Building Green in Albany

Tags:: Architecture

This year, Build it Green celebrates the completion of its 10,000th GreenPoint rated home. Through the Greenpoint system, Build it Green awards points for energy efficiency, resource conservation, indoor air quality, water conservation and community consideration in new projects as well as renovations. I recently toured a renovation in Albany, California, that fetched a whopping score of 231 out of 300 possible points. While every design gesture was carefully thought out to maximize its green potential, the home is remarkably comfortable and liveable and it doesn't feel like like a theoretical or conceptual exercise—everything just makes sense. Click through the slideshow for a look at the residence and the measures homeowner and architect Ian MacLeod undertook.

— Diana Budds

The home is situated on a quiet residential street in Albany, California. Most of the homes in the area are single-story bungalows built in the 1920s and 1930s. The residents, Ian MacLeod, Beatrice Moran, and their two children, were drawn to the location because if its proximity to a local high school, the main commercial strip in the city, and BART, the regional train system. Those walkability aspects factored into the overall GreenPoint score.

Photo by: Diana Budds

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