Have you connected with Trilogy Partners on Facebook yet? If not, be sure to stop by our page the next time you log into your Facebook account and click the like button on our page. By liking our Facebook page, you’ll receive our posts in your newsfeed, so you’ll never miss an update. Our Facebook page is the place to be for all the news and information in sustainable building practices, design tips and trends, events and happenings, and so much more!

Once you’ve liked our page, do us a favor by suggesting it to all of your Facebook friends. We currently have 78 people following us on Facebook, and we’d love to see that number rise to 100 over the weekend, but we need your help to accomplish that goal. Also, be sure to like The Haitian Orphan Rescue Program on Facebook, too. The Haitian Orphan Rescue Program is a charity co-founded by Trilogy Partner Michael Rath that provides permanent shelter for orphaned and abandoned children in Haiti.

We hope to see you around the Trilogy Partners Facebook page soon!

A couple of months ago we told you about a huge milestone the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) reached with one billion square feet of LEED-certified space. Recently, the USGBC announced that over 10,000 homes in the nation have attained LEED certification through the LEED for Homes program.

Nate Kredich, vice president of residential market development for the USGBC, said “Reaching this milestone signifies the continued transformation of the home building industry towards high-performing, healthy homes that save home owners money. Market leaders across the production, multifamily, affordable and custom home segments have recognized that there are green homes, and then there are LEED Homes, and they are acting accordingly.”

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the Salishan 7 project took place earlier this year. The Salishan 7 project was the 10,000th project to receive certification through LEED for Homes.

Green Building Pro reports that since the program’s launch back in 2008, 10,161 homes have been certified. The 10,000th home to earn LEED certification was the Tacoma Housing Authority’s 91-unit development, Salishan 7. That project was also the first federally funded HOPE VI Redevelopment project to achieve LEED Platinum status.

This is a huge moment in the LEED for Homes program and Trilogy Partners is thrilled to have contributed to over 10,000 homes becoming LEED-certified!

Photo credit: Tacoma Housing Authority.

All that glitters at Toronto show

BY DANIEL DROLET, POSTMEDIA NEWS | What’s hot in interior design this year? The recent Interior Design Show in Toronto highlighted four scorching trends:

Bling, the show was awash in glitter and gleam.

Crystals, often Swarovski, were embedded in bathroom fixtures, sprinkled on window blinds and wallpaper, sparkling as ember beds in gas fireplaces and twinkling as buttons in upholstered furniture. What wasn’t decorated with crystals was shiny, as in gleaming glass kitchen counters, polished surfaces and flashy accessories.

“We treat faucets like jewelry,” says Robert Calabrese of Aquabrass (aquabrass.com), a Concord, Ont.-based distributor whose new line of bathroom faucets called AquaCristal brings bling to the bathroom.

Sun Glow Window Coverings of Canada (mysunglow.com) is adding Swarovski trim and pulls to some of its window blinds for what the company calls “delicate shimmer.”

“It’s a fun decorative element,” says Sun Glow’s Diane Nevins of the crystal, adding the bling is particularly popular with young people -“a generation of bling and everything that sparkles.”

Black

Black is still a big neutral. IKEA, for example, cast aside its Swedish reserve and presented an all-black kitchen that positively radiated edge: black counters, cupboards, sinks, faucets, pots, pans and backsplashes, even a black stove (well, anthracite, actually).

“Black is sexy and cosy,” says IKEA’s Andrea Mills, explaining that with its black kitchen, IKEA was trying to “kick it up a notch and show the maturity of IKEA’s design.”

Anna Portanova of Frini Furniture in Woodbridge, Ont., says black speaks to glamour, which is coming to the fore as we shake off our recent economic funk. It is also -along with white and grey -part of a palette of neutrals that can be used to show off textures, geometric patterns and shapes, and be a base for bursts of colour.

Things may be black, but they are often shiny, or accompanied by gleaming mirrors, metals, Plexiglas and acrylics. (See Bling).

Bespoke

The word means custom made, and it speaks to the sense of luxury that is finding its way back into design.

Paul Smith of Kravet Canada (kravetcanada. com), a firm that sells fabrics and furnishings, talked of “quiet sophistication and understated elegance” in the new fabric designs, which include linens, silks and ethnic motifs.

He also talked of a return to colours, including lilac, mauve, and strong greens and blues.

Strong colours were in evidence at Elte (elte.com/ Furniture), a Toronto furnishings company whose Second Life rugs combine the green mantra of “reduce, reuse” with cuttingedge appeal and unique products.

