Energy of the City

 

The term “green building” calls to mind such things as compact fluorescent bulbs, odor-free paints and high-efficiency appliances. Indeed, a green or sustainable house incorporates all of those things, but they are secondary in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes, reusing an existing house in an urban location is a more meaningful strategy.

Urban homes near existing infrastructure reduce additional development and save resources. They’re also near transit so people drive less. The following three Washington, D.C., projects demonstrate that reusing an old building is sometimes the greenest thing you can do.

Capitol Hill

Located on Capitol Hill, the Rincon Bates Residence is Studio Twenty Seven Architecture’s continued exploration of sustainable urban residential design. The 1906 row house was plagued with the typical problems—dark rooms—before the clients asked the firm for a green, modern makeover. “They thought the house was too confining,” said Todd Ray, a principal at the firm. “They wanted something bright and airy, and they wanted a space to display artwork.”

Studio Twenty Seven gutted the end-unit row house and redesigned the interior as one common living area with subtle space separations within it. To create a good thermal envelope, the firm applied sprayed foam insulation in the roof, exterior exposed wall and the wall between the adjoining unit. They added new insulated windows and doors, as well as operable skylights that create a thermal chimney to suck warm air out of the house.

The firm maintained the traditional brick-front street elevation, but they inserted a pared back, modern rear façade with a large folding glass door. They removed a section of the second level floor joists to carve a void through the middle of the house, enabling shared light between all spaces. The second floor is divided into two bedroom suites, connected by a tubular steel and glass bridge that permits light to penetrate below.

As expected the home includes all the prerequisite green features such as ENERGY STAR appliances, bamboo flooring, composite decking made with 100 percent recycled content, no-odor paint, solar water heating, water conserving plumbing products, and a high-efficiency gas-fired boiler that feeds the radiant heating system. “If you’re going to do a radiant system and you can do it with a gas-fired boiler, it’s going to be much better than an electric boiler,” Ray said. “An electric furnace is just not as cost effective for the energy that’s generated.”

Mount Vernon Square

A bout 3½ miles to the northwest of the Rincon Bates house, in the Mt. Vernon Square section of the city, award-winning firm Robert Gurney Architect also re-imagined an existing house as a modern, light-filled urban space. The owners, who had lived in the home for a number of years, wanted something modern and fresh. “The house was a compartmentalized, small, dark row house,” said principal Robert M. Gurney. “We basically opened the whole house up.”

The firm retained the front elevation because, according to Gurney, “the proportions were good and the windows were as big as they could be.” But the firm made major changes inside, gutting the house completely and removing the entire rear façade. It relocated the kitchen and living space from the basement and moved it to the entry level. A new staircase and a glass bridge connect all three floors, and a large skylight above the staircase bathes the space in light.

Gurney re-imagined the rear façade as a wall of glass that also brings in copious amounts of light. The glass creates visual access to the ground-level terrace, blurring the lines between inside and out.

Gurney also noted that daylight was a major green strategy because it allows the homeowners to keep the lights off during the day. In addition, the 1,200-square-foot house features Low E glazing, ENERGY STAR appliances, a high-efficiency gas boiler that drives an in-floor radiant heating on the ground floor, and a gas fireplace.

Adams Morgan

Just to the north, in the vibrant Adams Morgan area, Inscape Studio applied affordable, low-tech solutions to bring a circa 1900 row house into the 21st century. Whiz-bang green technologies are fine, designer and principal Greg A. Kearley allowed, but big-picture items are more important. “I live in the city, I work in the city and I walk to work,” he said. “I don’t own a car, so all those things are part of the big picture when you talk about sustainability.”

The house had seen better days and needed some upgrades. “It was a house that hadn’t had any improvement in a number of years,” noted Kearley, which is why the architects focused on updating the finishes and on making the spaces brighter.

“The problem with most row houses is that you have these long narrow spaces without much natural light,” Kearley explained. To solve this problem, Inscape designed a new kitchen that opens up to courtyard with French doors, windows and transoms to make the space feel bigger.

The design was all about simple, low-tech solutions for improving the house, but the firm also chose sustainable or green materials, such as ENERGY STAR appliances and eco-conscious linoleum floors, high efficiency windows and doors, and low-VOC paints.