Cradle To Canopy?

Cradle to Cradle is a movement which says, "Hey, designers. Instead of being "less bad" and working against the environment (sustainable/green) so that we can get our cool designs built, how's about we just work with the environment?"  The book by William McDonough and Michael Braungart of Charlottesville, Virginia aims to get this point across to designers (myself included) that don't usually start off the design process by taking the environment into account.  It opens your mind to a world that you had grown to know as typical, usual, and ordinary.  Go get the book.

I had always avoided C2C as I had never fully grasped the concept, and I also knew it took a lot a lot a lot of research.  I just wanted to design cool things.  But, since this is essentially my thesis project and last before I graduate, I figured I'd give myself a grand challenge.

The competition is to design a C2C house on a site in Roanoke, Virginia, about 30 minutes from our campus.  The lot is roughly 45'x150' (give or take) and it resides on a street corner.  The house itself is around 30'x60' at this point... and has a grid module of 15'x20' (6 modules).

My vision for the house is one which can exist with nature and not against nature.  It acts as nature does, using trees for shade in the spring and summer, allowing the interior temperatures to lower.  In the winter, when the trees have shed all of their leaves, the house gains more sunlight for heat consumption and retention on the interior.  Sunlight is harvested in the winter to keep up with heat needs.

A feature wall of translucent glass panels with some sort of pattern will cast shadows onto the interior walls and floors in a graphic manner, and change with season.

The slope of the ceiling is supposed to aid in plumbing and rain collection, which I'm still working on--but the idea is to have the main plumbing in the middle of the building for both floors.

Lofted spaces on the second floor have sloped ceilings (see the roofline) just like I always kind of loved them.  For some reason, I have a memory of a beach house my family stayed in at Kennebunkport, Maine when I was little and the ceilings were slanted.  Maybe it's just my imagination completely making things up. Always a possibility.

Goals for this week: get a floor plan for both levels and at least determine which spaces go where.  Competition requirements are as follows: foyer, living, dining, and kitchen, along with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths.

I'm excited for this first residential space that I've ever designed--I aim to design it the way I would want a home. It's not about winning the competition, but more about being satisfied with the end product and achieving a true Cradle-to-Cradle house.

Sweet Springs, a Real Blog Post

As it seems, I completely neglected this blog as a place to explore my design thoughts and process for the Sweet Springs project, and chose to completely document my findings in my computer.  I'll take this time to fully go through my ideas for this amahhzing (did I just quote Penny from Happy Endings? Yes.) and fun project.

So, in a nutshell, I loved this project.  It will be compared to my firstborn.  I hope my firstborn will be as cute as this project.

When I think of a mountain getaway for a vacation, I pretty much imagine this resort.  Colors from nature pulled into the interior, yet not overpowering nor competing with the natural landscape.  Using local resources to create the interior and bring it to life, from local artisans to farms to gardens.  Speaking of Mark Cline--I used a few of his beautiful landscape paintings.  And, at the Taubman museum in Roanoke this past weekend, there was a very strange exhibit of monster slime sculpture creatures done by none other than Mark Cline.  Artists have the full range.

What I imagine for this resort?  A place where others can come, from near or far, and experience West Virginia.  I, as a person who has grown up in northern Virginia, am aware that our neighbor to the west does not have the greatest reputation, at least among those my age.  West Virginia is a place for [legal] gambling and strip clubs, horse races, and that crazy university that happens to be pretty good at football.  Until being introduced to this project, I had not known of the natural local beauty and neighborliness (made up word?) that existed.  Yes, it's in the mountains.  Yes, it's in the boonies.  Yes, it's a beautiful site.

I picture this resort as a place similar to what the Blacksburg locals would prefer.  If all Virginia Tech students suddenly disappeared from this place, the locals would want this in their backyard.  Living in Blacksburg is all about local.  The town has a slogan, "Eat local.  Buy local.  Be local." It's all about being a community, and being sustainable/green.  Sustainable and green are two different realms, but you see where I'm going with this.

One main feature of this resort:  Lavender.  Lavender is a pretty big deal in West Virginia.  There are local farms and nurseries that grow and house the herb year round.  Lavender is known for it's healing properties, which also goes along with the "resort" typography of the... resort.  I would like guests to relax.  Take a break.  Snap OUT OF reality.  Also, purple is my favorite color second to Tiffany Blue so... Lavender was my top choice.  I find most colors go well with purple.  Just a fact of life.

Need I say more?

The Lavish Cafe (Lav[ender]ish) uses produce/herbs/whatever they can grow in the backyard, in the menu for guests.  I've seen this done on Food Network many times.  When I say "seen this done," I mean there has been that crazy little woman Chef Estez from Next Iron Chef (season 2 - second best season next to All-Stars, of course. Go Nate!) that had a restaurant of her own where she raised the animals, killed the animals, ate the animals.  Grew all of her own produce.  Everything that was needed for the restaurant, she made herself.  Also, there have been "nose-to-tail" (did I make that up?) and maybe even "snout-to-tail" chefs (Nate Appleman, I see you. You too, Chris Cosentino.) which use every single piece of the pig in their food, in some way or another.  No waste.  Now that is economical.

Can you tell I watch Food Network a lot? Yeah...

Reclaimed wood is a huge deal in this project as well.  In fact, most of the products I use claim to be "reclaimed" or "reused."  West Elm was a big help in this project.  The company has a big green policy about their products, which aided in the choices of furniture and lighting and accessories.  I expect there are a few (a lot) of old, abandoned buildings around the property of Sweet Springs with original wood panels.  These will be re-purposed into the interior finishes and furniture, therefore cleaning up the land they were once occupying and allowing more realty to the area.  Also better views of surroundings...  Inside these old houses are glass bottles, which had been used at points in time where people actually used glass bottles.  They come in a variety of colors, shapes, sizes.

My parents made me go antique shopping with them often when I was a child.  I saw a lot of glass bottles.  I started buying glass medicine bottles (like Alice in Wonderland!) this past summer.  Yeah...

All-in-all, this resort has an antique, yet modern, clean, lively feeling.  You are free to do whatever you please.  You are encouraged to stay on the property and enjoy yourself.  Whether you're in the dining room, porch, library, bath house, or even guest room, you are part of the community.  You are giving back to the community just by being present.  The economy of West Virginia is stimulated while the area is still maintained by its original charm and beauty.