Build It Forward
Green Building gets better with age
I call myself a green builder and as such am constantly thinking what that title means. Possibly one of the best definitions of green building I can think of is this: does it age well?
Green building is meant to be sustainable, meaning it can be repeated on an ongoing basis. Clear cutting trees is not [...]
Green Building is More Dependant on Natural Cycles
One of the many differences between renovating a Brooklyn brownstone the old fashioned way and doing a green renovation is the difference in cycles.
A normal brownstone renovation is very similar to all post-industrial activity: MAN OVER NATURE. And ever since the “triumph of science” we have been able to overpower the earths natural cycles and [...]
Recovering America
Please read to the end: there is an invitation for designers and architects to submit work to Eco Brooklyn.
After hearing that Malcolm Wells, pioneer of underground architecture, had died I bought a couple of his books and read up on him.
I regret not meeting him when he was alive. He had a great sense of [...]
Green Building Directories
There are a number of ‘green’ product listings and databases on the web; Greenspec at BuildingGreen.com and Pharos, for example, but most (if not all) of them require a paid annual membership. One good source of free information on green products is Oikos.com. More than 2,500 companies are listed in a searchable database.
Others are
WNC [...]
Malcolm Wells, Champion of ‘Gentle Architecture,’ Dies at 83
“To leave the land no worse than you found it” is the manifesto of Gentle Architecture, a concept coined by Architect Malcolm Wells, who recently died.
He made an impression on the green movement of the 1970’s and his work is getting attention with the new green building movement we are currently having.
There are many ways [...]
Comfortable Green Brownstone
Here is a great image. It shows the true value of a Brooklyn brownstone green renovation.
This is something you can’t put a price to. It is like the credit card advertisement:
Insulation $10
Radiant floor $15
Fiberglass Windows $12
Watching your baby play naked while it snows outside: Priceless
This photo really shows the immediate value of doing a good [...]
Brooklyn Green Brownstone Renovation Template
The way Brooklyn brownstones are currently renovated does not work. It does not work for the environment nor for the inhabitants’ comfort and utility bills.
Eco Brooklyn is focused on redefining how a brownstone gets renovated. We use the Brooklyn Green Show House as an example of a renovation template that works for the triple [...]
Re-nest and the process of green building
Architect and writer Julia Brooke Hustwit came by our Brooklyn Green Show House for the first in a series of articles she is writing on the house for re-nest.com. You can check out the first one here.
We spoke a lot about how the green building process differs from normal building. Just the word “process” seems [...]
350.org and Turn Brooklyn Green
350.org is a site worth knowing about. It is at the helm of a very sensible movement to get the CO2 levels of the world back down to 350 part per million, which is a safe level. Right now they are at 387 and it isn’t very clear whether they will keep going up or [...]
Salvaging Old Brooklyn Stairs
Here you see the Eco Brooklyn team diligently salvaging some beat up old stairs in a Brooklyn Brownstone. Along the Eco Brooklyn credo we salvage anything we can. Buying new is our last resort.
But we keep in mind the cost. If it costs the same in materials and labor to salvage than buy new then [...]