Design House Brings Green to Misa

Started by David Wax and his partner Ben Uyeda, FreeGreen is making green home designs free for everyone. 2005's Solar Decathlon blew us away, but we are fascinated by the amazing Solar House from Cornell University. This team brought home a beautiful zero-energy to the mall in Washington, DC, and has just launched ZeroEnergy Design, home design firm focused on zero-energy design. Continuing their momentum as green home design teacher, two of the Cornell Solar Decathlon team has just launched a new effort that aims to bring green design to the masses through a special innovative business model called FreeGreen.

FreeGreen provides a selection of green home design for free, with a variety of styles from traditional to modern. While the basic design for free, homeowners can take the process further and customize their designs with the cost (and very reasonable) extra. The cost of the design process, and free house plan, kept to a minimum through partnerships between FreeGreen and green building products manufacturer - paid placement from product manufacturers.

As homeowners consult with FreeGreen to design customized, they are introduced to healthy, energy efficient, sustainable products that sponsor FreeGreen's eco-companies. This is a collaborative win-win-win that introduces people to the principles of green building and products and allows consumers on any budget to have a custom-designed, green home.

In the end, FreeGreen is about providing people with options and knowledge to make decisions. Green building products are widely available, but sorting through various options, or even know where to look, is a daunting task for most new homeowners. Freegreen solving this problem by offering a very good green building consulting with little cost to the consumer. According to founder, "is the goal at FreeGreen not produce environmentally friendly home possible but rather to provide a variety of different home plans that allow people to create homes to suit their lifestyles in a responsible and fair."

FreeGreen launched this month began with several great designs including our favorite, The Loft Suburban, modern home suitable for all climates. Marked with an open floor plan and loft ceiling space, this design will be available in various sizes to meet a lot of lifestyle and landscape.

We think FreeGreen is a great idea and a wonderful way to bring information, innovation and green design options for everyone - We are very excited to announce the launch of FreeGreen "because green design should be accessible to all." [Via]

Green House

Green House dissolves the large scale of the typical enclosed block volume into a new xx structure, thereby creating an expressive and spatially varied building, which relates to the large scale of the surrounding urban fabric, while at the same time creating series of micro-environments such as courtyards, squares and plateaus with different degrees of openness.Green House creates synergy between inside and outside, between summing metropolitan life and landscape(d) space. Green House is a vision for a new urbanity of social and spatial exchange between private domain and public space which creates plus value for both parts, reinforces local connections, and enriches the public space.

Year: 2007
Competition: Europan 9

Team: Serban Cornea, Kristina Adsersen, Sue Ling Choong Knudsen, Pietro Bairati,Cathrina Thingstadengen, Astrid Hald, Nanna Jee Lind Eriksen, Jørgen Hedrich og Allan Lyth
Collaboration: Moe & Brødsgaard

MORMOR by Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch

Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch’s sofa MORMOR from HAY received “The Danish Design Prize 2007”.

The jury says, "A rejection of conventions, innovative production approach, provoking and funky design, visual and sculptural furniture, a fine example of renewal in Danish furniture design.

Innovative sofa design is a difficult task, so there is every reason to applaud the new sofa concept MORMOR, whose unique expression is both funky and provoking without compromising on design and product quality. MORMOR is an almost monolithic object in the form of a visually exciting, light and sculptural piece of furniture. Thanks to the self-contained shape and low weight, the sofa does not have to go against a wall, which allows for a less conventional look.

MORMOR is a fine example of renewal in Danish furniture design. The innovation is not only evident in the sofa’s expression but also in its production form, which emphasises its unique character. The materials are well-chosen, the detailing is excellent, and the combination of leather and textile makes for a striking and beautiful solution."

When the half-brothers Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch work together on a furniture design, provoking and funky details are bound to ensue. The sofa ”MORMOR” (Danish for maternal grandmother) is no exception. An innovative mix of fabrics and materials keeps the weight at only 26.5 kg, even though it is a 3-seater. But why MORMOR? Rune Reilly Kölsch explains: ”it’s a pun on the English pronunciation. MORMOR is Danish, but in English it sounds like ”more more”. Our next sofa will be FARMOR (”far more”, or Danish for paternalgrandmother) – and the chair will be FASTER” (Danish for aunt).

MORMOR was part of the exhibition “The Danish Design Prizes 2007” at the Danish Design Centre.


Design: Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch

Providence chapel by jonathan tuckey design

British architect Jonathan Tuckey has designed a timber-clad extension to a 19th century Baptist chapel in Wiltshire, England, as part of the building’s conversion into a residential property.

The timber cladding on the walls and roof references the local “tin tabernacle” churches, which are clad in tin.

The proposal includes rainwater harvesting and insulation made from recycled newspaper.

Construction is due to be completed later in 2008.

