webster duplex

2 winters ago, i started looking for ways to get involved with the green building community

i found Cascadia's Emerging Green Builders and I found Habitat for Humanity
i was eager to become involved with both and made minor attempts to assimilating into both

the EGB's were hosting a natural talent design competition to design a LEED silver duplex on a lot that habitat for humanity owned in the hopes that they would take the design winner and build it

my self-esteem was not in full swing that winter and even though i worked for hours on a duplex design and attended the design charette held at SERA, i didn't submit a proposal. i didn't even make it to a habitat site to volunteer

this was my floor plan

2 years later and i am an active volunteer for habitat for humanity and an intern for a green building construction company and am very excited to announce the completion of the habitat webster duplex

the webster duplex is being dedicated to its two families tomorrow night and is on the path of reaching LEED Platinum Certification! the oregonian featured it on the front page of their "how we live" section last week. you can read more here:

Habitat for Humanity homes in Portland aim for platinum LEED certification

kitchen table

you may not see the connection between title and photo

but let me explain . . .

i drive by this building everyday on my way to work and it recently has gone up for sale/lease and of course i started daydreaming

it's going to be a 24 hour cafe with multiple vendors selling their market niche cuisine for "grab n go" or sit and stay. there will be a random mix of kitchen tables and chairs. and, the best part, a collection of local produce, dairy and meat products. it would be a market for all the local, seasonal farms year round. the families that feel overwhelmed by the CSA bounty, could instead stop by and pick up some fresh rutabagas or grass-finished beef. basically it would be something like an all year, indoor farmer's market.

i've shared my idea with my coworker/mentor who has connections. she thought it sounded great and put me in touch with her friend looking for a music venue. i've emailed back and forth with him and we thought we could easily combine the two dreams but somewhere along the lines he found out I'm just a young dreamer . . .

. . . oh well

maybe he'll do on his own and i can shop and eat there

option 2.
i could use this site as a basis for the 2009 Cascadia Emerging Green Builders Natural Talent Design Competition:

The Program

All entries must adhere to the following guidelines:

• Transportation: The project must confront the issues posed by transportation, seeking a solution alternative to the use of single occupancy fossil-fuel vehicles.


• Public Space or Public Space Adjacency: The project must include an area of public space, or be adjacent to easily accessible public space, forming a core element of the project’s site design.


• Mixed-use: The project must incorporate both private and public space, and consider the interplay between public space and private development.


• Solar Envelope: All projects must consider the solar envelope of the site and the site’s development on adjoining properties.

I'm just going to run with this

Rooftop apartments . . .