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The Green House on TourThe Green House exhibition and panel show is touring the United States! Venues are still being confirmed, so visit this page often for up-to-date information. If you are interested in hosting The Green House exhibition or panel show and would like more information, please contact the Museum’s Traveling Exhibitions Manager, Shelagh Cole, at 202.272.2448 ext. 3207 or scole@nbm.org. Tour Itinerary:The Morris Museum About To go green or not to go green? Today, virtually everyone interested in the future of the homes in America is asking this question. Even though environmentally sensitive features such as energy-efficient air conditioners, double-pane windows, and kitchen cabinets made with non-toxic materials are built into nearly 20 percent of new homes across the country, many Americans still wonder about the advantages of going green at home. Modeled after the National Building Museum’s 2006-2007 blockbuster exhibition, The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design is the first major traveling exhibition to explore the entire field of green residential design. Full ExhibitionThe Green House traveling exhibition opens with an animated video about energy consumption, setting visitors on the path to understand how their actions and choices at home impact energy consumption rates globally. The exhibition continues, featuring four sections:
The first section, Contemporary Green Houses, includes images and architectural models of 21 projects located around the world. This sample, which features homes built over the last 8 years up to projects that are currently in progress, shows visitors the diverse range and quality of sustainable dwellings being designed today. These single- and multi-family houses are organized in the exhibition by geographic region--such as mountainside, waterside, tropics, and desert--to demonstrate the distinct building assets and challenges of each area. The Five Principles of Sustainability section details the exhibition’s advocacy for greener living and design, and highlights via colorful panels five areas for visitors to consider in their own homes: Optimizing Use of the Sun; Improving Indoor Air Quality; Creating High-Performance and Moisture Resistant Houses; and Using the Land Wisely. The fifth principle, Using Natural Materials, is explained in greater detail in the section that follows. The Five Principles of Sustainability section also includes two interactive components about passive and active solar energy capture, to further demystify solar power. The Materials Room highlights a selection of green interior finish materials for the home, from floor to ceiling and everything in between. Even the smallest design choices can be sustainable, and visitors are exposed to new ideas they can apply in their own homes. This section also features a variety of wall sections to show visitors some sustainable construction methods and building materials. Visitors also may explore the computer-based interactive programs available in this section to delve into greater depth about sustainable materials. In the final Summations section of the exhibition, the five principles of sustainability are re-presented to visitors through a series of statistics about the condition of the environment today, each balanced with a "Smart Move" visitors can make to have a positive impact on the world we all live in. This section also includes a video tour of Michelle Kaufmann’s Glidehouse™, which is one of the projects included in the Contemporary Green Houses section. In the video, Kaufmann shares with visitors the Glidehouse™ she designed and built for herself and discusses some benefits of living in an energy-efficient house. In addition, the gallery features two other pictoral videos that remind us of the many ways that our homes are connected to the natural world. In keeping with our green commitment, The Green House exhibition is constructed using sustainable materials. The exhibition furniture is made of bamboo plywood; exhibition text is silk screened on an agricultural waste composite board made from sunflower seed hulls; all paints, stains, and varnishes are eco-friendly; and the model bases are outfitted with low-voltage LED lights.
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