Kensington rowhome named project of the year

A rowhome in Kensington has been named the building of the year by the United States Green Building Council.

The organization that develops energy-efficiency standards in the building trade awarded the newly constructed home with its highest rating – LEED Platinum – when it was completed two years ago. Now the same organization recognizes it as project of the year.

It’s called the 100K house, because the eleven-hundred square foot home cost $100,000 to build. Nic Darling of the design firm Postgreen says it was an experiment.

“The 100K model was the extreme end of the scale.” said Darling. “It’s very pared down, minimalist. And since then we’ve gone up a little bit so we can get a little nicer finishes in the house, and improve the energy performance a little more over that.”

Since that house was built, Postgreen has seen seven more buildings through construction. Those are more expensive – Darling says they have all been sold for between $250,000 and $350,000.