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I guess Kermit the Frog was wrong...it's easy to be green after all.
The footprint of commercial projects certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED Green Building Rating System recently surpassed one billion square feet worldwide, and an additional six billion square feet of projects are registered and working toward certification.
“This traction demonstrates the transformation of the way we design, build and operate buildings,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. “Not only does green building contribute to saving energy, water and money, it also creates green jobs that will grow and energize our economy.”
Since it was first introduced to the marketplace in 2000, more than 36,000 commercial projects and 38,000 single-family homes have participated in LEED.
No, this isn't the cheap bamboo furniture you remember from your dorm room. This is the good stuff.
Teragren and Vaughan Benz formed a partnership to create bamboo furniture for commercial applications in the hospitality industry.
Vaughan Benz will now offer bamboo cabinetry, tables and seating made with FSC-certified Teragren bamboo panels and veneer to hotels, restaurants and healthcare facilities worldwide. The partnership was announced at Greenbuild 2010, a conference and expo dedicated to "green" building.
“Our customers are increasingly asking us to find manufacturing solutions that are environmentally sustainable, including low-VOC and FSC-certified products. We are proud to partner with Teragren, as their leadership in providing environmentally friendly bamboo products for the woodworking industry is exemplary,” said David Benz, president of Vaughan Benz.
Well, since I know Santa is bringing me a $15,000 life-size gingerbread condo (see previous post) for Christmas, I thought I should add this cool wooden bicycle to my list.
The Collins Companies commissioned Renovo Hardwood Bicycles to build the company an FSC-certified wooden bicycle scheduled to debut at the Greenbuild International Conference in Chicago, Nov. 17-19. The bike is an R4 Pursuit model featuring a stiff, lightweight frame.All of Renovo’s bikes are custom made – adjusting the stiffness and ride quality to the customer’s individual riding style and weight. Renovo is one of the few companies in the world that manufactures wood bicycles and it uses hollow frames to make them.
“We utilized a species combination of CollinsWood from the Collins Pennsylvania Forest including; Black Cherry, Hard Maple, and Birch [for this bike],” said Ken Wheeler, owner, Renovo Hardwood Bicycles.
Collins had the bike commissioned for one of its employees. “Although wood bicycles are still in their infancy, we are constantly exploring new ways to have CollinsWood incorporated into everyday products and we want our customers to explore new uses,” said Cameron Waner, marketing coordinator for The Collins Companies.
I’ve always like the idea of using something you don’t need to make something else you want. Call it recycling, upcycling or green—I call it smart.
Old bowling alleys are disappearing all over the country, but what happens to the long, beautiful heartpine wood lanes? I’ve read articles of people salvaging the wood to make countertops, and frames but Counterevolution has taken it one step further. Craftsman, Jim Malone has created three contemporary fine furniture lines out of these old lanes. Modern Rustic and Industrial Green series feature tables, seating, kitchen and desks. The Buffalo Greens series includes wine racks, lazy susans, clocks and jewelry. Malone has also done some beautiful commercial installations.
Its furniture fit for a kingpin! Go green!!
Kids outgrow shoes, clothes and toys but not this table—it grows as they do.
Austrian furniture maker Perludi designed Caspar, an ergonomic, environmentally friendly children’s table. The design is simple: Four colorful legs are placed into the four holes in the hand-crafted solid-wood tabletop and secured at the desired height with o-rings made from natural rubber. To adjust the top’s height and inclination, or to balance out an uneven floor, slide the infinitely adjustable legs up or down individually within their holes.
The Caspar is made from locally grown spruce wood.
Forrest Dickey’s inspiration for his furniture comes from historical hardwood barns of his youth in rural Wisconsin and New York's steel skyscrapers.After reclaiming a large portion of red oak timber from a barn on family property, he began making furniture that brought together the warmth and history of the wood with urban architectural designs. Reclaimed wooden beams and timbers create the primary visual component of Varian Designs.
Dickey’s new furniture line Broen, which means bridge in Danish includes architectural tables and seating that blends natural and man-made materials.
“These designs combine the simplicity and beauty of natural materials with the contrasting complexity of architectural steel,” says Dickey. “It is a departure from past designs, but still maintains our trademark rustic‐modern feel and commitment to unique design and high-quality craftsmanship.”
The line is hewn from sustainably harvested walnut, white oak salvaged from whiskey casks, and recycled lasercut steel.
Humans like to sit. And we all want to sit on a comfortable chair. However, I want my chair to be comfortable and look good.
I am not alone in my quest for beauty and functionality. The One Good Chair design competition focuses on lounge chairs or similar casual seating — to aid the body in the act of sitting.
For this year’s competition, designers and students were challenged to create sustainable chairs that meet the subtitled “Fit Right Here” criteria of Make good (Material conservation), Feel good (Physical comfort) and Look good (Emotional resonance).
Two chairs from Europe and one from a Florida designer are finalists in the competition, and the winner will be announced at the upcoming Las Vegas Market.
Select entries may be featured in Lance Hosey’s forthcoming book, “The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design.”
This is not your traditional sitting by the lake Adirondack-style furniture.
The Adirondack Museum asked six modernist and postmodern architects and designers and six Adirondack rustic furniture makers to create a new, modern aesthetic. The results of the collaborations have reinvigorated rustic furniture trends using traditional methods and materials.
The "Rustic Tomorrow" collection features a desk by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill consulting partner David Childs that was built by Wayne Ignatuck with red oak salvaged from his yard and walnut castoffs from a nearby farm. A table by Shope Reno Wharton Associates’s Allan Shope was constructed in black walnut by Judd Weisburg, according to Interior Design magazine.
Other contemporary designers include, Michael Graves, Nils Luderowski Architect and Dennis Wedlick Architect, and 20th Century Fox art director Thomas Cardone, according to Interior Design.
This exhibit will travel to:
Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute, Utica, New York — February 14 through April 19, 2009.
D. Wigmore Fine Art Inc., New York, New York — April 22 to May 6, 2009.
"Rustic Tomorrow’s" one-of-a-kind pieces will be sold at auction to benefit Adirondack Museum on May 6.
There’s nothing like sinking into a comfy chair after a long, stressful day at work and zoning out on trash TV with a box of Girl Scout cookies. Of course, our European brethren like to relax just as much as we do, but they do it with a bit more style.
The Scharly Designer Studio is debuting the Frankfort Factory chair at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) from May 16 to 19 in New York. The modern chair was designed with a Zen concept—its ultra soft backrest adapts to everyone and memorizes the most comfortable position with its intelligent surface, creating an extraordinary relaxing sensation.
This lounge chair is manufactured with a very smooth foam that is covered by a fine layer of latest-generation soft polyurethane, which provides elasticity and light reflection. The seat is made with a very resistant yet lightweight material.
The chair was produced under conditions in line with sustainable and environmental development. Greenhouse gases not included.
