First This Old House® Green Building Episode Showcases VectorWorks User Webber Hanzlik Architects’ Project
Columbia, Maryland (February 7, 2007)—–Nemetschek North America announced today that the Emmy Award-winning PBS series This Old House® will showcase a renovation project by VectorWorks user Webber Hanzlik Architects as its first “green building” project. This Old House – The Austin House Project is also the series’ first episode to be filmed in Texas. The renovation is the architectural firm’s second green building project to achieve a five-star rating. All drawings for the remodel were created using VectorWorks.
The project is also profiled in the February 5, 2007, issue of Newsweek, in an article in the Tip Sheet section called “Project Green: This Ecofriendly House” by Anne Underwood.
The renovation expands a 1926 Craftsman bungalow from 1,500 square feet to 2,300 square feet and uses as many environmentally-friendly building products and methods as possible. Webber Hanzlik principal David Webber transformed the space from a single-story two-bedroom, one-bathroom house into one with four bedrooms and two baths while preserving the original Arts and Crafts details with the help of VectorWorks. Photovoltaic cells on the new metal roof, rainwater collection for irrigation, spray-foam insulation, recycled-glass tile and countertops, and formaldehyde-free wood composites are just some of the resource-saving strategies and eco-friendly materials used on the project.
“Our firm is a big proponent of green building, and we’re always pushing the boundaries to drive green building forward, so we were flattered when This Old House wanted to feature this project as its first green building project,” says Ransom Baldasare, Webber Hanzlik’s business manager. “The project was fast-tracked to meet the show’s production deadlines, and VectorWorks was an instant asset in allowing us to design, produce construction drawings, and build in a very short period of time. On this project in particular, VectorWorks 12 made it very easy for us to quickly apply hatching to the roofing, exterior siding, and interior wood floors during the design phase, then just as quickly make changes and send revised drawings to our plotter in no time to keep the project moving.”
This Old House – The Austin House Project will premier nationally on local PBS stations nationwide on February 8, 2007. Check local listings for This Old House episode 2619. The episode will premiere in Austin on February 10, 2007, on local TV station KLRU.
Find out more about This Old House – The Austin House Project and watch a time-lapse WebCam archive of the project on the This Old House website at: www.thisoldhouse.com/toh
Read the Newsweek article “Project Green: This Ecofriendly House” at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16840020/site/newsweek
Nemetschek North America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of European software giant Nemetschek AG. A global leader in design technologies, Nemetschek N.A. has been developing CAD software for the AEC, entertainment, landscape design, and manufacturing fields since 1985. VectorWorks, its flagship product, is one of the world's best-selling cross-platform CAD applications. An all-in-one solution that's easier to learn and use and more cost-effective than most other CAD programs, VectorWorks is ideal for firms that don't have unlimited IT budgets. For more information, visit www.nemetschek.net