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Jennifer Roberts, the author of Good Green Homes and the forthcoming Redux: Designs That Reuse, Recycle, and Reveal.
Photo by David Wasseman

by Jennifer Hattam
Living Well Session

Moderator: Bonnie Dahan
Presenters: David Arkin, Pam Pennington, Jennifer Roberts

"Building a house out of junk doesn't mean it has to look like junk," says Jennifer Roberts, the author of Good Green Homes and the forthcoming Redux: Designs That Reuse, Recycle, and Reveal. The earth-friendly architecture on display certainly didn't. Interior designer Pam Pennington showed how she combined untreated and carbonized bamboo—a durable, fast-growing wood—to create artful entryway and stairwell designs. Architect David Arkin has crafted beautiful wooden ceilings from old pickle barrels and dramatic light fixtures from mining mesh (the bits of copper stuck in the wire give it its striking pattern).

The homes they've worked on are light and airy, and that's no accident. While utilizing innovative construction materials is important, so is following a few basic principles of ecological design: build in harmony with your location, to best utilize natural light, air circulation, and topography; maximize resource efficiency; and build as little as possible.

That last edict may seem stingy in a world where the size of the average new home has grown by 50 percent since 1970, but innovative planning can make living small feel grand. Pennington's tricks include better storage and multifunctional furniture, like a queen-sized guest bed that folds out from a family-room wall or movable track lighting that illuminates where it's most needed at the time.

With homes accounting for 20 percent or more of all U.S. energy consumption, and a new 2,000-square-foot house creating 20,000 pounds of construction waste, sustainable building is no small matter. "No one should have to wonder if their beautiful deck killed a forest," Roberts says. Fortunately, getting peace of mind doesn't have to mean sacrificing style.

-- 09/09/2005 Fri
3pm