constructireland.ie - International green buildings

International green buildings

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In the first installment of a new feature on international green buildings, Lenny Antonelli takes a look at five innovative, sustainable and striking buildings from around the world.

Cascade House, Toronto
Not only is architect Paul Raff''s 'Cascade House' in Toronto a striking piece of residential architecture, it boasts some commendable green features too. Natural light is the name of the game here - a 13 foot high east-facing emerald glass facade both maximises sunlight in the living room and offers privacy from the street outside, while a slate-wrapped stone wall sits behind the glazed south wall, providing thermal mass to prevent overheating.

the slate wall acts as a thermal store yet allows shafts of daylight through

The house is passively ventilated, and existing vegetation and mature trees retained on site also help keep it cool in summer. Windows are triple-glazed and argon filled, and the building boasts underfloor heating, high efficiency gas boiler, low VOC paints and green materials like bamboo and wheatboard. Built with structural insulated panels - essentially an OSB board sandwich with foam insulation infill - the Cascade House is hooked up for solar thermal and PV panels. Soak pits help to manage rainwater runoff on the site, and the house - built for a family moving to Canada from Arizona who were keen on natural light - was named GreenSource Magazine's best green house in April 2009.