Their new convention? Building green

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A model of the “E-co” houses that are planned for a 2.5-acre site near the northeast corner of Kings Highway in Medford shows exterior “green walls” of foliage that will block summer heat from entering windows.

May 20, 2009

By Greg Stiles

Mail Tribune

The move to green building has inspired changes in everything from the size of houses and the kinds of building materials to the marketing of the finished product.

Developers of an innovative 18-unit project in Medford that utilizes many low-impact building techniques are scheduled to break ground on Thursday.

They say their "E-co" housing development off Kings Highway is among the first in Oregon to utilize sustainable building concepts to minimize its carbon footprint. They've spent the past year designing a house that will generate all of its own electricity, and construction is scheduled to begin in June.

"We were told, if you are doing (design work) like you were two years ago, you're doing it wrong," said David Fisse, who designed the prototype and model home for the 2.5-acre subdivision on the northeast corner of Kings Highway and Experiment Station Road. The property is situated behind existing houses fronting Kings Highway.

The technology is both forward-looking and retro. The houses have 900-square-foot ground floors with big front porches and a 350-square-foot loft with balconies in the back.

Nearly all of the building materials are to come from within 400 miles of Medford, Fisse said.

"It's all about downsizing and keeping the footprint under control," said Exit Realty agent Don McCoy, who is marketing the project. "It's going to be a gated community with a community garden."

The developers hope to appeal to a wide range of buyers.

"We're keeping the price range under $300,000," McCoy said. "So we're figuring our buyers will be anyone from single people to retirees."

Fisse has designed houses for nearly 30 years and worked in six Western states, but he took a whole new approach for this project.

"Most of the construction during the building boom was conventional, but the way we're headed now is green," he said. "Fiberglass (as a building material) is pretty much history."

Instead of using 2-by-6 framing lumber, builders will use double 2-by-4s. There will be nothing larger than a 2-by-4s used in construction, which will reduce the amount of material that would be used in standard construction by about one-third.

The walls are a "sandwich" of polystyrene insulation between two sheets of oriented strand board, and the exterior walls carry most of the building's weight.

"You won't have to drill studs for wiring or plumbing," Fisse said. "The wiring will be on the back of the outside walls."

Instead of using plastic-insulated wiring, which some people believe may be associated with breast cancer, builders will use metal-clad cable.

Fisse said 15 units will share common walls.

The roofs will be built at 45-degree angles with photo-voltaic panels set atop simulated metal roofing material. Vertical windows in a low wall above one of the roof planes will allow daylight to filter throughout the buildings.

"In the past, those (windows) haven't been done without beams," Fisse said.

There is no central air conditioning, because exterior "green walls" of foliage growing along a lattice of wires will block the summer sun from south- and west-facing windows on the ground floor. The deciduous plants will lose their leaves in winter, allowing the sun's warmth to enter the windows. In-floor heating also will provide winter warmth.

Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail business@mailtribune.com.

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