Holl - Greener Than Green

If you are interested in sustainabliilty and good design, this is one model to be familiar with. The official residence for the Swiss Ambassador in D.C. is worth a look. For starters, it was NOT designed to the USGBC’s LEED standards. Instead, the team designed the residence in accordance with the Swiss “Minergie Standards.” A step above LEED. And for what it is worth, and possibly even because of the green push, the design is of it’s time. How refreshing.
> swiss residence by steven holl

Comments

[holz]

i've been pushing minergie standards for years.

instead, i get LEED silver, which is a joke.

Hey, if I want platinum, all i gotta do is convince the client to throw more money at it. what a great way to design/build.

[Marc Fink]

The white, translucent structural glass is distinctive sandblasted channel glass provided by Bendheim Wall Systems. The LINIT glass installed has a number of characteristics unique to channel glass from the Lamberts factory: 1) Solar texture - fine mesh pattern producing a veiled effect 2)low iron content - reduces the typical greenish tint, particularly in the flanges and edges of the channels 3) factory tempered, SGCC certified, and 100% heat soak tested - an added degree of safety determined at the source, verified by an independent third party. BWS also supplied the channel glass for Steven Holl's projects at Higgins Hall/Pratt Institute (with Rogers Marvel)and the Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum.

[Peggy]

Bravo! This seems an excellent example of beauty and sustainable technology of our day. I am curious about the counter-intuitive choice of black exterior surfaces with regards to heat gain. I trust they thought that one through, obviously making a dileberate choice. It is a beautiful project, reminding me of the Internationalist Style of central Europe in the early 20th century - many parallels there, aesthetically as well as idealistically.