Page 39 - Green Builder Magazine Nov-Dec 2019 Issue

BY GREEN BUILDER STAFF Award-Winning Coverage of Sustainable Construction, Products and Lifestyles
A lot of care goes into being a candidate for Green Builder’s Green Home of the Year, as these four THE YEAR AWARDS best projects.
GREEN HOME OF
January/February 2019 / www.greenbuildermedia.com
From urban infill to modernistic
past finalists show. It’s almost that time again, when we get to see the best that green building has
A Winning Past to offer. Next issue is our annual Green Home of the Year Awards edition, featuring eye-popping The Best of Green Building
marvels, we salute the year’s
HOME OF THE YEAR AWARDS
and forward-thinking structures that set a sustainability standard in single-family, multi-family,
contemporary and alternative living. For a glimpse at what lies ahead, Green Builder revisited
several of the entrants from our 2019 competition. Here’s what made these finalists so special. C1 GB 0119 Cover.indd 1 2020
NEW THIS YEAR:
Sustainability Superhero 2019
Green Innovations of the Year
Urban Sustainability Awards
B-Austin Community Project 1/31/19 12:27 PM

Bringing the ‘green’ to this multipurpose dwelling is a family event.

HE DEVELOPERS OF THIS PROJECT are not your average cli-
ents: they are a family. Will and Janice Godwin had a vision of
creating a housing project on a site occupied by their marketing
company, Special Audience Marketing; a place where people could
T live a sustainable and community-rich lifestyle with amenities that
embraced and furthered it. This vision included ideas of how the lives
people lead impact the world, cities, communities and families.
The B-Austin Community Project, designed by Clark Richardson
Architects and built by BPG Construction, was crafted to minimize its
environmental footprint and maximize the health of its residents and
the planet. The project has received a four-star Austin Energy Building
rating. Besides having low energy consumption levels—producing its
own solar energy with room for expansion—the project implements
several innovative measures.
Developers believe B-Austin is the Žrst multiuse-multifamily project in
Austin and possibly Texas to have an integrated greywater system. The Dual purpose. The B-Austin Community Project offers employees of marketing
greywater system is backed up by the rainwater system, which is then firm Special Audience Marketing a way to live onsite, and also provides an option
backed up by potable water if needed. The edible gardens take advantage for Austin residents seeking affordable housing.
of a direct feed from the rainwater tanks in a fully integrated system. Showers and changing rooms encourage employees to ride to work.
Car chargers are integrated into the site plan. Compost and recycling are
valeted from each apartment, making it easier to adapt to sustainable
living. Furthermore, residents are active participants in maintaining a
sustainable lifestyle by using “My Energy Planner,” a tool that operates
like “My Fitness Pal,” to quantify energy and water consumed and waste
CREDIT: KEN LEWIS produced, and monitor expenses.
Developers integrated a wellness component where food is grown on
site, and healthy cooking and nutrition classes are o”ered in the com-
munity amenity space. Additionally, the complex has an onsite Žtness
program run by the Godwins’ son, a professional Žtness trainer who lives
there. Exercise, yoga and other health and wellness services are provided
in the project’s commercial suites. These businesses o”er direct program-
ming for mobility impaired occupants.
The developers also participate in Austin’s Safe, Mixed-Income,
Accessible, Reasonably Priced, and Transit-Oriented (SMART) a”ord-
able housing program—designed to increase the amount of price-friendly
homes available to city residents—and take the concept of SMART hous-
ing a step further. The Godwins o”er co-housing for the three-bedroom
apartments, where a tenant can be introduced to others looking for
Natural catchment. Decorative vegetation and edible gardens benefit from a roommates.
direct feed from rainwater tanks in a fully integrated system. For the developers, this wasn’t just a building; it was a lifestyle project.

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