Parade of Green Buildings
Saturday & Sunday
October 21-22, 2000

Sponsored by the Sustainability Project and the Santa Barbara Contractors Association

Come See What’s Green!
Learn About Environmentally Sustainable Design and Construction

When: Opening Reception
Friday, October 20, 6:30pm
Cold Spring School, 2243 Sycamore Canyon Road, Montecito

Guest Speaker, Architect Bruce Fowle (designer of Green Skyscraper Four Times Square, NYC)

Tour Green Commercial Buildings
Saturday, October 21, 10am ­ 4pm

Tour Green Residential Homes
Sunday, October 22, 10am ­ 4pm

Cost: $25.00 ticket for all three days with Shuttle Bus Transportation or Carpool of 3 or more people or by Bicycle
$30.00 ticket for all three days for Tour by Private Cars

Tickets: Tickets Available at 3 Branches of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust
Downtown Main Branch, 20 E. Carrillo Street
La Cumbre Branch, 3910 State Street
Goleta Branch, 299 N. Fairview Avenue

For More Information Contact:
David James 965-4962 or Dennis Allen 682-4305






http://news.newspress.com/toplocal/greenfor1016.htm





Building tour showcases benefits of going 'green'




Santa Barbara structures recycle, conserve




10/16/00
By RHONDA PARKS MANVILLE

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

rparks@newspress.com

As the birthplace of the modern environmental movement, Santa Barbara is proving to be fertile ground for a burgeoning movement to construct "green" homes and businesses.

During a special tour in Santa Barbara on Saturday and Sunday, called the "Parade of Green Buildings," house-and-garden lookey-loos and folks in the construction trades can get an up-close look at 11 homes and offices that were built or renovated using nonpolluting, sustainable, environmentally friendly designs and materials.

It's the first tour of its kind here, and the sponsors of this event -- The Sustainability Project and the Santa Barbara Contractors Association, among others -- are hoping it's as popular as it's been elsewhere in the country.

Architect Dennis Allen, who specializes in green projects, and is a member of the local Sustainability Project and chair of the building tour, was inspired to create a green tour of homes years ago. He was introduced to the idea in Colorado, where an annual tour has proved wildly popular with the environmentally conscious residents there.

But just a few years ago, Santa Barbara did not have enough green homes to make up a tour.

That has changed.

"Now we have enough good projects for the tour -- good, quality projects, infused with green elements," he said. "We want people to see, feel and touch them, so that they can see what is possible."

Saturday's tour will feature six businesses. On Sunday, five family homes will be on display.

Each home and business will have owners, architects, designers, materials representatives and builders on hand to answer questions. A kiosk at each site will provide literature on each structure, and the materials used.

Sustainable building involves using resources that don't compromise future resources. Green projects use renewable, nonpolluting and recycled products and materials and technologies that conserve energy.

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Here is an advance peek at three of the stops on the tour:

Van Atta Design Studios, 235 Palm Ave.: Located on a sliver of land near the Garden Street interchange at Highway 101, the structure sits serenely amid the grit and noise of the city's light-industrial district. Outside, there is a garden with a koi pond, native plants, stone steps and flowering vines. Inside, it's cool and quiet, with windows that are high enough to frame the mountain views -- and to hide the cars and trucks going by.

The offices were designed by their occupants -- the architectural firm Blackbird Associates and the landscape architectural firm Van Atta Design Studios. (The principals in those firms are husband and wife Ken Radtkey and Susan Van Atta.)

"A lot of people drive by and say they enjoy the moment, waiting at the light, looking at the building," Radtkey said. "There is an exchange of some kind, and that is positive. The idea is that this building and the green around it takes part in this intersection, in this aggressive urban environment that serves as a gateway to the city."

Lighting is a major expense in operating an office, and in the Van Atta building they almost never turn them on. The structure makes use of natural light from the northeast-facing windows and is constructed so that the mass of its materials -- concrete block walls and handsome, polished concrete floors -- are used as tools in heating and cooling.

The building makes liberal use of sustainable materials, such as flooring of bamboo, a crop which is harvested every three years or so, unlike wood materials that take decades to grow. There is salvaged marble in the bathrooms and kitchen, bamboo storage cupboards and shelves made of poplar from managed forests. Nonpolluting paints are used. Outdoor decking is made from a product manufactured from recycled milk cartons. On the rooftop terrace, recycled, tumbled glass serves as gravel ballast, which glitters in the sun after it rains, like the ocean in the distance.

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The Bear Lodge, 3288 Foothill Road: Busy, noisy Foothill Road lies just outside Tim and Glorianna Buynak's 1930s farmhouse. When they first bought the place, the traffic noise was so loud it was impossible to have a conversation outdoors.

"We had two big problems -- heat and noise," said Glorianna.

But not anymore.

Working with architect Jim Bell, the Buynaks are in the process of making the house a cool, quiet enclave. An impressive rock wall outside, using stones from the property, helps block the din from the street. And hay bales -- placed against the original exterior and covered with stucco -- have created walls 30 inches thick in some places, which keep the house cool in summer and warm in winter.

"What people don't realize with straw bale, for example, is that you can finish it however you like -- as Mission style, French or adobe style," Bell said.

A triangle "truth window," which shows a straw bale behind it, is a reminder of the organic materials used to renovate the house.

To keep pollution and allergens to a minimum, the house uses radiant heating (from hot water flowing through coils) under the tile floors and in baseboard heaters elsewhere. The eaves of the windows are low, to block the sun. Solar tube lighting is used for light in several rooms, and organic cottons are used on bedding and windows throughout.

Some rooms have bamboo floors. All of the double-paned windows in the house are recycled -- Glorianna bought a truckload of them from a house that was being demolished.

Airkrete, a nontoxic, foam insulating material is used in tight spots of the house where hay bales won't fit. The roof is covered in a manufactured, fireproof material that looks like slate, but isn't.

"We've tried to look ahead, too, by plumbing the house so that we can catch rainwater, and by designing for solar heating and solar electric in the future," Bell said. "It's also got separate plumbing for gray water, when and if it is ever allowed in the county."

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The Armstrong Home, 1003 La Senda Road: Not a single tree in the secluded oak woodland was cut to make room for the impressive stucco home built by its residents, Earl and Leslie Armstrong.

The passive solar house is constructed with a building material known as Insteel, which is composed of nontoxic foam panels, steel mesh made from recycled cars, and a cement-like fill material. The Insteel framing is a substitute for conventional framing materials but is substantially stronger, can withstand earthquakes and is fire resistant.

The elimination of hollow wood walls and duct spaces practically eliminates places for mold to grow.

The key to the house's solar capability is its thermal mass: The walls and ceilings are thick, and the floors are made of heavy colored concrete that is mottled to look like stone.

The floors are heated from underneath, by radiant coils carrying hot water, but it is only necessary to use the heat about two months of the year, the owners say. The house captures heat from the sun, and it is easily cooled by opening the windows on the second floor.

The house has a distinctly European feeling -- a sort of understated elegance -- with windows, French doors and patios that capture the wooded beauty and native plants outdoors. But its owners love it for another reason: With floors of concrete and no carpet, it's virtually dust free and could be hosed down, if need be.

"For me the benefits are really easy upkeep -- especially with the children -- and the other big factor was avoiding allergies," said Leslie Armstrong.