I love it when a builder calls me up out of blue (pun intended) to bring me into their world of innovation. Last week I invested a few hours on site with JIGSAW BLUE's Scott Wilson an industrial designer by profession who is leading a high performance building charge along with partners Cory Krygier a professional architect and Wade Butler finishing carpenter turned green construction professional.
JIGSAW BLUE is the R & D arm of JIGSAW Homes and was created, “Because we believe that there is a better way to be building homes, that homes can be places which contribute to a sustainable built environment and improve the health and well-being of the occupants at the same time.”
These guys get things like mean radiant temperature - It’s rare to find a builder that really gets the importance of the occupants well-being in a space but when you put an industrial designer together with an architect and a carpenter you have the recipe for a home building team that gets back to the basics of shelter – keep it simple, affordable to purchase and operate and enhance the indoor environment so that it enables healthy living. These guys go beyond the norm and are writing their own rules – they don’t dabble in high performance like most builders they do high performance every day of the week.
One of their “in your face statements” amongst the status quo of competing builders was this nutritional label – it was a line in the sand that got the public’s attention which got people talking about the things we’ve all been talking about…it was a great way to introduce the world of high performance housing into the world of the everyday Jill and Jack home buyer.
I like this kind of stuff – its bold, disruptive and creates change in a complacent world established by the status quo.
Way to go guys!
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Some standard features of the JigSaw Blue Home
High performance floors, walls and roof and high performance windows including methods to reduce air leakage to well below industry norms. These features reduce heating and cooling costs whilst improving thermal comfort.
Solar for power generation and heating – in conjunction with the high performance enclosure, significantly lowers energy costs while reducing or eliminates reliance on utility based energy providers.
Low VOC interior finishes and air to air heat exchangers – enables healthier indoor air whilst reducing costs associated with ventilation system in comparison to other systems.
Well placed and properly proportioned windows – enables natural lighting without destroying building performance and inducing discomfort due to excessive solar gains and cold surfaces.
Low maintenance materials – enables less "hands on time" for owners.
I would suggest anyone interested in these guys products to contact them through their websites or by visiting their projects...they make it so easy you'll be glad you did.
JIGSAW BLUE and JIGSAW Homes
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Announcement - Sign up soon for our five cities Canadian Tour hosted by the Uponor Academy:
Sept. 17-19 Edmonton, AB
Oct. 29-31 Halifax, NS
Nov. 19-21 Vancouver, BC
Nov. 26-28 Toronto, ON
Dec. 3-5 Montreal, QC
Topic:
How to establish low energy allowances for delivering thermal comfort and indoor air quality in modern buildings
If you want to know more about this course call us at 403.278.8481