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Green Building & Design

Posted 12/01/10

Excerpts from the GD&B magazine article that appeared in their December 2010 issue by Suchi Rudra

“There is a project everywhere if you just listen.” This is the belief, held by one Constantine “Gus” Kayafas, may help explain the eclectic array of cutting-edge projects that his design firm, Kayafas Architects, has accumulated since its founding in 1993. Having kept his ear to the ground, the most recent of these is its green urban infill solution. ….. The most promising at the moment, is The Green Row homes, offered through Kayafas’ partner firm Kayafas – Breisch & Crowley Design-Build & Construction Management (KBC).

The Green Row, in association with nationally recognized custom modular manufacturers Haven Homes, is an urban infill product, “an answer to the question of how to responsibly infill dilapidated or empty urban sites in a way that ties in well with the historical context of traditional row houses, while at the same time utilizing the best of today’s technology to achieve great green results,”explains Tim Crowley – LEED AP.

The homes will be offered for use in cities across the country in modified designs, which can work as both single-family scattered-site homes and apartment buildings.Crowley points out that the design utilizes the key advantages found in modular construction: the building process is indoors in a climate-controlled atmosphere; modular engineering allows for tighter building envelopes and ensure higher indoor air quality; module-to-module construction of the units provides an inherently rigid system that performs better than conventional residential framing; and the majority of the costs are known upfront. In addition, the construction time frame is expedited and causes less stress on the built environment and neighborhood.

….. The firm has also established a design collaborative: onlinegreendesign.com. Crowley explains that this group of like-minded professionals (including landscape architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, interior designers, and renewable energy consultants) help new clients approach ‘green’ from a holistic point of view, addressing the building and its systems, interior and site, as well as implementation of green energy technologies.