Green Dream

[Source: Phoenix Magazine] 33 Neighborhoods We Love. We're Green with Envy over these Eco-Friendly homes, which combine sustainability with modern amenities. This community is the first development in Arizona to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for homes certification. LEED promotes sustainability by evaluating performance in five key areas of human and environmental health, including sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental/air quality. These eight detached residences in the Biltmore area are a few walkable blocks from amenities at 24th Street and Camelback, including Bilmore Fashion Park and Esplanade Shopping Center. Each two-story residence is nearly 2,000 square feet.

Home of the Year Special Focus Award

[Source: GreenBuilder Magazine] Judges gave a nod to The Galleries at Turney built by Modus Development and designed by Merz Project architects, which they cited as a good example of desert adaption. To combat the harsh desert heat and maximize energy efficiency, the exterior of corrugated zinc and fiber cement panels are part of the rainscreen system that floats 1" off the substrate via furring channels. The airspace creates a chimney effect airflow between the skin and the substrate allowing hot air to exhaust and pulling cool air from lower vents in the siding. [Note: to read the full article click here.]

Only 15 of nation’s 3,000 homes with LEED certification can be found in metro Phoenix

[Source: Phoenix Business Journal] Green building experts from around the world converged on Phoenix this week for Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, where they got to hear from some of the leading voices for greening of housing in America at the event's Residential Summit.

Despite all of the fanfare, Phoenix is not a wellspring for sustainable housing. Of 3,089 housing units certified nationwide under the USGBC's Leadership and Environmental Design program, only 15 are in the valley. LEED is the most universally accepted measurement of the energy efficiency and sustainability of buildings and neigborhoods.

Eight of the Valley's 15 LEED-certified units are part of the upscale Galleries at Turney, a sleekly designed community developed by Ed Gorman, founder of Modus Development, and designed by merz project architects. Located in a traditional neighborhood of modest ranch houses south of Biltmore Fashion Park, the community has become an internationally acclaimed example of contemporary design intersecting sustainability. [Note: to read the full article click here].

The Galleries at Turney chosen for USGBC Greenbuild 2009

"The Galleries at Turney," designed by nationally acclaimed architectural firm, [merz]project, was chosen by the Host Committee of Greenbuild 2009 to be showcased as one of the feature projects during their planned Greenbuild Tours Arizona, with an audience of over 25,00 expected conference participants.

Galleries at Turney will be participating in the 2009 Contemporary Desert Living Tour, as part of the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. The conference will take place in Phoenix, Arizona on November 11-13, with a guided architectural tour to wrap up the weeks' events on Saturday, November 14, 2009.

One of the tours stops will be The Galleries at Turney, the first and only LEED-H (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified housing development in Arizona. Located in the Biltmore area of Phoenix, this unconventional, contemporary community consists of eight homes that boast considerable energy and water savings for its owners.

The Greenbuild Conference Host Committee chose The Galleries at Turney to showcase the tour as the project exemplifies the relevancy to the Greenbuild 2009 idea - design which is truly innovative and environmentally responsible contributes to the community and creates a dialogue.

Going Green to Save Green

[Source: Arizona Republic - Home] People who are looking to buy home now want them to be green - not only eco-friendly green, but economically green.

"Saving money is the Number 1 thing when it comes to green," says Ed Gorman, founder of Modus Development, which built Galleries at Turney, an "urban green" development in central Phoenix.

More than low-VOC paints and how the wood is engineered - and way above saving water - it's money."

At The Galleries at Turney, the utility bill for a 2,000-square foot home is about $125 in the middle of summer. "That's what gets people's attention," he says. "I firmly believe that in five years everything built will have to be green, whether LEED or some other standard. What will drive it? Whether demand by consumer or required by the government, some source will have to make it."

This urban oasis of eight homes by Modus Development is the first community in Arizona to be LEED certified. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a national benchmark of standards for eco-friendly building.

One of the most striking aspects is the exterior. The houses are covered in corrugated zinc that's suspended off the walls by an inch, which lets hot air flow behind it and continuously shades the building, Gorman says, adding, "Architects come from around the world to see it."

The roof includes a reflective coating to keep it cool.

The homes were built on a plot of land that used to include two-single family houses. With desert landscaping, controlled irrigation and other water-saving features, Gorman estimates the eight homes use less water than the two houses that were there before.

Still the homes have to be appealing, so the builder included a wall of glass that treated to resist heat transfer. The homes include energy efficient Bosch appliances and are pre-wired for solar power. [Note: to read the full article, click here.]

GreenSource Magazine features Galleries at Turney on cover

[Source: GreenSource Magazine] -- The Anti-Tract Houses: A developer blends the single-family home mentality of old Phoenix with the urban density of the row house to create a new southwestern sensibility. The Galleries at Turney enjoy the distinction of being the first LEED for Homes Certified project in Arizona. However, this eight-unit development would turn the heads of even the most eco-oblivious passers-by. In a central Phoenix neighborhood of low-slung, sun-parched mid-century ranches -- what historian Colin Rowe called “ranchburgers” -- and some brand-new spec-developer Styrofoam villas, the Galleries are unapologetically, refreshingly, non-contextual.

“The anti-tract home” is how the Galleries’ developer, Ed Gorman, of Phoenix-based Modus Development, describes his ambitious new project, with its compact site plan and street elevations that blend corrugated-zinc panels, exposed-block walls, weathered-steel doors, and glass curtain walls. As such, the Galleries, designed by the young Phoenix firm [merz] project, join the growing portfolio of recent Phoenix housing that challenges the local tendency to let the national production home builders loose on the landscape, with predictably generic results. [Note: to read the full article, click here.]

Galleries at Turney wins 2008 Evergreen Award

[Source: Eco-Structure Magazine] -- At the 2008 GreenBuild show in Boston, MA this week, The Galleries at Turney was presented with the Evergreen Award in the "Greenhouse" category. According to Evergreen Awards judge Bert Gregory, FAIA, president and CEO of Seattle-based Mithun, "This resource-smart set of single-family homes is developed at a density that has the potential to promote walking and mass transit. With a strong architectural concept and an elegant design, it looks like a great place to live, too." [Note: To read the full article, click here.]