BASE LECTURE: Green Buildings: Achieving Success Through Financing, Entrepreneurship, and Community Engagement.

BASE PRESENTS: Green Buildings: Achieving Success Through Financing, Entrepreneurship, and Community Engagement.
Friday, Dec 12, 5:30pm
Bainbridge Public Library – 1270 Madison Ave N Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

“The buildings in which we live, work and play protect us from nature’s extremes, yet they also affect our health and environment in countless ways. Patterns of development, transportation infrastructure, building location and design have direct and indirect influences on human health, solid waste, water and air quality.

As an alternative, green buildings are gaining momentum as environmentally responsible and resource efficient structures, finding the balance between homebuilding and the sustainable environment. However, successful green building implementation and management depends on the cooperation of engineers, architects, designers, contractors, entrepreneurs, clients, community, and financing agents.

Join us for a conversation with three leading experts in the sector and learn about local and national initiatives, technologies, and market trends.”

Featuring:

 

Click here to sign-up.

 

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Grow presented at Living Future 2015 unConference

logoThe International Living Future Institute is hosting its ninth annual unConference, Living Future 2015, on April 1-3, 2015 at the Sheraton Seattle in downtown Seattle, Washington. Living Future is the forum for leading minds in the green building movement seeking solutions to the most daunting global issues of our time. Out-of-the-ordinary learning and networking formats provide innovative design strategies, cutting-edge technical information and the inspiration needed to achieve significant progress toward a truly Living Future.

DON’T MISS: Grow Community, A Built Environment Sets the Stage for Creation of Community
Thursday, April 2 • 3:15pm – 4:45pm

Click here to REGISTER

Creating a (successful) community is not a certainty; the ultimate success of it depends on the people who choose to live there. How do you create this place where people WANT to live? How the design of the net zero energy Grow Community on Bainbridge Island, Washington, creates the basis for a shared sense of purpose, bring residents together toward common lifestyle goals and creating a strong sense of place and connection within a neighborhood.

LivingFutures Pres

Grow Sales Office Closed for Holidays

Our sales office will be closed this week for the holidays.  Normal office hours will resume on the 29th.  Monday-Friday 12-5 and Sundays 1-4

BASE presents: Sustainability Meets the Real World

BASE presents: Sustainability Meets the Real World
Friday, Dec 5, 8:00pm
IslandWood 4450 Blakely Ave. NE
(Please note this new location and start time! )

This month features three BGI at Pinchot University alumni:

– Betsy Blaisdell, Vice president of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition

– Juliette Delfs, Founder and Owner of Hub and Bespoke

– Jameson Morell, Consultant at CH2MHill

The event will be moderated by our very own Greg Lotakis, Project Manager for Asani/Grow Community.

We’ll discuss creativity and development processes, industry challenges/opportunities, and the influence of BGI at Pinchot University on the speakers’ vision, roles and organizations.

The Bainbridge Graduate Institute at Pinchot brings extraordinary guest faculty and speakers to their IslandWood campus and generously shares their time with our community via the Building a Sustainable Economy (BASE) lecture series.

BASE is co-sponsored by: Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce and Sustainable Bainbridge

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Grow gets Slammed — but it’s cool!

GBS 10x10x10 Logo

November 15th, 2014
5-10Pm
UW’s Kane Hall

Ten projects. Ten slides. Ten minutes.

And one goal: to honor the very best in sustainable construction — like Grow Community.

We’re pleased to say that Grow is one of 10 projects asked to present at this year’s prestigious “Green Building Slam” at the University of Washington. Sponsored by the Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, the rapid-fire event showcases unique projects and new approaches to environmentally conscious construction.

Featured speaker will be Kathleen O’Brien, a nationally recognized leader in the field of sustainability as a writer, educator, strategic planner and project consultant for nearly 30 years.

The Green Building Slam event will be held from 5-10 p.m. Nov. 15 at UW’s Kane Hall, with presentations beginning at 6:30. Networking and goodies throughout.

We’re honored to be part this great event. We’ll gladly take the Slam!

More information here

October Education Session: Innovations in Net Zero Energy Construction

401859-250When: Wednesday, Oct 22nd, 7-9pm
Where: Phinney Neighborhood Association, lower brick building
Link: http://www.ecobuilding.org/events/net-zero-innovations

Please join the Northwest Eco Building Guild Wednesday October 22nd, 2014 for a session focused on the innovations to get us to net zero energy buildings.

Speakers:

Dan Whitmore – built Seattle’s first Passive House. He leads trainings on Passive House building throughout the country and is a designer, builder and consultant.

Greg Lotakis – is the Grow Community Project Manager and Sustainability Expert who has been managing the sophisticated systems and design details that have garnered great praise for Grow Community, the state’s largest solar community.

Graydon Manning – is an energy consultant with the goal to make Net Zero building permitting with DPD a stream lined program with shorter review times & with one on one consulting.