The following information is from Jonathan Tuckey Design:


CONTEMPORARY TIN TABERNACLE

Jonathan Tuckey Design have been granted planning permission for the extension of a grade II listed Baptist chapel in Colerne, Wiltshire.

The 19th Century chapel which has been converted into a single family dwelling, will provide the living accommodation while the new addition to the rear will provide bedrooms and bathrooms overlooking the drystone walled garden.

Conceived as a shadow of the existing chapel, the silhouette of the new building, echoes the simple nature of the existing bath stone structure.

The design was executed in close consultation with the North Wiltshire District Council and makes use of changes of level to keep the overall height of the building as low as possible.

The timber cladding used to clad all walls and the roof, is a direct reference to the tin tabernacle churches, which are vernacular to the area. Alongside the solarised windows it provides a material that is both sympathetic to the location and yet strikingly contemporary.

The design encompasses a number of sustainable features, utilising rainwater harvesting, with a composite timber I beam and recycled newspaper insulation construction.

Green House

Green House dissolves the large scale of the typical enclosed block volume into a new xx structure, thereby creating an expressive and spatially varied building, which relates to the large scale of the surrounding urban fabric, while at the same time creating series of micro-environments such as courtyards, squares and plateaus with different degrees of openness.Green House creates synergy between inside and outside, between summing metropolitan life and landscape(d) space. Green House is a vision for a new urbanity of social and spatial exchange between private domain and public space which creates plus value for both parts, reinforces local connections, and enriches the public space.

Year: 2007
Competition: Europan 9

Team: Serban Cornea, Kristina Adsersen, Sue Ling Choong Knudsen, Pietro Bairati,Cathrina Thingstadengen, Astrid Hald, Nanna Jee Lind Eriksen, Jørgen Hedrich og Allan Lyth
Collaboration: Moe & Brødsgaard

MORMOR by Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch

Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch’s sofa MORMOR from HAY received “The Danish Design Prize 2007”.

The jury says, "A rejection of conventions, innovative production approach, provoking and funky design, visual and sculptural furniture, a fine example of renewal in Danish furniture design.

Innovative sofa design is a difficult task, so there is every reason to applaud the new sofa concept MORMOR, whose unique expression is both funky and provoking without compromising on design and product quality. MORMOR is an almost monolithic object in the form of a visually exciting, light and sculptural piece of furniture. Thanks to the self-contained shape and low weight, the sofa does not have to go against a wall, which allows for a less conventional look.

MORMOR is a fine example of renewal in Danish furniture design. The innovation is not only evident in the sofa’s expression but also in its production form, which emphasises its unique character. The materials are well-chosen, the detailing is excellent, and the combination of leather and textile makes for a striking and beautiful solution."

When the half-brothers Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch work together on a furniture design, provoking and funky details are bound to ensue. The sofa ”MORMOR” (Danish for maternal grandmother) is no exception. An innovative mix of fabrics and materials keeps the weight at only 26.5 kg, even though it is a 3-seater. But why MORMOR? Rune Reilly Kölsch explains: ”it’s a pun on the English pronunciation. MORMOR is Danish, but in English it sounds like ”more more”. Our next sofa will be FARMOR (”far more”, or Danish for paternalgrandmother) – and the chair will be FASTER” (Danish for aunt).

MORMOR was part of the exhibition “The Danish Design Prizes 2007” at the Danish Design Centre.


Design: Johannes Torpe and Rune Reilly Kölsch

Providence chapel by jonathan tuckey design

British architect Jonathan Tuckey has designed a timber-clad extension to a 19th century Baptist chapel in Wiltshire, England, as part of the building’s conversion into a residential property.

The timber cladding on the walls and roof references the local “tin tabernacle” churches, which are clad in tin.

The proposal includes rainwater harvesting and insulation made from recycled newspaper.

Construction is due to be completed later in 2008.

The following information is from Jonathan Tuckey Design:


CONTEMPORARY TIN TABERNACLE

Jonathan Tuckey Design have been granted planning permission for the extension of a grade II listed Baptist chapel in Colerne, Wiltshire.

The 19th Century chapel which has been converted into a single family dwelling, will provide the living accommodation while the new addition to the rear will provide bedrooms and bathrooms overlooking the drystone walled garden.

Conceived as a shadow of the existing chapel, the silhouette of the new building, echoes the simple nature of the existing bath stone structure.

The design was executed in close consultation with the North Wiltshire District Council and makes use of changes of level to keep the overall height of the building as low as possible.

The timber cladding used to clad all walls and the roof, is a direct reference to the tin tabernacle churches, which are vernacular to the area. Alongside the solarised windows it provides a material that is both sympathetic to the location and yet strikingly contemporary.

The design encompasses a number of sustainable features, utilising rainwater harvesting, with a composite timber I beam and recycled newspaper insulation construction.