New Yew Dell greenhouse incorporates passive design

From WFPL News: Work has begun on a new greenhouse for Yew Dell Gardens—one that incorporates renewable energy and other sustainable elements. But the structure’s architects say the most important elements are the simplest.

Yew Dell’s new greenhouse is meant to be a demonstration structure of different ways to build “green.” It’s powered by solar panels, and heated by geothermal energy.

As far as the architects are concerned, those features are nice, but they’re really just bells and whistles. Roberto DeLeon is a partner in Louisville’s DeLeon and Primmer Architecture Workshop.

“Those are things that almost automatically add upfront costs to any building projects, as much as 25 percent,” he said. “And for a lot of clients and not for profit groups, that’s just simply not an option.”

So DeLeon and his partner, Ross Primmer, work on incorporating elements of passive design into their work—intelligently designed buildings that aren’t just “green machines.”

The architects are interested in incorporating elements of passive design into their work—like situating a building so it absorbs as much natural light as possible.

Click here to continue reading.