EcoFactor: Ecofriendly prefab house made using recycled materials.
Some people say that houses are the true reflection of the identity of the person living inside. If this saying is to be believed, then Tomas Small and his wife, Joanna Brody, should be one of the greenest couples on this planet. The couple resides in a prefab that is made using everything from recycled steel bars to crushed sunflower husks and shredded blue jeans.
Mr. Small wanted one of the greenest houses ever designed by Sander Architects, and the only problem he was facing is the lack of funds. The architects were up to the task but only found themselves using materials that they would have never imagined could be used in house building. Besides using recycled steel and Styrofoam, they also made use of sunflower husks for wall panels and old jeans for insulation.
After a lot of work, the architects have finally delivered the 4,200-square-foot duplex. The house relies on cross-ventilation for cooling and passive solar energy for heating. Gardening in this house is done using gray water. Three sides of this amazingly green house are made from folded steel panels, and the fourth side is assembled using concrete, acrylic and glass.
To give strength to the upper floors, wire mesh and rebar were wrapped around Styrofoam and sprayed with concrete. For insulation of the entire house, the ceiling and walls were all lined with two layers of shredded blue jeans. The 16-foot-high, screw-on panels and the bookshelves of this house were made from crushed sunflower husks. With all this onboard, the cost of the house was $528,000, that’s only a third of the actual cost for an architect-designed house of this monster size in the Los Angeles area.
The Dark Side:
Though there is nothing much we can say about this amazing feat of prefabrication, we still feel that some solar panels on the roof and some micro wind turbines would have added more flavor to this green construction.
Via: NYTimes
