Monday, May 15, 2006

Culver House

Metropolis Magazine has a story on a sustainable condo development breaking ground in Chicago's Gold Coast by Dirk Denison Architects. Culver House is "part of a pilot program that expedites permits for buildings aiming for LEED certification." (PDF link)

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Chicago is known for its push towards being the greenest city in the United States through such initiatives as City Hall's green roof, the Center for Green Technology, tree plantings with all new developments, and LEED requirements for all new public buildings.

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Culver House pushes these green initiatives into the private sector, something that needs to happen for Chicago to not only reach its goal, but for it to have any sort of realistic long term impact.

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Not only does Denison's design cleverly put the greenery on display, via planted terraces, it also, "incorporates louvered shading devices that assist in regulating radiant heat gain, reduce the need for artificial lighting, and conserve energy. Operable windows, vents, and doors promote airflow through the exterior and interior layer of the double-glazed curtain wall." These are a few of the many sustainable practices in the design, according to the Big & Green exhibition literature.

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Its site across from Washington Square Park should give the project a highly visible presence as it rises and after it's complete, perhaps helping green thinking's extension into larger speculative private developments.

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(via Coudal)

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