Meadowlark House
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Greensburg is an inspirational story of ordinary Americans making extraordinary strides in sustainability. That’s why we at Greensburg GreenTown and our friends at FreeGreen.com invited designers and architects from around the world to participate in a competition in 2009 to solicitate the next design for our Chain of Eco-Homes project. Over 250 teams from 38 states and 13 countries entered to help us find seemingly ordinary homes that act in extraordinarily green ways.
The winning design, Meadowlark House designed by Steven Learner Studio, is currently under construction as the next GreenTown Eco-Home!
To see more recent photos of the construction progress, click here.
Meadowlark House will incorporate many exciting and innovative features from a myriad of companies and organizations all working to further sustainability. We are very excited that we have the opportunity to showcase these products and building techniques to thousands of visitors in a truly one-of-a-kind demonstration home.
HIB Wall System
Meadowlark House utilizes an innovative, prefabricated wood block wall system popular in Europe but new to the US market. The toxin-free wood provides excellent insulation qualities and the blocks are structurally able to withstand the high winds found in southwestern Kansas. The HIB-System is a virtually problem free, self-build system. The blocks are easily handled without the need for expensive lifting devices and lock into each other in a “Lego” style operation which achieves a very quick assembly time. Either partial or total self-build options give the potential for money saving.
For more information on this unique product, please visit www.hib-system.com.
Built to Passive House Standards
Meadowlark House intends to become a Passive House; a very well-insulated, virtually air-tight building that is primarily heated through passive solar gain (from the sun's natural heat) as well as through internal gains (from people's body heat, electrical equipment, lighting, etc). Energy losses are minimized through careful construction practices including sealing all possible places air could leak out. Any remaining heat demand is provided by an extremely small source. Avoidance of heat gain through shading and window orientation also helps to limit any cooling load, which is similarly minimized. An energy recovery ventilator provides a constant, balanced fresh air supply. The result is an impressive system that not only saves up to 90% of space heating costs, but also provides a uniquely terrifi c indoor air quality.
For more information on Passive House US, please visit www.passivehouse.us
Built to LEED for Homes Certification (Platinum)
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification program, providing third-party
verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at
improving performance, increasing energy savings, water efficiency, and carbon emissions
reduction, stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts, and improving indoor
environmental quality.
Special Thanks to all of our Sponsors on the Project!
Click image above to see all the great companies that have joined us!
About the Architect
Steven Learner Studio is a full-service architecture and interior design practice founded in 1996. With a reputation for innovative and inspiring work in commercial, residential and institutional projects, the firm specializes in creating sophisticated and individualized environments. From conception to completion, we work closely with our clients in to meet their project’s individual needs. Whether a café, a gallery or a new home, each project is developed as a composition of architecture’s essential elements – light, scale, materiality and movement.
About FreeGreen
No longer are homes made from simple raw materials. Today’s homes are assembled from a complex combination of existing products and service providers. With this transition in home assemblies, product placement has become a natural part of the home design process (especially in green homes). From choosing cabinets that work with your kitchen, to making sure your insulation performs well and contributes to good indoor air quality, it all comes down to the products that we recommend. FreeGreen has taken advantage of this progression in construction reality to create a mutually beneficial partnership where the placement of sponsor or vendor products allows for the creation of better, more usable house plans, while giving FreeGreen the ability to offer those same house plans for free. In the same way that television has used advertiser revenues to bring us our favorite programs for free, FreeGreen is using house plan product placement to promote and disseminate green design for free.