Efficient ADUs and commercial-to-residential remodel vying for BIG! Home Tour 2012 slots.
Each year the city of Portland calls upon local builders and homeowners alike to submit projects for consideration on the Build It Green! (BIG!) Home Tour and Info Fair. Sponsored by the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, the BIG! home tour features 20 projects from around the city showcasing the functionality, efficiency, and creativity of green building projects.
“The BIG tour is the best Portland home tour event for folks to see a wide variety of sustainably-oriented projects done by all sorts of people on all sorts of budgets,” said Sam Hagerman, co-owner of Hammer & Hand. “Presenting a great chance to learn about many different sustainable concepts, it’s a truly democratic event that has at its core a very ‘Stumptown’ sense of community.”
With representation of projects by Hammer & Hand featured on the BIG! tour for three years running, we are excited to continue sharing our passion of green building with the community by submitting three more projects for consideration in 2012. The theme of this year’s tour is “small spaces” so we submitted two of our efficient accessory dwelling units (ADUs), also known as backyard cottages.
Valerie Garret of the Bureau of Planning & Sustainability goes over details with ADU homeowner .
The Wine Lover’s ADU in SE Portland took an ordinary garage and transformed it into a comfortable living space and art studio by using upcycled & salvaged materials including wood staves from old wine barrels and bleacher benches from Lewis & Clark College.
Hammer & Hand building science guru Skylar Swinford explains green features of ADU to representatives from the Bureau of Planning & Sustainability.
The Alameda Ridge ADU brandishes a gold certification by Earth Advantage Institute in recognition of its resource efficient and environmentally responsible design and construction.
Skylar Swinford answers questions during the BIG! Home Tour nomination process.
In addition to the ADUs submitted, we also put forth a project just nearing completion in SE Portland. This commercial-to-residential remodel took a space previously used as an old nickelodeon, school, church, and dancehall and turned it into an airy and modern residential space, reusing nearly all of the original building materials.
We recently did walkthroughs of all our nominations with representatives with the City’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and we are hopeful and excited to see if our projects will make it onto the 2012 BIG! Home Tour.
– Jeff
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