While many in the development/building/construction industries continue to argue the financial impossibility of sustainable developments (and insist that consumers aren’t really interested in sustainable homes), KRDB architects in Austin, TX, went ahead and proved them wrong with SOL (solution-oriented living) Austin. Included in the 38-home, net zero energy development are 16 affordable modular housing units (for cultural and economic diversity), tree plantings and community parks, joint-access drives (to reduce impervious cover), varied setbacks (so, unlike most developments, one isn’t confronted with a sea of identical houses but rather a more heterogeneous array). Recognizing a trend away from larger homes for both economic and environmental reasons, the architects have designed the largest property at 1,816 square feet, the smallest at 1,090.
Free Green is a service that offers what most developers won’t: green home plans to home-buyers. Free green home plans from “Comfortable Cape” to “Suburban Loft.” And they’ll help find builders to build them. Consumer interest and demand in greener homes seems to be driving change in the industry — a sort of bottom up approach to innovation. So if you can’t find a subdivision offering the house you want, Free Green is helping facilitate a proactive alternative.
In keeping with this apparent new era of personal responsibility, the only-slightly-tongue-in-cheek collective Wannastartacommune.com started by Stephanie Smith, Buckminster Fuller-acolyte and founder of the green design lab, Ecoshack, gives a new attitude to an old idea, urging residents of cul de sacs or condos to come together with their neighbors to share resources. Suggestions for collaboration include a shared compost pile, weekly potlucks, neighborhood recycling programs, barter services and shared childcare. Their pilot project, Cul-de-Sac communes, is already underway.
This tendency — let’s call it extreme neighborliness — is so old-fashioned as to seem innovative. Startlingly basic and wholly actionable, it’s a bright spot in a dark time.