Fall is in the air and so are a number of exciting events and new environmental initiatives. Allen Associates is proud to be involved in some way with all of them. Please read on.
In this issue:
ArchitecTours 2011
Victoria Garden Mews
TSP Revenge of the Electric Car
Ojai’s Green Home Tour
Solarize Santa Barbara A Success
AB 1103 Will Reduce Energy Consumption
A Brush With Kindness
Two Allen Associates’ Projects Win National Award
Free Green Building Workshop – October 13th
ArchitecTours 2011
Come see the latest projects designed by local architects
On October 1, 2011, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the Santa Barbara AIA will host ArchitecTours 2011, a self-guided tour of six exceptional Santa Barbara residential and commercial properties. Allen Associates’ Victoria Garden Mews project, designed by Thompson Naylor Architects, will be one of the projects featured on the tour which includes:
- Behind the scenes site tours of six local architectural projects
- Green building workshops
- Tickets for the entire day (including the tour, lunch and after tour reception) are $50 for the general public and $45 for students, seniors, and AIA members.
- Tickets for the tour may be purchased online or contact the SB AIA at (805) 966-4198.
Allen Associates, a Corinthian sponsor for the tour, will host the lunch served on the tour as well as the after party at the Wine Cask. Join us!
Victoria Garden Mews Makes the Cover of the Santa Barbara Independent
What lessons can the community learn from this project?
We were very happy to have our Victoria Garden Mews (VGM) project featured as a cover story in the Santa Barbara Independent. Thank you to Ethan Stewart for a fabulous article describing the project’s unique green features and the path the project took to get from Dennis Allen’s and his partners’ vision to reality. If you haven’t had an opportunity to read the story, you can do so now.
As a result of building Victoria Garden Mews, Allen Associates has learned and tested a number of green building products and systems that could be included in any project, increasing its energy efficiency and the comfort of its residents, while reducing project costs.
What can the Santa Barbara Community learn from Victoria Garden Mews (VGM)? Here are our thoughts:
- The VGM buildings, with their energy efficient walls and windows, LED lighting, 12 kW photovoltaic system, and solar water heating units, are almost net zero – producing the majority of the energy the residents will use. As a result of the shell’s efficiency, the buildings lose only 1.5o of heat on the coldest nights of the year, ensuring that the residents will rarely need to use supplemental heat. Therefore, the energy efficient shell, which cost only $8 per square foot to construct, allowed us to REDUCE heating demand, SAVE on the size and cost of the supplemental heating system, AND SAVE money on the client’s utility bills.
- Instead of large amounts of paved driveways and covered parking areas on this property, the garden courtyard has over 30 fruit trees, a vegetable garden, and numerous plants attracting birds and butterflies. This landscape, an amenity for the residents and a place where neighbors gather for meals and to build community, is primarily due to the state-of-the-art hydraulic parking lifts which Dennis Allen championed before City decision makers. The four lifts, which each accommodate two cars and cost approximately $6,000 apiece, were the first of their kind in Santa Barbara and are now encouraged by City planners.
We will share more lessons over time that will hopefully spark not only conversation but encourage others to incorporate similar types of features into new projects.
The Sustainability Project To Bring “Revenge of the Electric Car” to Santa Barbara
On Wednesday, October 5th at 7 p.m., the film “Revenge of the Electric Car” will be shown in the Marjorie Luke Theatre at Santa Barbara Junior High. This new film by Chris Paine, the director of “Who Killed the Electric Car,” goes behind closed doors at Nissan, GM, and Tesla to get the story of the global competition to produce the best new models and dominate the growing market for electric vehicles.
Paine says, “In 2006, as many as 5,000 modern electric cars were destroyed by the major car companies that built them. Today, less than 5 years later, the electric car is back …with a vengeance.” The movie preview is sponsored by The Sustainability Project. Prior to the film, at 5:30 pm, there will be a free electric car show including the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt, and Tesla Roadster. During the show, delicious, nutritious food will be available from the acclaimed Mobile Café. For more information about this event and to buy tickets to the movie, click here.
