photo courtesy National Building Musuem
Organic and recyclable materials are the centerpiece of the Glidehouse den. A magazine rack is made of recyclable magazines and the end table is made of strips of bamboo.

by MESHA Y. WILLIAMS

Anyone who says you can’t build a home that is both stylish and eco-friendly hasn’t visited the National Building Museum’s Green House exhibit.

In “The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design,” architects, environmentalists and interior designers showcase how innovative practices in sustainability and art design can function together in the home. Visitors to the exhibit leave with style tips that might even make Martha Stewart smile.

America leads other countries in energy consumption, with nearly a quarter of it used to run homes. The exhibit tries to get the public to “go green” by emphasizing a healthy lifestyle, cost savings for homeowners and using environmentally responsible materials in the home. It’s the second in a series of sustainability exhibitions organized by the National Building Museum.

To get museum-goers in the green mindset, walls are painted pea green and are peppered with buzzwords like “renewability,” “efficient,” “recycle” and messages instructing visitors on to how to protect natural resources.

The exhibit is broken into five features: home design, usability, photographs of green residences, home supplies and reflections.

A key component of the exhibit is the Glidehouse, which is a full-sized prefabricated home encouraging museum visitors to interact in a “green” setting. Created by California architect Michelle Kaufmann, the Glidehouse features a den, kitchen, bathroom and patio to spotlight the sophistication and durability of eco-friendly products and furniture.

For the environmentally conscious, kitchen features include black kitchen countertops made from recycled paper, utensils made of bamboo, energy-saving helio pendent lamps, and several water saving devices. Smaller touches found inside kitchen drawers include biodegradable sandwich bags, and even small handbags made from candy wrappers.

Sitting comfortably in the exhibit’s den, Hawaiian Toby Hazel decided to test a wooden chair, covered with red organic fabric.

Looking at a plastic coffee table made with strips of bamboo inside it, Hazel’s brother, David Sitomer, compared the eco-friendly furniture to the things he’s seen in the IKEA store in Baltimore.

“It’s nice, but it’s not the high end of things, I think,” he said. Sitomer gave the Glidehouse a grade of B-.

The best part of the exhibit is the chance for visitors to see 20 photographs of “green” residences from across the world including, Los Angeles, Charlotte, N.C., Finland, Germany and Austria.

The photography portion of the exhibit illustrates how “going green” in residences can be accomplished in many different settings, including waterside, tropical, suburban and low-income areas. Projects like the Battery Park City Residences, which will be the first green residential tower in New York City, show how architecture, art and sustainability can serve an urban area. In addition, a Bahamian home, designed by Frank Hammond, showcases how living can be done mostly outside, including having outdoor spaces for eating and showering.

Some of the designs take creative twists, featuring homes that resemble tree houses or “3-D” science fiction structures.

Designs like the P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E. Project in the Netherlands raised visitors’ eyebrows. The neon green house sits on top of a graffiti-covered stair tower, which sits on top of a warehouse in an industrial area. One woman looked at the house and said skeptically, “I don’t know.”

Photo courtesy National Building Musuem.
The Glidehouse kitchen features special lights to conserve energy and interior maplewood to give the space a more spacious design.

Other sections of the exhibit feature the “principles of going green,” including how to promote indoor air quality, conservation of resources, and how to optimize the construction of a home in relation to the sun. A team from Washington’s Catholic University had several miniature replicas of home designs on display in the exhibit. The models emphasized open space, natural lighting, green space, ventilation systems, glass, wood, roofing and light metals.

One man from Pennsylvania came to the exhibit to take ideas back home to his wife, he said. The couple are planning to start building their retirement home ten years from now.

He got plenty of design inspiration while walking through an exhibit showcasing floor, ceiling and wall coverings. Some suggestions included eco-suede for wall coverings, recycled tile and carpet, latex paint, rubber flooring, woods, and organic fabric swatches for furniture.

At the end of the exhibit, visitors can listen to Kaufman, the architect of the Glidehouse, giving a recorded interview about her exhibit. She tells her guests that going green in a home can be fun, functional and good for the environment.

Exhibit Information:
The Green House
The National Building Museum
401 F St. N.W., Washington D.C., 20001
(202)272-2448
Dates: May 20, 2006–June 24, 2007
Admission: Free
Estimated Tour Time: 45-60 minutes
Metro Access: Red Line Metro, Judiciary Square