Matt Goes Green

The AIA and dwell Magazine have announced the winners for their “How Green Are You?” contest. (For background on the contest, see “The AIA and Dwell Magazine Team Up to Spread the Word about Sustainability,”  published on Green Building Elements last April.)

The contest recognized affordable home designs that achieve sustainability in creative ways.  Juror Robert M. Rogers, FAIA, of Roger Marvel Architects states in a press release on the AIA website, “We were especially intrigued with projects that executed beautiful design ideas and were inherently green by concept. From small ideas for the kitchen, to a way of life, the winners embodied these principles.”

Grand Prize Winner

Ryan Walsh of DRW Design Build in Portland, Oregon, won the Grand Prize for his project entitled, “Recycled Aesthetic.” Walsh assembled salvaged materials that he had collected over a period of five years to create a finished home. According to text accompanying the project submission, Walsh reversed the usual process of determining an aesthetic and then purchasing materials to fit that aesthetic; he took inspiration from the existing materials, and allowed the home’s design to evolve from them. (The photo above is a view of the home’s loft and its railing made of reclaimed wood.)

Runners-Up

Matthew Woodruff & Clinton Cuddington of Measured Architecture in Vancouver, British Columbia created “Gulf Islands House.” This two bedroom house had “a normal program, a normal budget, and a normal site for a normal family,” according to the project submission. The project utilized the site’s natural advantages, orienting the building to optimize both sunlight and shade. Over the course of the year during which the house has been in use, it has required only about 25% of the energy that it would have if these passive design strategies had not been used.

Ryan Mankoski of Ninebark Studio and Chad Schneider of ArchiLab Design in Seattle, Washington, also used salvaged materials. For their project, called “Salvaged Cedar,” they took stop sign posts and milled them on-site to create siding. Other salvaged fir items were milled on-site, and reapplied as various finishings inside the new home.

A slideshow of the contest winners (including honorable mentions) can be viewed on green.msn.

All contest entries can be seen on the dwell website.

Image Courtesy of: Blue Practice: Communications for a Sustainable World

Read about a green homes contest sponsored by New York House magazine, or a Do-It-Yourself contest co-sponsored by Popular Science magazine.