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Denver Green Cube home provides opportunity, sustainability

Denver Green Cube home provides opportunity, sustainability

By Noelle Leavitt

A new sustainable home is about to give green a new meaning in the Highlands.

Urban Green Development – which fully supports the LGBT community –  is finalizing all the touches on a LEED platinum single-family home called the green cube.

The house actually looks like a green rubik’s cube, located at 3310 Shoshone Street in the lower Highlands.
The home was bought by Andrew Wojdyla and his partner last December.

“It’s important to buy green because we have to. We have to take responsibility for our presence on this planet and ensure that future generations will be able to thrive just as we have,” Wojdyla said.

The $550,000 home is 1,800-square-feet and was built on a 2,700-square-foot lot. Building infill on such a small lot helped the developers gain extra interest in the property.

“We took it and created a home on that tiny little lot, because that’s what urban really is, and that gives you tons of LEED points,” said Rachel Gallegos, marketing director for Urban Green Developments.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and sets forth guidelines for building sustainable structures.

A LEED platinum home holds the highest sustainability value, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, which oversees certification. Obtaining platinum status is often expensive, yet the builders of the green cube thrive on building inexpensive homes that leave a small carbon footprint.

“Our homes are not these huge, extravagant type homes,” said Ray Munoz, CEO of Urban Green Development.

“Our green cube is a small house – very practical.”

The green cube home has several eye-popping features, including a living wall in the living room and dining room where vegetables and herbs can be planted, which helps filter the house naturally.

It also has granite counter tops, radiated heat floors and swamp coolers instead of an air-conditioning unit – both of which help improve the indoor air quality.

“Colorado lends itself for swamp coolers, because it’s actually a very dry climate. They’re highly efficient, and they bring humidity back to the home,” Munoz said. “It’s really cleaner air, and we’re not messing up the ozone layers.”

The back yard has artificial grass, which doesn’t need to be watered and always stays green.

The community will have an opportunity to view the home in this year’s Parade of Homes, which runs from

August 11 – September 5, and is sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver.

Yet on August 11, the developers will hold an event at the green cube, showcasing the house to the public and raising scholarship funds for North High School in the Highlands. It costs $75 to attend.

The goal is to raise enough money to give one full-ride scholarship to a student.

“Everybody deserves an opportunity, and a lot of these kids don’t have that,” Munoz said. “I’m a big believer that you get something, you give it back. The best way to invest in the neighborhood is through our kids. Our long-term goal is to open the opportunity up for everybody else, but right now it’s North High.”

The scholarship will help students get an education about sustainable living.

“We don’t want to just give them a check. We want the kids to do an internship with us,” Munoz said. “That’s what they need. They need mentoring, not just a check.”

And it’s not the first time Urban Green Development has given back to the community.

In 2007, it held an event that benefited the LGBT community. Urban Green Development Project Manager Brett Robben decided to build a sustainable home with his partner. Rather than using just any vendors for the project, he held an event where LGBT vendors gathered to promote their work.

“It was kind of an LGBT business to business event,” Robben said. “It had never been done before, where we had a gay plumber, a gay tile setter and a transgender tile setter.”

Tickets were sold for the event, and all the proceeds went to the Alexander Foundation and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Roughly 2,500 people attended.

Robben was thrilled with the turnout, and is excited for the next big event, showcasing the green cube home. “Having gays being green trendsetters, is a great evolution to this community,” Robben said of the green cube owners.

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