Just as physicians use light therapy to treat depression and Seasonal Affective
Disorder, medical science recognizes the importance of daylight in maintaining a balanced sense of well-being. Of course, too much daylight shining through a
traditional glass window or skylight causes blinding glare and annoying reflections and shadows. Solar heat gain from glass taxes a building's HVAC system.

Conversely, Kalwall translucent panels eliminate the eye-straining trouble spots,
filter out harmful light, and provide balanced lighting and controlled heat gain.
Kalwall offers light transmission ranges from 3% to 75%. (The best of both thermal efficiency and light transmission is provided by Kalwall with Nanogel with R-20 at 20% light transmission). The system provides insulation that is four times better than insulating glass units or any other light-transmitting system.

Because of their superior insulating performance, the panels pay for themselves in energy, maintenance, and installation cost savings. Kalwall is also rugged, shatterproof, vandal-resistant, and maintenance-free, further lowering expenses over time by reducing capital outlays for replacement.

Kalwall panels were tested recently for compliance with standards specified by both the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) in their Unified Facilities Criteria: DoD Minimum Anti-Terrorism Standards for Buildings. Up until now, the only glazing material allowed under the anti-terrorism standards was laminated glass, structurally glazed in a heavy steel frame. With the qualification of the Kalwall system, the advantages of translucent daylighting, combined with excellent thermal performance, are now available to the design professional.

Kalwall's "revolutionary new daylighting system", Kalwall+ Nanogel, wins 2003
Innovative Daylighting System Award from The Sustainable Buildings Industry
Council.

Specs: Kalwall Structural Thermal Break Composite
· 1-3/4 inches (44 mm) Non-conductive break
· Stronger than aluminum
· Passes all fire testing to 1200 degrees F
· Superior insulation in panels -- "U" .10 or less
· Stops condensation -- CRF 80+

e-House is an experimental house of the future, a laboratory for living designed by award-winning architect Michael McDonough. A high-performance website-controlled building, it was developed with a team of engineers, scientists, environmentalists, and over 100 manufacturers as a showcase of current technology integrated into a whole building system.

Not strictly a techie-dream, but a responsible home owner's dream. The keywords are not "tech-intensive, because-it's-there convenience," but "green-intensive, because-we-must efficiency."

Under the site's Press tab you can find fascinating and detailed published articles with information about this watershed integration of green systems for efficient environmental controls.

Find who is where offering what services and skills. If a link goes dead please let me know.

Other sites with directories are:
http://www.buildinggreen.com/menus/builderCategories.cfm

http://www.yourhomeplanet.com/

http://www.webdirectory.com/Design/Environmental_Homes_and_Buildings/

http://www.sustainableabc.com/

Bright Idea roof systems are designed to save heating/cooling costs while roof gardens enhance the immediate environment, moderating both building and local environment temperatures. Both of them will lift people's spirits through light and plants. Both use roof area, but they should make great partners! In my Foursquare Cabin design (under the Photos tab) you can see how they get along side-by-side. The roof garden over the garage makes sense -- if the roof garden leaks, it won't ruin your interior decor.

"The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that buildings account for more than 37% of the energy consumed in the United States each year. The obvious focus on lighting, windows and mechanical systems has yielded significant operating efficiencies. Yet the quest for even greater building performance remains an issue. Cities, such as Chicago and Portland, major corporations and universities are just a few of the growing number of organizations that are looking up for an answer. Up, that is, on the roof." --GreenGrid

Another very active site is http://www.greenroofs.com/ with updated info on the world of green roofs.

Online magazine devoted to the deeper levels of architectural and scientific thought, and their relationship. After reading a few articles, you feel really intelligent or stupid.

Here is a linked list to all the classic building/living patterns described and compiled by Christopher Alexander and his colleagues. Much wisdom here.

Architect Sarah Susanka has the right ideas. May she reach the upwardly mobile monster house fans with her message.

