The Grocoff Home

Our team is working on Matt and Kelly Grocoff's 112 year old home on the Historic Old West Side of Ann Arbor. When Matt and Kelly bought their home it was covered in lead paint, had no insulation, and contained ancient appliances. After a lot of hard work from Matt and Kelly the home is not only gorgeous, but also one of the oldest Net Zero Energy homes in the country.

Before Matt and Kelly purchased this home it was owned by the Gauss family.

A historic photo of the home with some of the Gauss family present.

The Water Petal

The intention of the Water Petal of the Living Building Challenge is to change the way that people think about water and wastewater in the built environment. There are two requirements of this petal: all of a project's water needs must be captured and purified on site without the use of chemicals and ecological waterflow must not be increased by the project. Just as in any Living Building Project, all materials from the Red List must not be used in achieving the Water Petal. The Red List is a list of materials that have been shown to be toxic in either their use, manufacturing, or both. Materials included in this list are PVC (polyvinyl chloride) as well as chloride.

More information about all of the petals as well as more details about the Water Petal specifically can be found on the Living Futures Website: www.living-future.org

The requirements of the water petal.

The Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge is a philosophy, advocacy platform, and certification program. It is a certification that goes above and beyond LEED, requiring buildings to be entirely self sustaining. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements, including net zero energy, waste, and water over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy. The Challenge focuses on seven different petals: Equity, Site, Beauty, Energy, Health, Materials, and Water.

The Seven Petals of the Living Building Challenge.

BLUElab and the Beginning of our Team

Better Living Using Engineering laboratory, or BLUElab, is a University of Michigan student run organization that works on sustainability issues at home and abroad. Our team, the Living Buildings Challenge Team, was formed in the beginning of the Winter 2013 academic semester. We are tasked with working on helping two local Ann Arbor residents, Matt and Kelly Grocoff, attempt to retrofit their 112 year old, historic home to be net zero water.

We are a team of students that represent many different majors, all working to create a more sustainable present and future.

Our team at the end of our first semester, Winter 2013.