Second Life rugs are Persian carpets that are 40 to 80 years old, explains Elte’s Ken Metrick. The carpets are stripped of their initial colour and redyed in vibrant contemporary hues.

Metrick explains that people are buying neutral furniture and using the carpets to give their rooms a colour pop.

As for carpets that are too worn to be reused in whole, they get cut up and the pieces are sewn into patchwork carpets and redyed.

Also very distinctive -and high-end -were gorgeous textured wallpapers by Roya Manufacturing and Supply Canada (royacanadainc.com). Roya’s Prime Walls wallcoverings (primewalls.com) includes its Shardana collection featuring embossed metallic surfaces and handplaced beads. (Did I mention shine was a trend?)

British

One of the most visited collections at the show was of British-inspired furniture from UpCountry, (upcountry.com).

A traditional-looking sofa upholstered to render a Union Jack attracted a lot of attention -and so did travel trunks with the same design.

UpCountry’s Andrew Ward says the wedding this April of Prince William and Kate Middleton is stirring up interest in all things British.

There was a vintage feel to the British collection, and it made use of several reclaimed or repurposed pieces. (Repurposed or reused pieces were every-where at the show).

Like so much else, the UpCountry collection -however traditional in feel -was set off by shimmering crystal lamps.

That British appeal wasn’t limited to the living room: Victoria + Albert (vandabaths.com) is a British company that was in Toronto to present a new line of luxury bathtubs and sinks. Made of South African limestone, the tubs and sinks are actually a mix of powdered rock and resin crafted in slim, fluid forms.

The company’s Jonathan Carter says the rock and resin mixture is naturally warm to the touch and as a result these sleek bathtubs keep their heat longer.

After a weekend at the show, a nice hot bath sounded like a fine idea.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

By Susan DeFreitas | It was a fateful day, forever etched into the memories of those who live on the American Gulf Coast, and beyond: August 29, 2005. This was the day Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the City of New Orleans, killing 1,577 people. Ground zero for Katrina, so to speak, was the historic Lower 9th Ward, where more than 4,000 homes were destroyed by a combination of surge-water (caused by the breach of the Industrial Canal levee) and the effects of the storm itself.

Two years later, you would expect that much of the area wiped out by the storm would be re-built and re-inhabited. But such was not the case when Brad Pitt–yes, the world-famous actor, of both cinematic and Brangelina fame–toured the City of Dreams. He found the Lower 9th Ward, a once-vibrant neighborhood, was still silent, desolate and destroyed.

Brad Pitt and Bill Clinton, NOLA

image via Make It Right

Frustrated by what he saw as both a failure of government and a general lack of progress, Pitt met with local community groups and families to see what he could do–and shortly thereafter, established the Make It Right Foundation, a non-profit organization charged with a mission to build 150 green, affordable, high-quality homes in the neighborhood closest to the levee breach–a.k.a., the Lower 9th Ward.

The organization was first envisioned in December of 2006 and officially launched a year later, bringing national attention (and $12 in donations) to the need for re-building in New Orleans. Make It Right broke ground on its first project in March of 2008 and since that time, has completed over 70 new homes designed by 21 local, national and international architects, who donated their designs for single family homes and duplexes. (Make It Right’s architects were selected largely by Graftlab, an architecture firm and founding partner in the organization.)

Lower 9th Ward home

image via Make It Right

Talk about a comeback: because all of the homes built by Make It Right to date have been certified as LEED Platinum for their energy efficiency and sustainability, the section of New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward rebuilt by this organization is now “the largest, greenest neighborhood of single family homes in America,” according to the U.S. Green Building Council.

Those who benefit from the program are, of course, the area’s former residents. In order to qualify, applicants must have owned a home in the Lower 9th Ward prior to Hurricane Katrina. They are expected to contribute as much of their own financial resources as possible towards their new, green homes, with state programs likeRoad Home helping to close the gap to securing a loan for those in need. (Make It Right has full-time social workers and financial counselors on staff to support families through the process of qualifying for loans.) But if a former homeowner simply can’t swing the down-payment, Make It Right can subsidize housing as well.

Make it Right Home2

image via Make It Right

Make It Right homeowner Ethel Fletcher of 1637 Tennessee Street was impressed by the organization’s professionalism. A Lower 9th Ward homeowner since 1957–when she moved to the area with her husband–Ms. Fletcher said, “Make It Right seemed legitimate compared to other programs. A lot of people would get your money and rip you off. With Make It Right, you feel like you’re dealing with friendly family people and that’s important when you’re spending a lot of money.”

