ZeroCottage

The green roof is in at Zero Cottage. It’s actually a...

dbarchitect — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:03:03 -0800

Motorcycle tires stabilize the living roof.

A ladybug hanging out on the prickly pear cactus on the Zero Cottage roof.

The solar collectors float over the living roof.

The green roof is in at Zero Cottage. It’s actually a brown roof, a desert to survive with minimal irrigation. David Fletcher’s design has a shifting color pallet of succulents. The soil areas of the roof are maintained and stabilized with motorcycle tires, including one from a Harley Hog.

There was so much salvage maple flooring from the Tassafaronga...

dbarchitect — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:19:33 -0800

There was so much salvage maple flooring from the Tassafaronga Village Pasta Factory that after using it for the two living level floors we still had a big pile.

About this time I became aware of the Japanese (and Finnish) practice of finishing exterior wood by charring. This produces a beautiful deep black finish that is quite durable and very wabi sabi. The traditional reasons for charring are to provide a durable layer of carbon for weather protection and for fire resistance. In Japan they make a three sided chimney out of wide cedar boards and set that on a charcoal brazier. Flamed shoot out the top. We used a roofing torch to char the boards.

They are screwed to vertical cedar battens to form a low tech rainscreen.

The solar canopy that will hold the 16 photovoltaic solar...

dbarchitect — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 07:54:00 -0700

Henry at work on the flying solar rack.

The solar canopy that will hold the 16 photovoltaic solar collectors is in the final fabrication stage. The canopy will be elevated from 3 to 6 feet above the roof, and cantilevered over the edge, to shelter the entry stairway and door. This will be a 3 KV system, large enough to generate more energy than the Zero Cottage uses over the course of a year, making this a true on-site regenerative, or Net Zero, structure.

Henry Defauw of defauwdesign has developed the design concept into the CAD shop drawings from which each unique piece is cut by a computer driven waterjet cutting machine. I’ve worked with Henry for many years, since he was a fabricator at the legendary Sand Studio (formerly South Park Fabricators).

Installation is scheduled right after the parts come back from galvanizer in early August. The solar contractor Luminalt will then attach the semi transparent glass backed Sanyo collectors. The inverter and internal wiring are all installed and ready for the collectors to complete the system.

The exterior siding systems are now finished!

dbarchitect — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 09:06:00 -0700

The exterior siding systems are now finished!

The FALCONFIVE crew have done a great job building Zero Cottage....

dbarchitect — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:57:09 -0700

Jon

Aaron

Sean

Teo

Mike

The FALCONFIVE crew have done a great job building Zero Cottage. Both Passive House construction and building in a tight urban location are complicated and demanding and Jon Blandin’s team has been up to the task. www.FALCONFIVE.com

This morning was the first scaffold-free day revealing the...

dbarchitect — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:51:37 -0700

This morning was the first scaffold-free day revealing the west-facing metal rainscreen wall. The shingles are cut from scrap from Zahner, sheet metal fabricators to the starchitects, new material, and some odds and ends, such as the road sign I bought at a the Alameda Flea Market. The stainless steel clip system we designed and micro-manufactured allows any tile to be swapped easily with no tools. I’ll do a post detailing exactly how we built this soon.

In preparation for adding the final layer of exterior finish...

dbarchitect — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:55:31 -0700

2012.03 Jon Blandin and Falconfive

cedar battens installed

In preparation for adding the final layer of exterior finish material we screwed cedar battens through the 2” layer of foam into the plywood sheathing. The theory is that the Grace Perm-A-Barrier water/vapor barrier will stop any moisture from getting through to the plywood. The battens serve a couple of purposes: they provide a robust 3/4” vented space so any water outside of the waterproofing barrier can dry out. Also the foam is very weak in compression so aligning the clips for the metal rainscreen would be difficult.

The foam insulation board in covered with GreenGuard RainDrop...

dbarchitect — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:15:00 -0700

GreenGuard RainDrop house wrap

GreenGuard RainDrop house wrap

The GreenGuard goes over XPS

The foam insulation board in covered with GreenGuard RainDrop house wrap. This is a robust building paper that has built in micro drainage channels to provide a passage for any water that might get behind it to migrate down and out.

