irvington kitchen remodel under-way (and ahead of schedule!)

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 10:05:42 -0800

Though demo started just two and a half weeks ago, the project contractor, Ben Davis of DavisBuilt, already has the cabinet boxes installed and is ahead of schedule! The custom cabinets are by Doug Chamblin - this is our fifth kitchen remodel with Doug, and we’re always thrilled with the results.

It’s been a fun project. The vision is for a modern, yet timeless, kitchen in this charming traditional Irvington house. Irma wants a kitchen she can ‘clean with a leaf blower’, so everything’s designed with simple lines. Not only will it be easy to clean, but it will *feel* clean - lots of bright white finishes, with just a little color introduced for added interest and warmth.

Here are some in-progress photos of the cabinet boxes in place. Drawer fronts and doors will come later.

- MJ

Below: The two low-cabinets (without uppers) will be painted a glossy bright white and topped with a white Caesarstone counter. We’ve kept much of the kitchen cabinets low (without upper cabinets), which allows for a feeling of lightness and openness.

Below: I am over the moon for this color palette. Like I said, mostly white cabinets, save for some dark gray (Ralph Lauren ‘Artist Gray’) and this funky yellow (Ralph Lauren ‘Library Yellow’), which somehow manages to be both modern and old at the same time.

a good day for the FlexHouse

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:56:13 -0800

A banner day for our FlexHouse project. Our building permit has been finalized and approved - always a cause for celebration, or at least a sigh of relief. You see, permitting is tricky - while we always strive to do our due diligence well in advance of permitting, permit reviews are still conducted by humans and have all the variability that goes with human-ness. It’s a wild card. So - *phew* - we have a permit!

We also got a very nice shout-out from the State Building Codes Division lauding our FlexHouse as the first Residential REACH Code project (a voluntary state energy efficiency code for high performance homes). Thank you to the folks at the State, especially Gabrielle, for allaying our concerns about being the first to go through the program.

You can read the State’s blog entry here.
- MJ

project profile: FlexHouse small footprint, big living

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:32:21 -0800

We're excited that our latest new residence, sited in North Portland, will break
ground soon! The variations this compact 1,894sf house can tout caused the
owners, a pair of young artists, to nickname the project 'flexhouse'. Beyond the
standard living, eating, cooking, sleeping and bathing spaces, we've added a loft
and a 342sf art studio/accessory dwelling unit (ADU). Those two spaces are designed with flexibility in mind: the ADU can be rented for added income, or can
operate as their art studio; family or a roommate can occupy the loft, or a growing
family can expand into it. It's a home that will morph along with its inhabitants and
their needs.

The small footprint is nearly 20% smaller than the US average (which was which
was roughly 2,300sf in 2011). A compact design was necessary to meet the
owner's program and budget (plus, 'small' is a big shortcut to a more sustainable
home). Luckily, we have a history of making small spaces feel big, and we
employed all our skills here: tall ceilings (15 feet) lend a sense of volume to smaller
rooms; big windows and doors are used to make small spaces feel larger and to
connect the indoors with outdoor spaces; a smart floorplan minimizes walls and
blurs nearly all circulation with usable living space.

Beyond its small footprint, this home is designed for efficiency and healthy living.
We always seek conservation measures first, so it's super-insulated and will have
triple-glazed windows. We've got energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) to act as the
lungs of the house to ensure healthy indoor air quality, and ductless heat pumps
will provide both heating and cooling with 350% efficiency. We hoped for another PassiveHouse here, but our solar access is blocked by conifers just south of the site, which likely prohibits us from meeting the standard. We'll still model the house through PassiveHouse software, and plan to meet PH standards for air-tightness and omission of thermal bridging.

