Steve Mouzon’s SmartDwelling 1 – The Kitchen Garden

SmartDwelling 1 is designed for a specific region, the American Gulf Coast

By Steve Mouzon
The Original Green
June 9, 2009

Excerpts:

The Kitchen Garden is the one part of SmartDwelling I that a few people look at and say “you can’t be serious!” For them, buying food at the grocery store is simply too ingrained in their version of modern life to ever consider raising any appreciable portion of their own food. And make no mistake about it… the areas devoted to food in SmartDwelling I would likely provide most, if not all, of the food needed by a family of three or four for an entire year, assuming you used the space efficiently.

So beyond the fact that it’s highly acre-efficient, what’s so cool about the Kitchen Garden in SmartDwelling I? Lots of things. See the pool in the center? That’s a Tilapia Pool. Tilapia thrive in incredibly tight quarters… there can be more tilapia than water in a pool and they’ll do just fine. So you can think of it as a water feature, or as a big protein machine… take your pick. You’ll also notice a few chickens running around. Those are the hens that inhabit the henhouse under the stairs to the apartment/guest room/kids’ room/office/studio/workshop/whatever over the garage. You only need a few hens to eat garden pests, provide a continuous supply of fertilizer… and also a continuous supply of eggs for even more protein.

You’ve probably noticed that the vegetables grow in raised beds. Rather than single rows of plants 2-3 feet apart like industrial tractor farming requires for most crops, raised beds grow vegetables much more compactly. They’re limited only by the reach of the person tending the beds… a three-foot bed allows you to easily work the middle of the bed from any edge without bending over much, if at all.

Read the complete article here.

Excerpt from the Wall Street Journal “The Green House of the Future” Apr. 27, 2009

By Alex Frangos

Looking to the future isn’t the only way to be innovative. The house from architect Steve Mouzon, of Mouzon Design in Miami Beach, Fla., uses tomorrow’s technologies while mining ancient techniques to reduce energy use.

For instance, solar paneling built directly into the roof and façade provides electricity and hot water. But the house also employs a “breeze chimney,” an architectural tool used by the ancients, as a kind of old-school air conditioning.

The difference between the air pressure in the chimney and outside causes hot air to flow out of the chimney stack and cooler air to enter through windows and doors.

“It must make sense first,” says Mr. Mouzon, a so-called New Urbanist architect who believes in traditional designs that emphasize pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. His house “isn’t trying to do wild and wacky things with roof shapes or wall shapes but a good sensible building that is highly lovable. It is inventive where it needs to be.”

Like Rios Clementi Hale, Mr. Mouzon sees the house as a source of food. He would add “melon cradles,” an invention he says he thought up for this project, to allow heavy melons and other vegetables to grow vertically up the sides of his house.

Another of his innovative ideas would require Americans to do more than just feed the goldfish bowl: He would install tilapia pools in a “kitchen garden” to provide fresh fish to the homeowner. It’s among the most energy-efficient ways to raise animal protein, Mr. Mouzon says.

But the most important order for Mr. Mouzon is to make the house compact. “The smaller thing you can create, the more sustainable it is.”

Read the complete article here.