Finishing the exterior system continues with placement of the...

dbarchitect — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:47:00 -0800

The 2" of XPS foam is in place.

2 inches of XPS foam cover the exterior.

View from the pedestrian passage.

Finishing the exterior system continues with placement of the 2” of XPS foam on the exposed exterior walls. This insulation is installed outside the Perm-A-Barrier membrane and will (theoretically) prevent moisture condensation inside the wall cavity as it moves the “dew point” outside the wall. It will be wrapped with “Green Guard” building paper, mainly to protect the foam from UV degradation. Vertical 1x4 battens of composite wood, Hardy Trim, will go on top of that to mount the clips for the interchangeable metal shingle rain-screen system.

The triple glazed Sorpetaler windows are being installed now....

dbarchitect — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:38:41 -0800

The triple glazed Sorpetaler windows are being installed now. The frames are taped tight to the exterior Grace membrane after being held in place with thin plywood tabs (replacing the thermal bridge steel tabs supplied with the windows). The exterior trim is screwed to the frame on top of the tape. It’s made of FSC Machiche, a super durable tropical hardwood. This is proving to be a challenge due to the variations in the Machiche. Next time I would go with a metal fin.

Salvaged Pasta-Factory Floor

dbarchitect — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:51:00 -0800

A couple of years ago we renovated an abandoned pasta factory in Oakland into affordable housing. This is part of a larger project for the Oakland Housing Authority called Tassafaronga Village - www.dbarchitect.com/Tassafaronga.

It had a beautiful wooden floor that had to be removed to install a shear diaphragm. The contractor removed the flooring and gave us some which we put into storage.

The floor has to be carefully sorted before being diagonal nailed down. The goal is to finish it in a minimal way so that it shows some of the evidence of it’s history.

December 10th: The framing is topped out to the roof, including...

dbarchitect — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:35:41 -0800

December 10th: The framing is topped out to the roof, including the south facing monitor to provide solar gain. The black membrane on the wall is Grace Perm-A-Barrier. It’s stuck to the sheer ply to form a super tight moisture and air barrier. 2” of XPS foam insulation will go on over it, then the green super building paper, then the rain-screen system.

Keeping Zero Cottage on track for Passivhaus (and Greenpoints...

dbarchitect — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 08:41:26 -0800

Keeping Zero Cottage on track for Passivhaus (and Greenpoints Rated and LEED for Homes Platinum) is Prudence Ferreira of Integral Impact. She and her team have done a great job. Soon we’ll do a “blower door” test for our extreme air infiltration goals.

The view from the roof of Zero Cottage. Sweet!

dbarchitect — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:53:38 -0800

The view from the roof of Zero Cottage. Sweet!

In November the highest level of walls are framed. Maybe this is...

dbarchitect — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:44:04 -0800

In November the highest level of walls are framed. Maybe this is a Zero Tower?

The third floor deck takes shape at the end of October.

dbarchitect — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:11:00 -0800

The third floor deck takes shape at the end of October.

2011.09.21 Framing progresses… This might be a bit...

dbarchitect — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:53:18 -0700

2011.09.21 Framing progresses…

This might be a bit ambitious to be called a cottage.

And now we have floor joists. These engineered, no VOC, FSC...

dbarchitect — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:09:03 -0700

And now we have floor joists. These engineered, no VOC, FSC Certified joists were hard to source.

The Zero Cottage blind wall in place! Whew!

dbarchitect — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:56:57 -0700

The Zero Cottage blind wall in place! Whew!

The only way to put all that stuff on the blind corner wall is...

dbarchitect — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:03:20 -0700

The only way to put all that stuff on the blind corner wall is to build the wall far enough away from it’s final position so you have access to the “blind” face. You then have to move a very heavy and pretty big thing thing over 3 feet and lower it preciously and gently onto all the foundation and hold-down bolts that stick up out of the concrete. Jon Blandin of FalconFive did this precise and difficult maneuver perfectly, making it look easy.