Photograph copyright 2006 Edward Caldwell
Letter From The Editor: The Green House Effect
November 1, 2006
The way we are building is changing. Constructing “green” houses has become increasingly more affordable. Eco-friendly furnishings are well designed, made of high-quality materials and, most important, free of toxins that have negative health effects on humans and pets.
What started as a grassroots movement is now spearheaded by top architects and designers. Rafael Pelli, son of architect Cesar Pelli, member of the U.S. Green Building Council and the designer of the Solaire—a high-rise in New York shown in our section on smart developments—says that because “the resources of the earth are finite,” we need to “redesign the design process itself.” Richard A. Cook, principal of Cook+Fox Architects and a leader of the green building movement, asserts, “We must change the way we do things. We simply must.”
In this issue, we look at three distinctly different residences that combine exquisite craftsmanship with earth-friendly elements, like inconspicuously placed solar panels that produce enough power to run the entire house and even send juice back to the grid. Several of the six smart developments we feature, which include healthy building methods and all the amenities one would expect in luxury high-rise living, have already sold out. We explore exclusive golf courses that are setting new standards for the use of drought-tolerant grasses, water-saving methods and integrated pest management. We visit an entire green community in Loreto Bay, on the mild Sea of Cortés above Cabo along the burgeoning Baja Peninsula, and present landscaping from a design team that uses recycled glass in their drought-tolerant custom gardens.
For our Design Seen section, we put makers of green furnishings to the test and found their products to be stylish and well made, many from long-lasting, responsibly harvested woods. Choices are growing in low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) or toxin-free paneling, paint, carpet and surfaces that are safer for those who make them as well as for those who use them. I hope you discover something new for your home that you can feel good about, not only for what it includes, but for what it does not.
While the green building industry is still emerging and certainly not perfect, it is getting there, and we should take a moment to congratulate ourselves for implementing more organic ways of living without sacrificing beauty or luxury. If, in the next few years, green building techniques (and the architects, designers and builders who are implementing them) do not enjoy an extremely healthy popularity in the industry, I’ll eat my pencil. My lead-free, sustainably farmed wood pencil, of course.
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