Materials & Design
- GreenPoint Rating, LEED and Energy Star and Living Building Challenge guidelines will ensure that sustainability is built in wherever possible.
- Materials have embodied energy – the energy it took to manufacture, load, ship and assemble them on site. We will reuse and recycle as much as possible to minimize our carbon footprint and our contributions to landfills. In the floor plans you can see that we are keeping the existing footprint of the structure and will re-purpose as much as possible.
- We will view the existing building and site as a salvage yard, harvesting everything we can reuse – for example, the existing concrete driveway will be saw cut and reused in the hardscape. The remaining material will be salvaged for others to reuse.
- Low or no maintenance materials will be emphasized as they are built to last and wear naturally.
- Where possible, Cradle to Cradle and FSC certified products will be used. Every effort will be made to eliminate the use of toxic materials.
- Materials from the construction process will be meticulously recycled.
- The crawl space will be sealed and negatively pressurized to maximize health and comfort.
- Reflective roofing materials will reduce the “heat island” effect.
