Greener homes for all

Chris Cronin

At the International Builder's Show in Orlando this year, green building was an important theme, and it was great to see an architecture firm there lending a helping hand. Alan Mascord Design Associates, a leading home plan design company in Portland, Oregon was at IBS announcing the release of Mascord Efficient Living, a book containing a collection of more than 50 sustainable home plans for builders.

The book's stated goal is to help consumers understand that "efficient living" does not mean radically changing your lifestyle. It's more about seriously considering all of the aspects involved in how your house is built. The book presents the designs (all of which were designed to meet the LEED, Energy Star and NAHB National Green Building Standard certification programs) in a clear and engaging manner with a list of "Home Facts" for each. Many of the illustrations in the book were done with SketchUp; the actual construction plans can be purchased directly from the folks at Alan Mascord Design Associates.

About the Author

An @Last Software alum, Chris currently manages all things Business Development for SketchUp. London-based these days, Chris can be found traveling around Europe sampling the local cuisine when he's not working.
More Content by Chris Cronin

A Detailed Methodology for Cloud-Based Daylight Analysis

One of the things that customers love about Sefaira’s daylight application is the speed of analysis. Most m...

Designing innovative workplace interiors with 3DEA Bulgaria

3DEA, a dynamic commercial interior design firm that delivers branding, and turnkey workplace interiors, us...

Greener homes for all

About the Author

Previous Article

Next Article

Greener homes for all

About the Author

Previous Article

Next Article

Recommended Articles

In 2015, we wrote about the Iowa Nest, a net-zero energy single-family home in rural Iowa. This article recaps high-level design moves and shares five learnings from its post-occupancy assessment.

MiCasa Inc. achieves net-zero energy by using Sefaira to balance building envelope performance and renewable energy generation in the late design stage.

During the 2019 Asia Young Designer Awards, Almond and June’s projects were judged by economic, cultural, and environmental impact.

The paradox of early design is that architects have to make the most critical decisions when they have the least time to evaluate them thoroughly.

From commercial to residential builds, Scott Miller from Remington Development Corporation uses the SketchUp suite of tools to perfect the conceptual design process.

SketchUp 2021 brings new tools and features to your workflow so you can design delightfully on an informed foundation.

As our brand and products have evolved, so has our suite of product logos.

SketchUp’s cooked up some brand-spanking-new functionality for better design in the 2021 release. Get the scoop.

We’re going to use SketchUp and some extensions to find out how sunlight falls on (and in) your courtyard and how to optimize the design of your courtyard for optimal daylight.

What do SketchUp and sustainable development have in common? Let’s begin with an understanding of the word sustainability.

In this video, we're going to walk you through how you can separate out your daylight and energy analysis to get quicker results in Sefaira for SketchUp.

Your toolkit of essential shortcuts and must-have extensions to get you on your way.

Architecture 2030 issued a challenge to fight against climate change. Nathan Kipnis helps us demystify the finer points of architecture and planning by 2030.

In this video, we are going to talk about how you can identify whether your walls, doors, floors, windows or roofs have been tagged properly for Sefaira within SketchUp.

The third design brief in our series on High-Performance Design: learn how analysis revealed strategies for our case study design.

Leers Weinzapfel Associates explains what they use SketchUp for and how SketchUp helped streamline and speed up their design process.

It's time to learn some more about Sefaira. In this video, we're going to talk about how you can assign different space types using SketchUp and Sefaira.

Making the right architectural decisions with a high-performing finished design is tough. Learn more about the balancing act of facade design and glazing ratios.

See how the SketchUp office uses Sefaira to up their building energy and daylight analysis tool's game.