Every owner has a 'must-have', and at this project it's eco-roofs (aka 'green roofs' or vegetated roofs). We covered all roof areas here with eco-roofs - that's more than 1,500sf! Most of the eco-roof will be planted with edibles, like kale and strawberries, and only the upper-most roof (largely inaccessible) will be planted with sedums. Because eco-roofs help lighten the load on the City's stormwater system, the City of Portland offers a handsome incentive of $5/sf to approved projects. Although not enough to offset the costs of an eco-roof, it helps to bring the costs closer to a conventional roof. Plus, the owner ends up with a roof that can last twice as long as a similar roof without the soil, as the soil protects the roof from UV degradation.

The project got a little publicity a few weeks ago when it became the first project permitted through the Residential REACH Code (a voluntary State energy efficiency code for high performance homes).

Stay tuned for updates as we head into construction!
- MJ

how solar hot water works

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 12:42:07 -0700

via the good folks at Jetson Green (one of our favorite ‘green’ blogs), a terrific quick video explaining how solar hot water works. solar hot water often works (and make good sense) where traditional photovoltaic systems are more challenged. they come in at a sweet price point and can offset nearly 75% of the power used to heat your hot water.

here’s the full post.

monday field visits

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:15:46 -0700

today we visited 4 of our 5 projects under construction. nice way to re-enter the work week - especially as they’re all looking great and have top-notch crews. see for yourself...

first up is our new residence in SW portland (collins view neighborhood). it’s set to be PassiveHouse certified and snag several of the Living Building Challenge petals (net zero water, net zero energy, and no “red-list” materials). the footings have been poured and now the retaining walls are being framed. in the foreground (RH photo) is our site-built cistern, slated for a 9,000 gallon capacity of potable water. on the left is field supervisor, barry, reviewing conditions with our electrician, nathan.

next stop was our NoPo dormer addition. we added a new bath to the upstairs and reconfigured the two bedrooms. both bedrooms got taller ceilings and bigger area, thanks to some under-utilized crawl spaces. lots of energy improvements here too - there’s 7 1/2 inches of spray foam insulation at the roof where there had been none. and just as important, the spray foam sealed up all the old huge air gaps.

this picture (left) was taken a couple weeks ago before insulating. see the white stripe where the roof rafters meet the floor? that’s outside! can you imagine how that impacts your comfort and energy performance? now look (right) at how well the same locations is sealed with the spray foam insulation.

check out the nice volume in their bedroom!

and this will be a child’s built-in bed with the charming (original) diamond window.

field visit #3 was our grant park dormer addition and kitchen remodel. the new dormer gave us the space to turn a 2-bedroom upstairs into a 3-bedroom, 1-bath upstairs. lots of north-facing windows and two skylights now flood the upstairs with natural light.

lastly, we headed just a couple away to our other grant park dormer addition. here we transformed an ordinary open upstairs to include 2-bedrooms, 1-bath, and a family. the biggest transformation might be the volume of the space - it’s like a cathedral! lovely tall ceilings (11 foot) and the two new dormers will give loads of character.

and here’s the dining room downstairs - it’ll get its own makeover, with a new open stairwell with ballusters. nice, eh?

NYTimes: Living Rooms series

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 08:44:40 -0700

The NYTimes is running a series of articles, called “Living Rooms” on the home:
“...A house is more than just a shelter from the storm. How we shape our homes, and how we behave within them, speak volumes about our history, our values and our way of life. Living Rooms explores the past, present and future of domestic life, with contributions from artists, journalists, design experts and historians.”

Living the Dream...

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:23:43 -0700

Life is good at Departure!
- We’re moving into our new office! Come drop by - we’re just two blocks south of EcoHaus in the CEID.
- Our MinimalistPLUS project just got picked up by superstar green design blog JETSON GREEN. Check it out for yourself!
- Our Street of Dreams project is getting terrific feedback from folks touring through. Let us know if you’d like to meet us there for a personal tour and the inside scoop! The tour extends through August 29. The awards ceremony is coming up too - keep your fingers crossed for ‘Best in Show’ (or stuff the ballot box - your choice).
- We’re getting ready for the Build It Green tour later next month - we have TWO projects in it!
- We have some GREAT new projects in the office, and interviews for more - it feels good to be busy!

New Office opening Monday!