Ojai’s Green Home & Building Tour
The Ojai Valley Green Coalition is also having their annual building tour on October 1st. Click here for full details on their reception, tour, and home show.
CEC’s Solarize Santa Barbara a Success
The 3 month long program adds 205 kW of new solar systems
For the last three months, the Community Environmental Council (CEC) has been spearheading Solarize Santa Barbara, a solar group purchasing program for homeowners in Southern Santa Barbara County. The program made it easier and cheaper for homeowners to go solar, and ended on August 15 with a grand total of 49 people signing contracts to install 205 kW of solar.
One of the main goals of Solarize Santa Barbara was to increase the amount of renewable energy in south Santa Barbara County and the program accomplished just that. More importantly, the program raised the profile of solar in this community. People are talking about solar and realizing that it’s not as difficult as they thought.
Read more at the Community Environmental Council’s website.
AB 1103 to Help Building Owners Reduce Energy Consumption
A new state law – AB 1103 – aims to reduce the state’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Effective January 1, 2012, the new legislation will require owners of all commercial and multi unit residential buildings to disclose their energy performance before a building is sold, leased entirely or refinanced. The first buildings to be required to submit a Disclosure Report under AB 1103 are 50,000 sq ft and larger or owner occupied above 1,000 sq ft. Building owners will be able to track and assess energy consumption using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager while comparing their building’s performance with a national database of buildings with the same operating characteristic. The result is a performance rating on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the most energy efficient building in its category. A verified score of 75 or higher qualifies the building for Energy Star certification, which indicates that the building performs better than 75% of all similar buildings nationwide. The concept is that benchmarking scores could motivate building operators to take actions to improve the building’s energy profile and help to justify financial investments. Read more.
A Brush With Kindness
Habitat for Humanity’s new program to help low income families have a decent place to live
Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County is starting a new program designed to help low income homeowners struggling to maintain their homes. Habitat’s A Brush With Kindness provides the volunteer labor and materials to make home repairs and improvements more affordable. If you know someone who could benefit from this program or would like to volunteer, contact Jon Peterson at Habitat for Humanity. Visit Habitat’s website for more information on this program.
Two Allen Associates’ Projects Win Master Design Awards
More Accolades for One of Our Award Winning Projects
Our company recently had the honor of winning not one, but two, Master Design awards in the same award category. The Master Design Awards is a national award program organized by Qualified Remodeler Magazine that recognizes outstanding achievement in residential remodeling projects in 22 categories. The judges chose Allen Associates for its success in creating projects with aesthetic appeal, stellar construction techniques, financial value, functionality of space and positive overall impression.
The first project, winning both a Gold Medal and Best in Show, was a whole house remodel located on the Riviera. Having recently lost their original home to a wildfire, the clients chose to purchase and remodel an existing home rather than rebuild at their previous location. The main objective of the remodel was to remove interior walls between four cramped, dark spaces – a living room, dining room, family room and kitchen – to create an elegant “grand room” filled with natural light. Only minor changes were made to the remainder of the house. To see more photos of this project, visit our photo gallery.
Our second project, the whole house remodel of a Montecito Mid-Century home, received a Bronze medal. Originally built in 1973, the owner wanted to update his home but keep its manageable size. The major challenge for the project team – the client, architect Brett Ettinger and Allen Associates’ Ben Cervantes – was taking this small house; preserving its modest sensibility yet make it feel grander than it was, then giving it the craft and elegance it never had. The client’s dreams were achieved with only 300 sq. ft. of space added to the original structure – embracing the sustainability principle of small is beautiful. To see photos of this project, visit our photo gallery.
Our Next Green Building Workshop
October 13, 2011
Join us for the next in our series of free public education workshops on Thursday, October 13th. This workshop will focus on the latest in green building approaches, products and systems. The workshop location is a recently completed LEED for Homes Platinum project where you will get to see the features you are learning about. If you are thinking about remodeling your existing home or building a new one, this is the workshop for you!
Call Karen, (805) 884-8777 ext 121, to reserve your space and to learn the workshop location.