 

EcoBuilding Conference 2014 | Building Transformation Through Transparency

October 10th 2014,

The Impact Hub in Pioneer Square, Seattle

Hi Friends/Colleagues,
401859-250
Some of you know about my volunteer involvement with the NW EcoBuilding Guild. I would like to share my excitement about this year’s upcoming main Regional event – a one-day conference at the Impact Hub in Pioneer Square. Some of you may have attended the “Retreat” in past years, and EcoBuilding 2014 is the result of a transformation of that long cherished event.

Please see the line-up of speakers here http://www.ecobuilding.org/retreat/speakers, REGISTER here http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/779337, and share the excitement with your networks. There is definitely a variety of topics for many audiences – single family, multifamily, case studies, tech talks, policy talks, etc..

Our planning committee has set the awesome goal of selling out for this event in order to:

a) educate and connect more people in the industry;

b) increase awareness of the Guild’s mission and programs; and

c) raise some needed funds for the excellent programming we provide to the green building community.

We are a volunteer run organization that is playing a huge role in the advancement of green building practices in our region. Please join us for this exciting time event.

Hope to see you there.
Greg Lotakis, Grow Community Project Manager

 

Grow Community Brokers Open

Thursday, July 24 2014, 10am-1pm

180 Olympic Drive, Bainbridge Island

Hello, Real Estate Agents: Grow Community phase 2 is here, and we want you to have the inside scoop. Find out about our newest neighborhood, the Grove, and its mix of luxury single-level homes, townhomes and single-family residences arrayed around a quiet woodland in Washington’s largest solar-ready community.

Join us Thursday, July 24 for a Brokers Open at our new sales office at 180 Olympic Drive, right next to the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal. Enjoy hospitality, socialize with your fellow real estate professionals in a casual setting, and enter a drawing for two free tickets to the upcoming Bloedel Gala garden party at Bloedel Reserve.

Please be our guests at this fantastic Brokers Open. We look forward to seeing you!

Introducing the Grove & the Park

Grow Community’s first neighborhood, the Village, set a new standard for comfortable, sustainable urban living with its cluster of beautifully designed, energy-efficient single-family homes. Now come the Grove and the Park, two new neighborhoods of high-quality, sustainable homes surrounding lush public greens and a shared community center. The garden spaces, healthy transportation options and low-carbon designs of the Village are here too — along with those solar-ready roofs — this time in a new mix of designs including townhomes and single-level homes.

Very soon we will begin pre-selling homes in the Grove and are opening a sales office at 180 Olympic Drive SE on Bainbridge Island – just a 2 minute walk from the ferry terminal. We invite you to come and learn about this beautiful new phase of Grow Community.

We hope you’ll join us for our Grand Opening weekend – July 12 & 13th, 12-5pm.

Click here to see map

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Historic Honoring Ceremony

Thursday March 20th – 12.30pm
Basketball Court on John Adams Lane – behind home 370

John Adams Lane, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

 

On Thursday (March 20th) at 12.30pm a local Bainbridge community group will be joining the Grow team to honor those that lived or grew up along Government Way (John Adams) on what is now the Grow Community property. The ceremony will be held on the current basketball court (behind house 370) on John Adams and then move to the American Legion Hall.
cultureThe ceremony will last 30 to 45 minutes and include short stories from each of the following: Grow Family – Jon Quitsland, Japanese Community – Kay Nakao, Military Community – TBD, Grow Community’s Future – Greg Lotakis.

The ceremony was initiated between the Grow Team and a Bainbridge community group lead by Karen Vargas, out of a desire to honor the early Japanese Community in this area of the island as well as those families and Military Veterans that made the Government Way housing their home, and to capture the stories of those that spent time in this place.

 
An early historical record/study was commissioned (Quitsland report) during the planning process for the Grow project to inform us about the history of the area. While the report touches only the tip of the iceberg, much of the history is rich with food production and community – two of the major themes for our new development. The Grow Family homesteaded in the area and on the property we are developing. What was once a strawberry field will again be home to fruit trees and garden beds. The next 5 acre phase of the project alone will have 3 acres of open space that will be mixed with fields, orchards, and light forest groves.

 
The history of this site teaches us that the area was rich with community connection. The beauty in our recent work with Karen and others is the richness of the place in community and the stories we plan to tell andpreserve. The military families and the Japanese community who touched this land each provide a glimpse into the past. Our intent is that the Grow neighborhood will honor the past by creating a renewed connection to community through the land. In our opinion, too often new development disregards these connections to each other, therebylimiting opportunities to create a sense of place.

 
We are working toward a way to share the stories once the Grow neighborhood is complete. We are currently considering telling the story in a variety of formats within our new community center and through interpretive signage throughout the property.

 
Some other worthy notes include:
1/ All play equipment will be collected by BI Parks Department for future reuse
2/ Small items from the homes/site will be saved by the community group focused on historical honoring
3/ Reusable items in the homes will be salvaged and repurposed
4/ Remaining structures will be used for training by Fire & Police
5/ All demolition debris will be recycled where applicable
6/ House numbers will go with those that grew up in the homes
7/ Stories will be collected and kept with appropriate entity (City or Museum)