Ms. Fletcher selected a three bedroom home designed by Billes Architecture. She says it was her number one choice because it was the best design. “It was up high so I could drive my car underneath it, and it has a front and back porch,” she said. “I’ve always wanted a back porch.” Ms. Fletcher is set to return to her old neighborhood in April of this year.

NOLA4

image via Make It Right

Green features of Make It Right homes include a 2.7 to 3.0 kilowatt-capacity solar photovoltaic systems; low-VOC paints, carpets, adhesives and finishes; and recycled materials wherever possible. They feature metal roofs to reduce heat gain and capture rainwater; native plants, rain gardens and green roofs; low flow plumbing and dual-flush toilets; cabinets made from wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council; tankless water heaters; Energy Star Rated appliances and light fixtures; spray foam insulation; and low-e windows and doors.

These homes also take the potential for another Katrina seriously. Each is built 5 or 8 feet off the ground to ensure it stays beyond sustained flood levels, and features a roof hatch, which gives residents a safe way to a secure area on the roof. Other “hurricane-proof” elements include Hurricane Fabric (made of Kevlar) fitted to all windows; advanced framing techniques and specially-engineered wall sections, allowing homes to withstand winds of at least 130mph; an innovative drainage system that keeps water out of the wall system; fiber cement board siding designed to last 50 years against cracking, rotting, hail damage, termites and many other possible problems; Bluwood, an eco-friendly treated lumber product that resists moisture, mold, fungus, wood rot, and termites; and mold-resistent drywall.

What’s Make It Right going to do, once it achieves its mission of building 150 green homes in the Lower 9th Ward? Taylor Royle, Director of Communications for the organization told us, “Make It Right is frequently asked to serve as sustainability consultants on affordable housing for communities around the country. We are interested in helping in other communities, but our main focus for now is on completing our work in New Orleans.”

Information on Make It Right’s homes-in-progress is available online.

Source: Earth Techling LLC

We like to keep up with everything that’s going on in the world of LEED certification here at Trilogy Partners, so we found this news to be really cool. Students studying architecture at Tulane University, along with their professors, have built the first LEED-certified residential project for a first-time home buyer in New Orleans.

According to Editor at Large, this project was a collaboration between URBANbuild, a design-build program at Tulane University in which students take part in, designing and constructing prototypical homes in neighborhoods throughout New Orleans, and the Neighborhood Housing Services.

The home’s owner, Tami Hills, was thrilled to receive a certificate honoring her home’s energy-efficient design. She noted having insulation as one of her favorite aspects of her home because for the first time since she began living in New Orleans, she is “warm in the winter and cool in the summer.”

The porch of Tami Hills' LEED-certified home in New Orleans.

Additional green features of this LEED-certified home include low-E windows, Energy Star electrical features, an energy-saving air conditioner, and sustainable materials such as bamboo flooring and zero-VOC interior paint.

We think this is awesome news for the LEED program! You can learn more about this project at Editor at Large.

Photo credit: Editoratlarge.com.

Coverings 2011, the International Tile and Stone Exposition, was held earlier this month in Las Vegas and revealed the latest trends in tile and stones. According to Editor at Large, new technology has had a great impact on the latest innovations, bringing about an abundance of unusual textures, shapes, and sizes.

Tiles that take on the appearance of other materials, like wood, are expected to be popular this year.

Porcelain tiles that mimic other surfaces are expected to be highly popular this year, as many manufacturers present at the show presented porcelain tiles that take on the appearance of materials like marble, travertine, wood planks, and bluestone.  For texture, dimensional dots are appearing on tiles to create the illusion of linear patterns, as well as enhance color contrasts by making them appear more dramatic. The hexagon was a most popular shape among all the exhibitors present.

You can learn more about the latest tile and stone trends at Editor at Large.

Photo credit: Editoratlarge.com.

How not to lose sight of the big picture.

building blocksPhoto: Artful Magpie/Flickr
By John Brown, Slow Home Studio founder | Designing a house is a complicated task. Anyone who has ever built a home knows that there are literally thousands of design decisions to be made, ranging from the smallest detail (what color of grout do I want in my shower?) to the largest of issues (how big should my house be?). In between there are a wide array of technical decisions, stylistic questions, and functional issues to resolve. The addition of a sustainable design agenda to “green” the house complicates the whole process even more.

