Collection by Diana Budds
Highlights from Greenbuild 2012
Greenbuild is charging full steam ahead at the Moscone Center in Dwell's home town of San Francisco. From November 11–16, an estimated 35,000 people will trawl the show floors, seeking the newest products and technologies for sustainable construction—everything from energy monitoring devices to insulation to cladding. We took a spin through the show and picked our favorite design finds.
Prefab builder Method Homes partnered with Bogue Trondowski Architects for their Paradigm model, a 722-square-foot home that features all the bells and whistles of a deep-green design: composting toilet, graywater system, high-efficiency floor-to-ceiling windows by Western Window Systems, solar panels, LED lighting, bamboo flooring, and more. We especially loved the integration of space-saving Murphy bed from Resource Furniture. The house has some mighty fine detailing on the exterior, namely a perforated Cor-Ten sun screen and wooden protrusions that make the facade more visually appealing than most modular construction. The full-scale prototype is on view at Greenbuild outside of Moscone North.
Indow Windows has a decidedly low-tech alternative for creating a more energy efficient home: custom window inserts that are just as efficient as double-pane windows but at one-fifth the cost, says founder Sam Pardue (a bit of trivia: he's also one of the Lensbaby cofounders). Essentially an acrylic panel wrapped in a compression tube, the window fits pops into the interior of an existing window, forming an air-tight seal.