Thanks, Ross, for letting us know that last night

The City of Northfield has repealed Chapter 1306!

Here’s a house that caught my eye. Check out these specs:

It is great to see urban infill housing that measures up to some stiff criteria for sustainability.

Click here to learn more about the design and the CMHC Healthy Housing Design Competition.

We come across a number of clients each year that are interested in doing-it-themselves. If you’re like them, here’s the wall finish you may be interested in!

Wallpaper like the paint-by-numbers kits I used to paint as a kid!

Here’s a link to a noteworthy article in Residential Architect Online, authored by David Miller FAIA.

Why noteworthy? Because it helps put sustainable architecture in a broader context than usual.

Miller suggests that

…the essential elements and principles of sustainable design go beyond issues of energy conservation and material content. They must bring into play the qualities of space and form, flexibility for adaptive use over time, qualities of transparency and utilization of daylight, the free flow of air within a building, and fit with a particular site. There should be an aesthetic quality that endures, heals the heart, and ultimately renders a house worthy of preservation.

He then goes on to name three overall concepts of sustainable design:

So, site matters; keep the design small, flexible, and functional; but above all, make sure the building captures our hearts, so it’s efficiencies last for generations.

Last week I stopped in at the Hougen-Eitzman’s home in Nerstrand to check on progress. They had told me that they are close to done painting, the concrete floor are stained, and they are beginning to lay hardwood flooring. Here are shots of how it looks.

I’ll confess the colors look much, much better in person than in these photographs!

Occupancy is expected late this month, so stay tuned for more images!

Congratulations to Anne Fredrickson of Northfield!

We randomly drew Anne’s name from all the entries we received at the Northfield Home and Garden Show. Anne is the winner of two free hours of design consultation from VIVUS Architecture + Design.

Mary spoke with Anne this morning; it sounds like Anne will use her prize to do some fine-tuning on her master bedroom.

I remember that her daughter enjoyed the Hershey’s Kisses at our booth, to the point of smearing her whole face with chocolate!

Thank you to everyone who entered our drawing; make sure to try again next year!

I’m a little late with this report, but here it is anyway!

Pack 300 had a wonderful Pinewood Derby! Each of 39 cars raced three times and a good time was had by all!

The night before, we had “weigh-in”. Five ounces is the maximum weight allowed, so at weigh-in, everyone adjusts their car to be as close to the limit as possible.

Then, we had the big race. I got so excited I forgot to take pictures of the race itself (oops!) So, instead, here are some of the cars and racers.

We had a clear winner in both the open class and the Cub Scout class, with most times differentiated by less than a 1/100th of a second! Five of our Scouts will advance to the Rolling Hills District Pinewood Derby on April 8!