Every choice you make about a house is a design decision and every house is the sum of all of these many choices. A truly sustainable home is one in which all design decisions, from large to small, are made with an eye to reducing the house’s environmental footprint without jeopardizing its livability. To better understand what this means in practical terms, the Slow Home philosophy organizes the various aspects of residential design into a four level design pyramid. The goal is to help you make more balanced and effective sustainable design choices when either building a new home, remodeling an existing residence, or perhaps just buying a resale house.

The Top of the Pyramid: Aesthetic Choices

At the top of the pyramid are choices about finishes, materials, colors, fabrics, and furniture. These interior design decisions are significant because they define the quality of the surfaces that we see and touch on a daily basis. Green design in this context is about making choices that focus on such things as rapidly renewable finishes, recycled content materials, low volatility paints, and natural, low toxicity fabrics. On their own, however, decisions at this level are not sufficient to make a house sustainable.
The Second Level: Exterior Design

The second level of the pyramid deals with exterior design issues such as building style, roof shape, and window placement. These decisions are important because they define not only how the building looks from the street but also how effectively the construction performs.  From a green design point of view, this level of design primarily involves ensuring that the massing of the building is compact, construction materials are efficiently used, and the building envelope is designed for optimal thermal efficiency. This means paying attention to the design of the roof and wall insulation systems as well as properly detailing the windows and doors to minimize air and heat transfer.  Like interior design, however, this kind of decision making does not, by itself, constitute green design.
The Third Level: Systemic Choices

The third level of the pyramid is about technical design decisions regarding the electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems. Green design in this context is about making
choices that reduce water and energy usage and employ renewable technologies and clean energy sources. These design decisions use technological fixes to optimize energy usage and reduce the amount of greenhouses gases that will be generated by the operation of the house over its lifetime. Technical design plays a very critical role in making a house sustainable, but as with the other levels, it is not sufficient on its own.
The Foundation of the Pyramid: Location, Size, Orientation and Stewardship

At the bottom of the pyramid is the most fundamental level of design decisions. These involve a consideration of the basic elements of inhabitation that are not normally considered in discussions about green design. In actuality, however, they are the foundation on which all other sustainable design choices should rest. This level of design focuses on issues of location, size, orientation, and stewardship. From a green design point of view it’s about ensuring that the broad decisions you make about where and how you live are properly aligned so as to reduce your overall environmental footprint.
Why the Design Pyramid Matters

Good sustainable residential design involves a coordinated approach that simultaneously engages all levels of the design pyramid. If green design thinking is limited to only one or two of the levels the result will not be a truly sustainable home.
For example, at present, too many people limit their green choices to interior design issues. It’s all about bamboo floors, low VOC paint, and recycled countertops. While these are certainly significant choices, in the absence of a more comprehensive approach to sustainability, their impact will be severely limited. It’s like worrying about the toxicity of the dyes in the cushions on the deck chairs of the Titanic. Important, but it won’t prevent the boat from sinking.
In much the same way, an engineering approach that concentrates too heavily on the technical level of design is also an overly limited way of thinking about sustainability. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the technological paraphernalia of sustainability and end up missing the forest for the trees. Heat recovery ventilators, low flow toilets, geothermal heat pumps, and solar arrays are important but their effectiveness is greatly diminished when they are not part of a more comprehensive sustainability strategy that extends to all four aspects of the design pyramid.
Practical sustainability is about making every design decision a green issue. Substantially lowering our environmental impact will not be achieved by just purchasing a few green products or attending to a narrow set of issues. In the end, these kinds of choices only serve to make us, and the homebuilding industry, feel better.
This article was reprinted with permission. It originally appeared here on Networx.com.

Builder magazine has recently revealed the top housing markets to watch in 2011 and we here at Trilogy Partners were delighted to see that a Colorado market made the list of 22 “intriguing markets.” All 22 markets appear on the Builder Health Market, which scores the top 100 housing markets based on the number of building permits pulled. Check out what Builder magazine had to say about the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield market.

The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield housing market was named as one of the top markets to watch in 2011.

The Denver-Aurora-Broomfield market was at number 40 out of the top 100 markets and has a projected building permit forecast of 8,178 for 2011. According to Builder magazine, Denver has already moved into the recovery stage as foreclosures are down 9 percent since 2008. Denver was the 24th largest housing market last year and has a growing population as more people are drawn to the nearby scenery and recreational opportunities. Additionally, the unemployment rate in that area is below the national average and building permit activity rose by 22 percent last year, which leads to the expectation for a faster increase in 2011.

