As an EcoBroker I am often asked where to go for certain green things needed in remodels and additions. Something I have often been asked about, but haven’t had a good source for was garages. Unless you designed your own a green garage meant the builder used his lumber scraps….
Well, with this post over at Jetson Green all that has changed. Tom Bassett-Dilley – Architect, has designed the PERFECT Green Garage! With it’s FSC certified lumber, green roofs, permeable paving, rain barrels and power plant this is exactly what I have always wanted. It’s simply amazing.
The philosphy of the Green Garage can be summed up best by this quote from the Green Garage Plans website:
Philosophy: the Big Idea for a Little Structure
The inspiration for this project arose out of our work with smaller alley-accessed residential lots in Chicago and its older suburbs (such as Oak Park and Evanston), which pose the same challenge: how to make a meaningful back yard with what little space remains between garage and house. Many of these lots either have old and failing, or new plastic garages, neither of which really benefit their lot. We see the garage as potentially transformative to the back yard environment and experience. Rebuilding also gives the opportunity to recycle and introduce sustainable technology, such as geothermal wells under the new slab or photovoltaic solar collectors on the roof: the garage can be a power plant for the house. Unlike the ubiquitous cheap vinyl garages, the Green Garage is built to last, using as many local resources as are available. In keeping with our firm’s philosophy, each project is site-specific, making a meaningful place by linking users to their environment in delightful ways. While these prototypes are rendered as garden structures, like mini-barns, we can also adjust the architectural language (while maintaining the green garage principles) in the case of historically significant properties.
You seriously owe it to yourself to check them out if you plan on building or renovating a garage anytime soon.
Source: Green Garage Plans via Jetson Green
