Top-to-Bottom Green Remodel

This Lake of the Isle home will undergo a transformation that will add space along with green initiatives, systems and products throughout. While the expansion will be more apparent from the back of the home, the front also will benefit from new windows, a new coat of stucco, a repaired front step, a new metal roof, and some refreshed landscaping.

Just off Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis’ Kenwood neighborhood, this 1913 Colonial Revival with Federal and Prairie influence house is in the midst of a redesign that preserves its original charm, adds a modest amount of space, and introduces some of the best “green” concepts of the 21st century.

Designer Michael Anschel is thrilled to oversee a green project of this magnitude and implement some of the new Minnesota GreenStar guidelines for remodeling. Anschel, along with his firm Otogawa-Anschel Design-Build, helped develop the state benchmarks for the pioneering MN GreenStar program that aims to bring sustainable building and design to the mainstream by developing local certification and standards.

On this project, the homeowners were looking for a two-story expansion out the back to add room for their growing family and allow for better flow throughout the home without compromising the original design. They also wanted to make this remodel green.

When it comes to green, there are many “shades,” according to Anschel. In this project the homeowners began with a more casual interest in green in an effort to make sensible, environmentally friendly changes and create a “healthy” home. However, as the project progressed, their passion grew, and Anschel’s firm helped them implement “dark green,” highly efficient, environmentally appropriate solutions as well.

“It’s your standard remodeling project from the outside, but our goal was to take a whole-house remodeling project and apply all of the green concepts, while staying within the homeowner’s budget,” Anschel says.

“It’s a slightly more complicated way to look at the design of a home, but the benefits are that you get a healthier, more efficient house,” he says. “Ultimately, you end up with a better design.”

First Steps
In the early phases, well before ground breaking, the team—including architectural designers, heating and plumbing specialists, electricians, and carpenters—constructed a detailed plan for how the renovation could use less material, energy, and water from start to finish.

They also looked at how to minimize the physical impact of the project on the lot and studied ways to reuse and recycle materials such as high quality original floor boards, trim, and other building materials that in the past might have been discarded as construction waste. Anschel notes that what was once demolition is now really deconstruction as you try to artfully disassemble a home in order to preserve and reuse as much as possible.

Construction began in January and should wrap up by mid-June. When complete, the home will showcase a range of green components like dual flush toilets, reduced-flow water fixtures, energy-efficient windows, and energy-efficient appliances along with cutting-edge systems such as geothermal heating and cooling and rainwater collection.

Minnesota GreenStar
Anschel advises homeowners interested in a potential MN GreenStar project to invest the time up front to design “green.” The initial brainstorm pays off with a smooth construction process and virtually no additional cost beyond a standard remodel, he says.

MN GreenStar building and remodeling certification is also accessible in just about any project, as long as designers and builders address the program’s main goals: site management, resource efficiency and durability, energy efficiency, water conservation, and indoor environmental quality.

“Don’t be intimidated—you don’t have to do everything,” Anschel says. “Whether it’s a tiny bathroom remodel or a whole-house remodel, it can be certified with Minnesota GreenStar.”

Watch here for slideshow updates on this green remodel and see exclusive before and after photos in the weeks ahead. To see other Otogawa-Anschel Design-Build projects go to www.otogawa-anschel.com.

Minnesota GreenStar is a collaboration between the environmental nonprofit Green Institute, the Green Remodelers Group, the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry-Minnesota, with funding from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. To learn more about the program and see more local projects, visit mngreenstar.org.