Before moving from Cleveland in 2005, I was able to help organize what was the Emerging Green Designer’s Symposium with the Cleveland Green Building Coalition. It was a group of young unregistered architects who had the chance to learn how to design a home in a more holistic sense utilizing green design strategies. The first portion of the program was to learn from Jim LaRue – The House Menders, Inc., a local residential green building expert. The second portion of the program evolved over time and gave the participants the opportunity to use the skills they learned and design green homes.
2006 CitiRama Home
With great interest from the community designs were produced to build 4 homes throughout the city of Cleveland. The first was in 2006, which was the largest of the homes and built as a project of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cleveland for the 2006 CitiRAMA. CitiRAMA was a project of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cleveland and the City of Cleveland, which created a showplace for residential construction in the urban core and gave the general public opportunities to view and purchase new homes in the City of Cleveland.
The most recent home, after two years of planning and funding just finished construction. The home owner will be moving in within the month. I was to able to visit the home this past weekend on a trip up to Cleveland. This home and two others were designed for the Cuyahoga Community Land Trust and are know as the Green Cottages. The Land Trust is a non-profit membership organization that promotes secure and stable home ownership for lower-income families in greater Cleveland. The Green Cottages will be permanently affordable homes that support the healthy mixed-income character of Cleveland’s near west side.
The first of three green homes by the Cayahoga Community Land Trust.
These homes will meet the Enterprise Green Communities standards, and will be the first affordable single-family development in Northeast Ohio to achieve LEED for Homes certification, with the first home targeting a Platinum certification.
Although I did not design either of these projects, I was apart of the team that developed the scope of the Emerging Green Designer’s Symposium and marketed it to my peers, as well as participated in all of the educational sessions. So it is another set of projects that I hold near and dear to my heart and have followed with great interest.
Joshua has a degree in architecture and is a LEED Accredited Professional that has worked in the design and construction industry for over 10 years, focusing his efforts on energy efficiency and building science. He has organized multiple events in Ohio to give young designers the opportunity to learn about “green” home design and produce actual projects. He was also a key player in Ohio’s first LEED for Homes Platinum project. Joshua is also a certified Building Analyst through the Building Performance Institute and performs home energy audits, assisting home owners in reducing their energy usage.