It’s exciting to hear about such great things going on in Colorado’s building industry! You can check out Builder magazine for additional information.

Photo credit: Denver-travel-services.com.
This bathroom illustrates how layers of lighting can transform a space.

This bathroom illustrates how layers of lighting can transform a space.

BY CANDICE OLSON Scripps Howard News Service – As any designer will tell you, lighting is crucial to good design. This is particularly true when lighting a bathroom. It’s the one room in a home that’s often overlooked, but improper bathroom lighting can make the bravest among us refuse to look in the mirror.

My clients, Tertia and Jason, know all about that. The couple and their two sons live in a house built in 1987, and while most of the home was updated, their master bathroom remained oblivious to the passage of time. With floor-to-ceiling black wall tiles, a cramped shower and no storage, the ’80s bathroom was really showing its age.

And don’t get me started on the lighting. The room had one bleak overhead fixture that made showering a nightmare, while the vanity lighting was so unflattering it’s a wonder Tertia managed to put on lipstick in the morning.

They wanted a bathroom that was functional — and had a warm, contemporary vibe. So, putting the principle of bathroom-lighting design into play, I got set to create a modern, spalike retreat for Tertia and Jason.

I started by gutting the entire space — walls came down, counters came out, tiles were scrapped. Then I painted the ceiling white, bathed the walls in soft beige and installed charcoal porcelain floor tiles with a nonslip surface.

From there, I laid out the fixtures and finishes. I created a gorgeous vanity by the room’s window, which was a good source of natural light. I put a soft chiffon blind on the window and flanked it with two mirrors. I then installed a counter constructed out of butterscotch polished quartz, a perfect foundation for “his and hers”cast glass sinks. These deep sinks sit on top of, and beside, new dark wood cabinetry that provides a ton of storage.

Adjacent to the vanity, I created a spectacular feature wall comprised of small wooden square tiles of different depths. Against this wall, I selected a beautiful free-standing tub and a modern toilet.

On the wall facing the tub I designed a large shower out of tempered glass, more quartz, a stunning mosaic-tiled backsplash and small porcelain tiles that match the floor.

Modern bathrooms can often feel cold and sterile, but the wood wall, dark cabinetry and warm quartz in Tertia and Jason’s bathroom work to offset the cooler fixtures and finishes.

The best part of this project was shopping for, and installing, some amazing lights. I installed recessed lights in the ceiling and worked in spotlights above the feature wall to accentuate the wood tiles.

I chose waterproof, in-floor lighting to highlight the sculpted tub and lights for underneath the sinks. I also selected incandescent silver sconces for the vanity — soft lighting that is good for when she applies makeup.

But the real showstopper is the fixture above the tub — a laser-cut steel globe that allows light to be cast all around the room.

This bathroom is a perfect example of how good design that includes layers of light can transform a space. By using techniques such as spotlighting a feature wall and up-lighting a tub, I gave Tertia and Jason a bathroom that is ideal for their morning routine — or their evening reprieve.

As I always say: “If you light everything, you light nothing.”

(InteriordecoratorCandiceOlsonishostofHGTV’s”CandiceTellsAll.”Visithttp://www.hgtv.com/candice-tells-all/show/index.html.Orvisitscrippsnews.com.)

Last week the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) exhibit “Neighborhoods Go Green! Scaling up Sustainability” opened in Washington, DC. The exhibit models LEED for Neighborhood Development, which is the first comprehensive benchmark for green neighborhood design and is a framework to investigate the elements needed in a sustainable community. The exhibit is on display at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) headquarters.

"Neighborhoods Go Green!" will be on display at the American Institute of Architects headquarters until April 21.

The exhibit features text, photos, and illustrations that represent the features of a model green neighborhood, according to a press release from the USGBC. It also showcases several successful LEED-certified projects from around the nation.

Rick Fedrizzi, the president, CEO, and founding chair of the USGBC, said “’Neighborhoods Go Green!’ celebrates the projects around the world that are helping transform our neighborhoods into walkable, sustainable and economically thriving communities. This exhibit highlights the link between the importance of sustainability and the places where we live and work.”

“Neighborhoods Go Green!” will be on display in Washington, DC, until April 21, 2011, after which it will tour the U.S. You can learn more about the exhibit at www.usgbc.org/ngg.

Photo credit: Usgbc.org.

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