Style & Sustainability

Articles from Boomer Magazine in Richmond, VA

Style & Sustainability

Garden homes blend eco-friendly lifestyle, innovative architecture

Story by Erika Wells

Photographs by Tony Giammarino

Sustainability is not a fad; it’s a way of life for developer and architect Stuart Rose and his wife, Trina Duncan. That’s why the couple pooled resources to develop the Garden Atriums of Poquoson (gardenatriums.com) — where they also live — billed as the nation’s leading self-sustainable residential community.
Here’s a glimpse of the natural beauty of the Hampton Roads community — inside and out.

The five homes – a sixth is under construction in what is planned as a seven-home community – range in size from 2,350 to 4,928 square feet and contain a 28-by-28- foot or 35-by-35-foot skylight-covered interior garden for growing produce and plants. The community uses harvested rainwater to supply water for the homes and gardens.
Garden Atrium prices are in line with other luxury homes that do not have sustainability features. At press time, an online sales site (greenhomesforsale.com) listed a three-bedroom-plus-office home for $595,000 and a four-bedroom-plus-office home for $647,500.

The garden homes have a private outdoor patio for each bedroom and one for the family. Residents also share a private park with a personal organic garden and fountain, an orchard and a lily pad-filled pond with fish that eat mosquito larvae to control the mosquito population.

The idea for the neighborhood is to protect natural resources without damaging the environment — now and in the future — which is why each home includes solar cooling, heating and electricity for no utility costs.

Resourceful Products

Here are a few products featured in the garden homes that are energy- and cost-effective without sacrificing comfort and convenience.
(Information provided by developer Stuart Rose of Garden Atriums of Poquoson and contractor David Baird of Baird Construction.)

- Reverse osmosis filters (kinetico.com) remove harmful chemicals from the water.

- Porcelain tiles (morristile.com) handle temperature differences without cracking.

- The steel roof (creasywhiteed.com) is comprised of two-thirds recycled metal from old cars. It can withstand 99-mile-an-hour winds.

- Carpets (southeastern-inc.com) are made of natural wool and are free of dyes that contain formaldehyde or other odor-producing gases.

- Casement windows (andersenwindows.com) swing open with a crank, shut out outside noise and do not transfer heat.

- Walls are covered with zero-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint (sherwin-williams.com) that does not give off gases or odors.

- Custom cabinets (peterscabinetsva.com) are made of solid wood and give off no gases.

- In the kitchen, ranges (jennair.com) have exhaust fans under the counter that release fumes outside.

- The seventh and final home will contain an electric induction range that becomes instantly hot without increasing the electricity load.

Plants throughout the homes release oxygen and purify the air. Allergy sufferers do not experience allergies in the homes because of the air quality, and oxygen levels are pure enough to heighten senses.