Update on Janek in Greensburg

Last September I wrote briefly about Janek being involved in the rebuilding of a green town in Kansas--Greensburg--a town that was wiped out by a Category 5 tornado May of last year.

The story of the rebuilding of Greensburg is being filmed by Discovery Channel and is part of its new programming channel, Planet Green. We don't get that station but if you are interested it might be showing in your area. Janek has been on camera off and on so much that he is bound to show up somewhere in the story.

Janek has designed nearly 10 homes for individual families out there and most of them are extreme "green". (Today's extreme, tomorrow's standard). During the spring he also took his entire USC studio class to Greensburg where they presented green designs of buildings for the city to the GB high school students. It's easy to say you're "going green" but a lot harder to put into practice. While the city has pledged and mandated green building standards for all municipal and commercial construction, the residential building is only as green as your architect is able to convince you. A lot of his effort has been to educate people on what that really means.

The filming by Discovery is attracting a lot of corporate attention and donations. FritoLay is going to sponsor and pay for two additional homes that he’s designed and they are getting an enormous amount of donated material from DuPont, TOTO, Bosch and other corporations eager to be showcased in his green designs (countertops, bath and kitchen fixtures, windows, tile, carpeting, etc.) The donations are making the building of these even modest homes affordable for these people rebuilding with government-financed loans and insurance policies.

The timeline is fierce: these people are in FEMA trailers and must be out of them by this November, so building will be fast and furious once they break ground.

Janek just spent an entire month building the first structure with his bare hands, a co-worker and a motley assortment of volunteers--from nuns to teenagers. This is called the "test" building because it is being used to demonstrate (and work out the kinks) the use of a new construction material. Janek is using a Styrofoam and rebar based foundation and framing/walls system (ICF) with a company he has been working with for some time, IntegraSpec. The company is providing the material at a much reduced cost, and of course they all will benefit from the media coverage. Using this material reduces construction time and makes a nearly impenetrable structure, perfect for tornado-prone Kansas.

The flat plains of Kansas means Janek's white clad building is visible for miles around. The flat plains have a constant wind as well--imagine trying to handle 40 lbs of rebar 30 feet up in the air with wind gusts of 30-40 mph: Janek came home 10lbs lighter and brown as a nut. He felt like he had just gone through boot camp. Yes, that is Janek in the picture:

After a mere week home he will be going out again, this time to finalize designs and contracts on the remaining homes. We'll keep you posted. If anyone sees any of the episodes let us know.