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:03:01 -0700

We’ll be in our new office at 1215 se 8th street (suite c) next Monday! It’s a stone’s throw from our old location on Clinton Street, and our new location is surrounded by great showrooms, like EcoHaus, Intrepid Marble, Sierra Pacific Windows, Surface, and others.

The new place will feel familiar - we’re keeping the same aesthetic (sign of a good design when you don’t want to change it). We’ve cleaned off the old floors and are sealing them to showcase all their character and history (wabi sabi!), and we have an open ceiling again with steel joists and wood deck ceiling. Loads of north-facing windows too (no glass garage doors this time tho - boohoo).

Another exciting change is that we’re hosting co-working stations! We’ll have two desks occupied by non-Departure folks. Patty Hines, a landscape designer, will be with us; and desk #4 is still available (let us know if you or someone else is interested!).

We’ll post photos of the new pad soon!

MinimalistPLUS

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:49:24 -0700

Exciting things have been happening with MinimalistPLUS! We were recently written up in Sustainable Business Oregon, and have been contacted by the DJC (keep an eye out for their article). The MinimalistPLUS website’s been augmented and we now have a twitter account and facebook page. There’s a terrific momentum and great feedback - it’s just a matter of time before we build #1.

Other exciting developments include working with Jonathon Cohen at ImagineEnergy. Rather than designing some standard high-efficiency mechanical system, Jonathon will work with each MinimalistPLUS homeowner to design a high-efficiency system that’s appropriate for their precise needs! This is great - the most sustainable way to approach a mechanical system is to make unique to a homeowner’s needs.

We’re also teaming up with Sustainable NW Wood to source interior and exterior wood from them whenever possible. That means either locally salvaged wood or wood from SMALL LOCAL FAMILY mills. I love that!

More exciting developments are in the works - we’ll keep you posted!

walking the talk

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:16:22 -0700

As advocates of sustainable design, Dan and I know we need to walk the talk. And we try to live pretty sustainable lifestyles, but we know that we can be better. So we brought in the helpful folks at the City of Portland’s BEST (Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainalbe Tomorrow) Business Center to give us a boost.

The folks at the BEST Business Center came to our office, interviewed us about our workplace and practices, and audited the building and grounds. From that visit, they generated a baseline report of our current sustainable practices, and followed up with a ‘Sustainability Guide’ - a report chock full of ideas and resources to help us move forward.

We’re going to be transparent here and show you our initial assessment and also the suggestions. Stay tuned to watch us get even greener!

Departure - Baseline Report.pdf
Departure - Sustainability Guide.pdf

TED: Catherine Mohr on green building

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:26:57 -0700

A both amusing and enlightening talk on embodied energy. And only 6min. long - you’ve gotta catch it...
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/828

Agent of Change

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:30:37 -0700

My second class tonight of the Center for Earth Leadership’s “Agent of Change” course. Jeanne Roy (co-founder of the NW Earth Institute and Oregon Natural Step) teaches the 6-week course founded on the principle that we can all affect change within our circles (friends, family, co-workers...).

It’s an amazingly diverse group of participants from stay-at-home moms to corrections officers to teachers and everyone in-between. It’s thrilling to hear so many different perspective on sustainability. Also thrilling to see so many people stepping up to lead sustainable efforts!

I’ll keep you posted on my yet-to-be determined project.

Biomimicry

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 19:41:56 -0700

.
Jenine Benyus’s “12 sustainable ideas from nature” is one of the most powerful set of ideas we’ve seen. Highly recommended.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77BfxnVlyc&feature=player_embedded

The Living Building Challenge

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:18:40 -0700

The International Living Building Institute issues a challenge:

To all design professionals, contractors and building owners to create the foundation for a sustainable future in the fabric of our communities.
to politicians and government officials to remove barriers to systemic change, and to realign incentives and market signals that truly protect the health, safety and welfare of people and all beings.
to all of humanity to reconcile the built environment with the natural environment, into a civilization that creates greater biodiversity, resilience and opportunities for life with each adaptation and development.

