Michelle Kaufmann

Michelle Kaufmann, AIA, LEED AP, is an architect, designer and advocate for smarter ways to design, build and live. Her mission with all of her work is to make thoughtful, sustainable design accessible. With her firm, Michelle Kaufmann Studio, she specializes in sustainable lifestyle design, including single-family homes, eco-luxury resorts and multi-family communities. She was the founder of Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a design/build company that led the movement of prefabricated green homes and received a 2008 TOP FIRM AWARD from Residential Architect. Once called “the Henry Ford of green homes” by the Sierra Club, Kaufmann was named 2009 Green Advocate of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and appeared on Business 2.0 magazine’s list of "100 People Who Matter Now," as well as INC magazine's “The Green 50." She has been featured on the Sundance channel, HGTV, Discovery, Planet Green and in numerous magazines, including Town & Country, Dwell, Sunset, Time and The Smithsonian. Kaufmann received her undergraduate degree from Iowa State University and her Masters from Princeton University and has been a lecturer and keynote speaker for numerous events. For more information on Kaufmann, visit www.michellekaufmann.com or blog.michellekaufmann.com or follow her on Twitter: @mkaufmann.

photos by Jeremy Fenske / Outstanding in the Field

I recently had the great pleasure to enjoy an epic evening filled with delicious food and company, all the while learning about each of the ingredients from the farmer himself (who was sitting with us) and about the wine while we sat in the middle of the vineyard. All five senses were intoxicated simultaneously. You have probably heard of Outstanding in the Field, and honestly, it totally delivers on its name. When looking at photos of some of their dinner “installations” throughout the U.S., they appear to be Land Art.

Check out the Outstanding in the Field schedule to see if their bus and yumminess are headed to your hood.

And then prepare to be amazed.

Many, many thanks to Taylor Robinson, Penelope Robinson, Jerry James Stone and the OITF crew for an absolutely outstanding evening.

—Michelle Kaufmann

This lovely underground home is slated to be the first zero-carbon home in the North West of England. Designed by Make Architects, this four-bedroom oasis leaves the views of nature intact above the ground while creating spaces filled with light and space below the ground plane. The project utilizes thermal mass benefits, will use a ground source heat pump and renewable energy and expects to create more energy than it requires. Although buried in the earth, the strategy provides plenty of natural ventilation and sunlight, while creating privacy and spaces for reflection at the same time.

When can we visit? I have my bags packed…

Thanks to Jon Kaufmann for bringing the beautiful project to my attention.

—Michelle Kaufmann

Yesterday we had a great time debating about Green Prefab at Treehugger with our Master of Ceremonies, Lloyd Alter, Chad Ludeman of the very cool (and smart) 100k House, Allison Arieff and Preston Kroener, of Jetson Green.

You can watch it HERE (I recommend fast-forwarding through the first few minutes while we get our skype act together and therefore miss us talk about being hungover).

—Michelle Kaufmann

All photos by JB Spector / Museum of Science and Industry

The “Greenest Home in Chicago” is back with new gadgets and inventive ways to live green! The Smart Home (which I designed) is a fully functioning, eco-friendly home at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, is a must-see exhibit for anyone who wants their home, and life, to be smarter, more efficient and more in tune with the environment than it is today.

The Smart Home has been remade for 2011 to simultaneously bring you back to the past and forward to the not-too-distant future. Scout (love their stuff!), a Chicago interior furnishing store, brings its specialty touch for refurbishing and reviving pieces from government and education buildings into a truly eco-friendly and stylish decor. Meanwhile, Gizmodo shares the cutting-edge technology that we’ll soon be using to live, play and relax at home. Appropriate for this mix of the new and old, the Museum has also paired some of Gizmodo’s newest gadgets with some of their vintage counterparts from within the Museum’s collections.

All together, this fusion shows how to make the most of existing materials while searching for the most efficient in new technology. It all comes together in the home that has shown more than 250,000 guests the ways, big and small, to make eco-friendly living a part of everyday life.

The Knoll chairs in the living room have been recovered in fabric made from car tires, and elegant 1930s black and white photographs—reproduced from the Museum’s industrial photography collection—decorate the walls.

The dining area features a table created from recycled planks, and a lighting fixture that uses old fluorescent tubes in an innovative way.

University of Chicago laboratory cabinets were reclaimed and refurbished to serve as unique, functional and beautiful kitchen cabinetry.

The Cybertecture Mirror in the master bath delivers the day’s time, temperature, news and traffic, keeps track of your weight, and even connects to friends on Twitter or Facebook.

The energy dashboard reports how much power is being produced from the Home’s rooftop solar film and 45-ft. wind turbine.

University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners help plant and maintain the Smart Home’s eco-friendly landscape.

Whether you’re into gardening, gadgets or garages, a visit to the Smart Home will reboot your thinking about your home and how to live greener.

For more information: www.msichicago.org

—Michelle Kaufmann