Today we are introducing the Sustainable Building Centre (SBC) in Vancouver, Canada. The SBC is staffed by sustainable building professionals, Vancouver’s Sustainable Building Centre opens Saturday March 25th 2006 at 1575 Johnston Street in the heart of Granville Island, as a destination for inspiration, advice and practical problem-solving for builders and the public. The Sustainable Building Centre is an information and education centre, exhibition space and forum for sharing ideas that will shape the future of development. This post is exactly what we were thinking when we started the ramsayhome.com project: how do we build a high quality, small, legacy project for our family to enjoy for generations. Please read the rest of the article here.
Thinking of small homes with higher quality
It is when we consider Quality next to Quantity, we start to understand the true meaning of Quality. Quality and quantity do not amount to the same thing. Bigger is not always better.
The quality versus quantity conundrum at its most perplexing than in the world of buildings, According to Northwest Environment Watch, the average size of a new single-family home in the North America has more than doubled since the 1950s, from 1,100 square feet to 2,340. At the same time, families are smaller: the average household now has 2.6 members, down from 3.7 at the height of the baby boom. Combining these two trends larger houses and smaller families new homes today have three times as much living space per person than did the homes our grandparents bought. Trends in Canada are similar, though less extreme.
Obviously, larger houses require more building materials than smaller ones. Larger homes, along with patios and decks, also generate more storm water runoff, which can tax sewer capacity and harm streams. And not surprisingly, big houses also require more energy to heat than smaller ones. These issues extend into all aspects of our built environment: where we work, where we play: our neighbouhoods, our city.
Escalating land prices, increasing disparity between ‘haves’ and ‘have not’Â, diminishing supplies of natural resources, climate change and expected GVRD population growth that will top 2.7m by 2021 comprise a compelling reason for us to start to think differently about the decisions we make when we build, renovate or demolish.
By thinking not just about today but also about tomorrow, we start to question whether bigger is really better, whether it is better to buy a cheap product today only to dispose of it and replace it again (and again and again). Whether by using fewer, better, more durable components we can design a product or building that will be more cost effective, last longer and look better.
It is time to question our culture of disposability and the commoditization of things that we cherish such as our homes. We need to explore the concept of Quality from the point of view of buy once buy wellÂ, of price versus valueÂ, of Å“doing more with lessÂ, of taking a long term viewÂ.
What are the projects, products and ideas that embody the true concept of quality: the sort of things that may have been ahead of their time but have (or will) become cultural mainstays, heirlooms, old friends: never to be thrown away?
Technorati Tags: Sustainable, Sustainable Building, Enery Efficient
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