Green Home Innovations Are Springing Up in Unconventional Solutions

With the building resources available today, as welland no character but through sound design
as a struggling economy, it is no wonder thatprinciples it has been transformed into a
unconventional, sustainable and less expensivecomfortable and livable home. The home also
housing options are beginning to make a grandboasts low to no VOC paint, repurposed antique
appearance. People are shifting their way offurniture (as a bathroom vanity and closet
thinking from living in oversized, wooden framesolution), lighting acquired from second hand
boxes with vinyl siding, a picket fence and fourstores, green kitchen cabinets and energy
car driveway to things such as old industrial loftefficient windows and appliances. As a final nod to
buildings, trailers and even shipping containers. It isthe planet all materials that were removed were
all in the perception imagination to redesign theseeither recycled or donated to various
unconventional spaces into sustainable, greenorganizations.
homes.A shipping container may not immediately be
In the Boston area there is a new communitythought of as a viable option for a home but
called Forbes Park that takes sustainable living tothrough conceptual innovation these small metal
the ultimate level of luxury. Built inside anboxes can be transformed into some very
abandoned printing facility from the 1800's, Forbesmodern housing and on a tighter budget than one
Park dubs their homes as Hybrid lofts becausemight think. With a large surplus of such material
they garner over fifty percent of their energysimply taking up space at ship yards across the
from renewable resources. Most notably is theircountry it is possible to snag one of these
use of wind power from the turbine located rightcontainers for as little as $900. In 2006 Peter
on the premises and passive solar through theDeMaria of DeMaria Design Associates took the
two walls of windows located at the end of eachconcept to the next level building a two story
loft space. In addition, the structure features ahome in Redondo Beach, California from multiple
rain water collection system for use in toilets,containers. The home is inherently resistant to
radiant floor heat, thermal-mass passive heatingbugs, mold and fire and in a location such as this
and cooling, low flow toilets, energy efficientwhere construction to withstand earthquakes is a
appliances and the use of durable, naturalpriority, it is comforting to note that a
materials lessening the need for replacement.pre-fabricated metal box is virtually indestructible.
Sometimes there is a negative stigma attachedAs evidenced in this small sampling of homes, the
to certain forms of housing, for example a trailer,opportunities are endless to create functional,
but Charmaine Manley Design has taken this waycomfortable and gorgeous, homes that go far
of thinking and buried it so deeply beneathbeyond the typical standard of normal. Due to
bamboo flooring and Paperstone countertops thattheir creative innovation each of these homes
the double wide trailer she renovated in Oregondisplay a keen attention to environmental
has been photographed as a show home. Theawareness proving that irregular is just another
residence started out, as many trailers do, withword for exceptional.
chintzy carpet, paneled walls, aluminum windows