Above:. Form and function merge when beautiful materials and energy-efficient design are used in harmony. The 1970's gave energy efficiency a bad name when it came to aesthetics. Today, by combinging the best of high technology with the softer aesthetic of older traditional building materials, the homeowner can live in total comfort. The design of a home is much more important than just creating an abundance of square footage. Simplicity is the key to good design and good living. Now Available on DVD Video Price: $35.00 Plus $2.25 shipping and handling for delivery in the United States by First Class Mail. Additional shipping andhandling may apply to other locations. Gross Receipts Tax will be added to New Mexico orders. We make every effort to ship within 24 hours
Production Credits Directed, Written, Photographed and Edited by Ted Owens A Production of Syncronos Design Incorporated Additional Photography and Narration by Anneliese Varaldiev Original Music Written and Performed by Emily Dahmen Addtional Guitar John Leonard Rancher Production Coordinator Mary Jo Reutter With Special Thanks to Peggy and Al Owens
Featuring Tom Carson head construction consultant Mark Steinkamp construction assistant Stefan Bell straw bale and mud expert Keely Meagan earth plaster finish coat expert Joe Yarkin photovoltaic and electrical wiring expert Al Owens main construction assistant Ted Owens designer and builder
In May of 2005, Building With Awareness, A DVD Video On Green Building,
Was Presented with 3 Telly Awards,
including the top award for Outstanding
Multimedia DVD
The Telly Awards honor outstanding local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs nationwide, as well as
the finest video and film productions
A well-designed home has an essence that can be felt immediately. It comes from a variety of sensations—color, the quality of light, the scent of fresh air, the size and height of the rooms, and the quality of sound. Your home should be the most comfortable and pleasing place in your life. A beautiful and energy-efficient dwelling can bring tranquility to an otherwise fast-paced world. I am a designer and filmmaker and good design is what my job is about. I want to show you how you can build your dream home. That is why I made this video. Recently, over 400 people toured this house in one weekend, bringing the total number of visitors, since completing construction, to over 1,500. It was 98 degrees outside. The Green Building Tour had landed on the hottest weekend of the year so far. Despite the fact that the door had been open and closed hundreds of times during the day, the interior stayed cool and comfortable. It is sometimes difficult to sell green design with words alone. Experiencing the cool interior air brought smiles to the visitors. Experiencing a green home—sitting on the cool flagstone window seats and relaxing in a comfortable setting—is the best sales tool there is. The absence of machines whirring and air ducts hissing brings a peaceful feeling. Insulated straw bale exterior walls and thermal mass interior walls of adobe or stone, replace the air conditioners that we always assumed were essential in this part of the country. This is green design. Getting back to basics and re-evaluating the building systems we take for granted is what building with awareness is all about. The purpose of this DVD is to educate, entertain, and inspire you to build your own green home. We give you the components that are fun to work with, and you modify them to taste. This is a recipe for efficient and beautiful design. I am both a designer and filmmaker. I have been making award-winning educational and informational films and videos for decades. For the past 17 years I have focused on sustainable design, which is about doing more with less. We went to great expense to produce this television-broadcast-quality program. The same quality of design that went into this house is also reflected in the quality of this DVD. We use time lapse cinematography, video graphics, and drawings to explain how you can apply the same concepts that heat and cool the earth—to the design and construction of a house. We pulled together a superb team of builders and workers, and kept the cameras rolling every day of construction. The 80 hours of film and video were then carefully edited down to under 3 hours for the main program. A second audio track is narrated by me. I discuss the reasons for various design decisions, the pros and cons of various materials, what was easy to do—and what was not, what things cost, and what it was like to build one's own home. Watching the video with the second audio track is like watching a second program. This is possibly the most detailed video ever made on green home building. I believe that aesthetics should stand side-by-side with energy-efficiency. This is actually a concept that is many times overlooked. We not only cover the nuts-and-bolts of construction, we show you how a beautiful and energy-efficient home can spring forth from the same materials and design parameters. Much of this beauty-in-design is enhanced by the user-friendly materials, even if you have never picked up a hammer in your life. Some construction techniques may require help from experienced workers, and we make an effort to point this out. The bottom line is that there is no perfect material or design for all homes. What the Building With Awareness DVD gives you is the ability to decide what is best for you—with your requirements, in your part of the world. This DVD offers thousands of dollars of green-building consulting time for the absurdly reasonable price of just $29.00. The DVD contains over 5 hours of easy-to-understand information, a 16-minute narrated slide show of specific construction details, an easy-to-navigate DVD menu system, and a beautiful, full-color, eight-page information booklet on the featured home. The booklet includes a floor plan and elevation of the house so that you can visually follow each step of construction. As was already mentioned, this DVD was presented with the highest Telly Award that honors outstanding multimedia DVD's nationwide. We are honored to have been presented with this award for a project that we consider so important. By now, you may have already read many books on straw bale, adobe, and green building techniques. Now, actually watch the construction of one home—from start to finish—in a beautiful, educational, and entertaining DVD video. It will be the most valuable construction tool you ever buy.
Building With Awareness Now Available on DVD Video Price: $29.00
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