Nice...green....modern

All of my Bright Idea designs on this site were created using this free online program. I've tried many of the architectural software programs, but they were too inelegant and buggy for me, producing constant frustration. I just wanted to design how a house would LOOK! Then I found this program. Though it is not advertised as an architectural design program, but an interior design program, it's file size maximum may not exist!

For model walk-throughs clik the link above. (SORRY! ONLY INTERNET EXPLORER BROWSER IS COMPATIBLE WITH THIS FREE ONLINE DESIGN PROGRAM!) I only still keep IE on my computer for this application, but not as the default! And you might want to make sure you have saved info that is open first! Then follow these instructions to access the program:

The above link will take you to Parallel Graphics's Outline 3D site. (If you are still trying this with a non-Internet Explorer browser you will come to a dead end.) Clik button on upper right which says "Start Online Version." A dialog box appears for Basic or Professional. Under Basic, clik "Start." You will then be asked to download the Cortona viewer and the Plan Editor control. They take up hardly any room and it's a very fast download.

After you do this, the grey screen of the viewer will appear and over it a dialog box pops open to choose where you want to go. There are five boxes at the top. Clik on Public Space. Under the boxes is a line and under the line is the English alphabet. If it is not already on "A" please clik it. The list is alphabetized by last names. Go to "Acoh". It has a "K" in front of it. Clik on it. That's my name only for this site.

Clik once on the design you want to explore and then clik on the "LOAD" button on the bottom right of the dialog box. Some designs may take several minutes to load depending on web traffic, your computer speed, and the size of the design. While the design is loading, please wait for the green progress bar at the bottom to disappear.

A brown box with symbols in it at the lower left corner will allow you to navigate. In it, you see three camera views, the zoom/angle bar over them, and camera rotate arrows. Play around, but if you want to go to the walk-through now, clik on the left-most camera in its little box. Now we'll
see if you can drive a VRML!

Clik and hold your mouse on the left part of the screen and drag to the right to turn the camera view around. You can find the house this way if it's not in view. To go forward, clik and drag upward (push the mouse away from you). To go backward, clik and drag downward (pull the mouse toward you). Take some time to practice and you'll be a pro at navigating before you know it.

Here are some things to clik on that MIGHT open or turn on or move in some way: garage doors, house doors, windows, drawers, sleep sofas, dining tables, clocks, appliances, lights, fish tanks, curtains, computers, toilets. Try them! Garage doors are really cool.

If you want an overhead view of the house, first move to the middle of the house and then clik the middle camera in the navigation box in the lower left. You can move things from that view as well.

The right hand camera in the navigation box will take you to one of four isometric views. Cycle through them using the arrow buttons below the little camera box. These views will give you a better idea of the overall appearance of the house.

You can change a design any way you like, but it will revert to my version when you close the design. Your changes will not be kept unless you save it as your own. You may need to register to do this, I forget. But, it's no big deal. You can use any design by anyone in the Public Space folder and modify it to suit you, saving it as one of your own files, which can then be accessed in the "Your Own Scenes" folder next to the "Public Space" folder you have been working in. These files are kept online, but can also be saved in some form on your computer.

The program is a lot of fun, but save regularly. Clik Save Scene at the upper left of the view screen window. Follow the directions. There is an online tutorial you can read from the home page for more detailed instructions.

This is a dynamite little program for designers, letting you move things around in 3D and go anywhere to view your design. It is not an architectural program.

If you can design your dream house with this program, you can then use your keyboard's Print Screen button to copy different views from the screen. Import them into Paint or Adobe Photoshop, cropping and saving as image files in the format of your choosing.

Print out favorite views of your project in this way and take them to an architect and show him what you want. Just make sure he's green! You might want to give him the link to this site.

An enlightening and profound and entertaining talk on architecture high-lighting current trends, problems, strategies and dead-ends. Watch this incredible Susanka-Duany presentation. Look for the title of this entry, Green Building: The Not So Big New Urbanism, on the linked site.
June 2, 2005 2hr-52min