The Cool House Tour

Austin is routinely rated among the best places to live in the USA. Most ratings seem to elicit just a good natured yawn from long time residents - sort of like... well we already knew that, didn't we? Tell us something we don't know. I confess I hate Austin summers, but there is little else i don't like about this city I now call home. A booming metropolis on the make, with a small town feel, getting more and more diverse by the day with a young energetic population, Austin offers a lot of opportunities to do well 'Austiny' things. Like spending a Sunday going about town, carpooling of course with good friends S and S, to see and experience 8 environment friendly houses at the start of the Austin summer. The Cool House Tour 2006, organized by the Texas Solar Energy Society and the Austin Green Energy Building Program offered 8 houses that have incorporated different features to go green. Looks like in addition to all the accolades Austin regularly receives, it is now aiming to become one of the greenest cities in the US. Way to go!! As an architect by education, and an environmentalist by vocation, I loved the idea. After visiting each of the houses, (no we did not skip a single one) I was even more impressed. All the houses looked very different, reflecting the personalities of the people who lived in them. All of them were warm and inviting and had none of the cold mechanical look that might be associated with green buildings. Careful and judicious use of green building features like ceiling fans to reduce the load on air conditioning systems, sensitivity to site design, use of appropriate and sometimes recycled building materials, water tanks, bamboo flooring etc. combined into the very distinct design of each building led to a very pleasing effect overall. I and R came back with some resolutions, (The Cool House Tour- our resolutions), which we hope to gradually incorporate into our own house. So if you are in Austin at the start of summer, do try and go for the Cool House Tour!