The purpose of the Living Building Challenge is straightforward – it defines the most advanced measure of sustainability in the built environment possible today and acts to diminish the gap between current limits and ideal solutions. This certification program covers all building at all scales and is a unified tool for transformative design, allowing us to envision a future that is Socially Just, Culturally Rich and Ecologically Benign.
Whether your project is a single building, a park, a college campus or even a complete neighborhood community, Living Building Challenge provides a framework for design, construction and the symbiotic relationship between people and all aspects of the built environment.

For Living Building Challenge standards go to:
http://ilbi.org/the-standard/version-2-0

Passive House

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:58:27 -0700

The Passive House concept represents today's highest energy standard with the promise of slashing the heating energy consumption of buildings by an amazing 90%. Widespread application of the Passive House design would have a dramatic impact on energy conservation. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that buildings are responsible for 48% of greenhouse gas emissions annually and 76% of all electricity generated by U.S. power plants goes to supply the Building Sector [Architecture2030]. It has been abundantly clear for some time that the Building Sector is a primary contributor of climate-changing pollutants, and the question is asked: How do we best square our building energy needs with those of our environment and of our pocketbook? In the realm of super energy efficiency, the Passive House presents an intriguing option for new and retrofit construction; in residential, commercial, and institutional projects.

A Passive House is a very well-insulated, virtually air-tight building that is primarily heated by passive solar gain and by internal gains from people, electrical equipment, etc. Energy losses are minimized. 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 terrific indoor air quality.

A Passive House is a comprehensive system. "Passive" describes well this system's underlying receptivity and retention capacity. Working with natural resources, free solar energy is captured and applied efficiently, instead of relying predominantly on ‘active’ systems to bring a building to ‘zero’ energy. High performance triple-glazed windows, super-insulation, an airtight building shell, limitation of thermal bridging and balanced energy recovery ventilation make possible extraordinary reductions in energy use and carbon emission.

Today, many in the building sector have applied this concept to design, and build towards a carbon-neutral future. Over the last 10 years more than 15,000 buildings in Europe - from single and multifamily residences, to schools, factories and office buildings - have been designed and built or remodeled to the passive house standard. A great many of these have been extensively monitored by the Passiv Haus Institut in Darmstadt, analyzing and verifying their performance. Even governmental agencies have adopted passive house standards in their policy-making (read more about the EU Commision’s intent to implement the Passive House.

Performance Characteristics

1. • Airtight building shell ≤ 0.6 ACH @ 50 pascal pressure, measured by blower-door test. 
2. • Annual heat requirement ≤ 15 kWh/m2/year  
(4.75 kBtu/sf/yr)
1. • Primary Energy ≤ 120 kWh/m2/year (38.1 kBtu/sf/yr) 

In addition, the following are recommendations, varying with climate:
1. • Window u-value ≤ 0.8 W/m2/K  
2. • Ventilation system with heat recovery with ≥ 75%    
   efficiency with low electric consumption @ 0.45 Wh/m3
1. • Thermal Bridge Free Construction ≤ 0.01 W/mK 


The building science research culminated in the development of the Passive House Planing Package (PHPP) which projects detailed heat load, heat loss, and primary energy usage for individual building parameters. The latest version of the PHPP also projects cooling, cooling loads, and latent cooling. Based on feedback from many detailed data logged buildings, the software is constantly refined and incorporates updated calculations for various climates around the world.

More Information on what makes a building a Passive House

Green Homes sell for more and faster!

