic tile or laminate in the wet areas and top a peninsula with maple butcher block. As for backsplashes, you might want to use stainless steel behind a range but ceramic tile elsewhere.
THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF DESIGN IN
CREATING GREEN AND SUSTAINABLE HOMES
& THE LAUNCH OF THE NEXT'BUILDING FORUM
By Michael Klement, Architectural Resource
Many people erroneously believe that Green design and building is nothing more than merely throwing technology at traditional design and construction methods. Essentially “frosting” a building with what is some times referred to as “green bling”, or as one of my architectural colleagues, Peter Pfeiffer calls it, "green by gizmo". It is absolutely true that technology can make valuable contributions to a successful Green building. In fact Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund, calls for a “new industrial revolution”. He makes the point that technology and profit motive has gotten us into this mess, and it is technology and profit motive that will get us out. However it is far from the truth that technology is the end of the story.
Technology and Green Building
In fact, there are numerous examples where technology was either inappropriately applied to traditional design and construction methods, or not completely and thoroughly considered as an integrated system within the overall Green project design. The results were either significantly less than anticipated, or, in some cases, a complete failure. One example of this was the rainwater harvesting technology at the Cliff’s Cottage LEED Showcase project at Furman University in South Carolina. Advanced systems were specified and designed for the collection and reuse of rainwater involving massive underground cisterns with an extensive buried irrigation network for planned vegetable gardens on the premises. The harvested food crops from these gardens were then to be used feed the less fortunate in the community. The shingles on the roof of the project were locally sustainably harvested wood shakes, a rapidly renewable natural material that met the 500-mile radius source criteria. A seemingly true triple bottom line success story: people, profit, and planet. Only problem, the roofing shingles were a wood species that was not naturally rot resistant, and therefore had to be treated with a chemical preservative. Result: there will be no food crops for human consumption harvested from those beds that are irrigated with rainwater from the chemically treated roof shingles. Although they do have some very attractive native ornamental plants and seasonal flowers!
Green is an Integrated System
If there is anything that should be properly understood about Green design and construction, it is that Green must be considered as an integrated, interconnected system. It is in fact core to the success of the Green home. Green is not the frosting on the cake, it is not even the cake, it is the ingredients of the cake, the way in which they come together, the environment in which they exist, and the intention of use through the design process. There is really no such thing as a Green product; there are products with Green attributes, and they must be considered as components of the whole. This applies to both the technologies that are incorporated into a Green home and the very design process that leads to their integration into the final project. Green building experts roundly agree that the most cost-effective and successful projects, be they Green or otherwise, result from an integrated project design and planning process. A comprehensive, holistic design process can yield synergies and greatly improve the overall performance of a home. Close collaboration between the project team specialists beginning early in the design process is key, if not perquisite, to the success of a Green home.
The 'Riverview House' Visible Green Home™ Tour
Nowhere does beginning with the end in mind apply more than in Green design and building. Then and only then can technology be incorporated as an asset. A terrific local example of that is the 'Riverview House' on Parkridge Drive. This is a significant remodeling project currently under construction. It is registered with the National Association of Home Builders' National Green Building Certification Program with the certification goal of Emerald, making it potentially the first such remodel in S.E. Michigan to attain this program's highest level of Green certification. This project, from the very first steps of the design process, included allied specialists to first establish the baseline existing energy performance of the home, and then go on to evaluate the renewable energy opportunities at the site. The information gleaned form this comprehensive 'deep dive' into the opportunities and constraints present both within the home and outside the home in the microclimate at the site gave rise to the very shape of the new addition's building form. It was designed to minimize the building's impact on the site by adding up rather than out; fully embrace the expansive river valley views below; capture prevailing existing cross-site breezes; and position a new south facing roof slope in the optimal location on the site to harvest renewable energy from the sun thus generating 100% of the home's annual electrical usage! Further the roof itself was developed using SIP panels in specifically designed integrated roof geometries to eliminate any waste or drops. Nothing went to the landfill.
This home is going to be presented in the Visible Green Home™ Tour series for FREE guided public tours on February 4th, and 5th, 2012 from 9 am till 5 pm. Information and pre-registration (required) at www.visiblegreenhome.com.
Also, we will be having a special "for the trades only" tour on Monday, February 6th at 4:00 pm. as a kick off event for the 'Next'Building Forum. So that any interested building industry profesionals should plan on attending then.
Launch of the 'Next'Building Forum
Green Design and Building. What does that word illicit in you. For many the word is a rousing anthem that calls for our very best and provides an opportunity to transform our client’s lives while improving the planet for future generations in the meantime. For others, it is quite the opposite. And in some cases, it can unleash pretty significant negative reactions. I have run across this more times than not, and from some otherwise very intelligent, capable and highly professional remodelers. With all the political trappings that have come to be hung on the words "Green" or "Sustainable" perhaps a fresh new perspective is in order. Whenever I am talking about Green Homes I find that the word "High Performance" can easily be substituted. Because that is essentially what a truly Green Home is. It out performs "standard" code compliant homes in any metric you can consider, including the social responsibility metric. But we need to reach beyond merely high performance. So,… 'Next'Building was coined. Representing that we are reaching beyond our current understanding, knowledge and paradigms about how we design, build and remodel our homes. We need to be reaching towards the 'next' awareness. And to do that, the 'Next'Building Forum is being launched.
The intention with the 'Next'Building Forum is to create a pan-association vehicle to educate, encourage, and inspire fellow building industry colleagues, in what ever capacity they work, and from which ever organization they belong, in all things Green and Sustainable (a.k.a. High Performance) that pertain to Residential Design and Building. By including both NARI of SE Michigan and BRAG Ann Arbor (as well as other interested allied design and building associations) and our joining forces together, we can supercharge our results in this mission. We are, in my humble opinion, sorely lagging behind in our building community's leadership in this arena. I feel we have a significant responsibility as place makers to take the lead in this for our clients, our professions, and our communities. I believe in reaching forward together, we can truly make a difference. My hope is that not only our region, but indeed both organizations, will hugely benefit by this alliance. I feel if we are going to make a difference in this critically important issue, we need to do this, while we still can. The "BHAG"... transform SE MI into a national leader in Sustainable Design and Building.
Tune in to 1290 AM Friday mornings at 8:30 to listen live, or stream the show online at www.LucyAnnLance.com
<< Recent (Pg 2) Archived >>
More resources and archives can be found on
The Lucy Ann Lance Show "Around The Home" page.
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