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:52:32 -0700

Green homes sell for more and faster than other homes

USA Today
February 23, 2010

Green homes are outselling the rest of the real estate market, more research from the Pacific Northwest indicates.
The homes that underwent the strictest certification, being tested by third parties, and thus likely to be the "greenest" did even better. They commanded prices 25% higher than regular homes, says the ECert report by Seattle-based GreenWorks Realty. It evaluates data from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which began allowing real estate agents to mark homes as eco-certified in 2007.
What's more, the report finds that green homes continued to rise in value in King County, which includes Seattle, from November 2009 through January 2010, while non-certified ones lost value.
Other research indicates this trend is occurring elsewhere, too.
In the Portland, Ore., metro area, green-certified homes sold for 12% more -- an average of $408,915 -- than non-certified homes from May 2008 through April 2009, according to a report last year from the Portland-based non-profit Earth Advantage Institute.
Its analysis, based on data from the Regional Multiple Listing Service, also saw a premium per square foot, as eco homes got $193 compared with $173 for other homes.
Why are green homes outselling their competitors?
"The reasons why buyers favor e-certified homes are not rocket science, but people have different motivations," writes Ben Kaufman, owner of GreenWorks Realty, which authored the Seattle report. Aside from wanting lower utility bills, he adds:
Some buy as a commitment to reducing climate change with the higher energy efficiency that green homes offer. Others buy because the homes are built with nontoxic materials, which makes the indoor-air quality cleaner than their traditional counterparts.
National data are not available, because most multiple listing services do not have special categories for green-rated homes that make them easy to track.
In both studies, eco homes are an increasing share of the overall new home market. In the Seattle analysis, the 973 green-rated homes that sold made up 33% of the total market. In the Portland metro area study, 674 such homes sold, representing 16% of all sales.
In both studies, the homes are considered "green" if they receive certification from the government's Energy Star or the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. The Seattle study also includes those rated by Built Green and the Portland one, those by Earth Advantage Homes.

Street of Dreams

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:04:16 -0700

Of all projects, Departure is currently working on the design of a “Street of Dreams” home for the upcoming show in early August!

We say that because, historically, “McMansions” have been the concept for the Street of Dreams. We decided to get involved this year because our client has committed to making the “not so big” house along with ensuring the home meets “Earth Advantage Silver Standards”. In addition, the team sought for a design that meets today’s needs. The modern family differs greatly from years past. One sector that is emerging is where extended families now are living together. Elderly parents or adult children back from college to name a few, are now all living together in one location. Current home designs are not considering this emerging trend. We hope you’ll visit us in August!

PDX ADU'S

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:44:35 -0700

The City of Portland has recently approved and amended the Zoning Code to allow up to 75% of the existing home’s area or 800 SF (whichever is less) on each residential property (R2.5 thru RF zones) for “granny flats”. In addition to other benefits, this means you can also potentially increase the value of your property!

This can be accomplished by:
-- Converting existing interior space such as the basement, attic or other area of the house to create a new secondary livable space.
-- Adding an attached structure to your home.
-- Adding a detached structure to your home.

WHY IS THIS A GOOD IDEA?

For several decades, the City of Portland is blessed with recognizing and incorporating the most forward-thinking planning strategies for our city. Portland is recognized throughout the country by implementing the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) which controls growth and adds to the sense of “place”.

Countering sprawl and an inefficient use of our precious lands by keeping infrastructure close-in, reducing transportation costs and pollution.

Adding needed close-in housing contributes greatly in beginning to solve these important issues and also bring vibrant communities.

HOW THIS CAN BENEFIT YOU?

-- ADU’s provide a nearby living arrangement for care and support to a parent in a semi-independent or independent living arrangement.

-- ADU’s create a living unit for visiting children separate from the main house.

-- ADU’s provide homeowners with extra rental income to help meet the rising costs of homeownership.

-- ADU’s provide the ability to trade rent reductions for needed services.

-- ADU’s an help first-time buyers to qualify for loans and help offset mortgage payments.

-- ADU’s provide affordable rental housing within our single-family neighborhoods.

warm + sun = good

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 12:31:44 -0800

back from a long weekend in the desert outside phoenix with family. dry air and 70 degrees was exactly what my moist, translucent oregon skin needed. other than sun and warmth, the best thing was a full moon desert hike.

Re-launch day of our Website!!

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Finally the day has come for the re-launch of Departure’s new website. We changed the format completely and more importantly, we’ve finally added all of our work over the past 5 years or so.

As you can see, everyone is pretty excited.......