Discovery Channel’s Danny Forster Teams Up
With Paul Maurer General Contracting

Danny Forster, Host and Producer of the Discovery Channel’s 2007 show, “Build It Bigger,” has chosen Paul Maurer General Contracting to build a “green” LEED-certified, Michigan Lake House in Omena for one of his clients. Forster’s goal is for Paul to build a home like nothing that exists to date…not just in Michigan but anywhere in the whole world. The 3000 square foot structure will employ the newest “green” building techniques and materials using a unique architectural design based on the carbon neutral sustainability concept. It will also feature new innovative technologies in HVAC system design and engineering. GeoFurnace of Traverse City will be engineering and installing the HVAC system incorporating WaterFurnace components.

Forster, who received his architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design, owns the architectural company, dkfArchitecture. The firm’s mission is to create “environmentally-mindful architecture at a reasonable cost.” He uses 3-D computerized visualizations that allow clients to see what their home will look like prior to its construction (including sophisticated solar tracking software to chart where the sun falls on the home in different seasons and times of the day). Before hosting “Build It Bigger,” he also hosted “Extreme Engineering” on the Discovery Channel. He will also host a new, forthcoming show of The Science Channel called Build It Greener, which will address sustainable architecture.

The objective of the design and building of the Lake Michigan House is to attain the highest LEEDS ranking possible. This contemporary-designed home will incorporate many hidden “green” features (like room dimensions that minimize material waste) as well as other green features such as bamboo flooring and low-E glass. Sophisticated solar tracking software played a major role in both the architectural design and the orientation of the house on the site, to work in concert with nature and the seasons. Solar loads were minimized in the summer and maximized in the winter. Included in those calculations were wind tracking to take advantage of natural cooling, and light tracking to reduce the amount of artificial lighting needed, ensuring the minimal use of electrical energy (earmarked for “green” wind power from the utility company).

But the most unique feature has to be the HVAC system which Danny has dubbed “thermally-active surface heating and cooling." A geothermal system pumps either hot or cold water (depending on season and need) through the ceilings of the house. Instead of cooling or heating the space (the way we think now about how HVAC functions) this system is designed to cool or heat the human bodies within that space. There will be more information on this new concept in residential thermodynamics during the system development.

Learn more about Danny and dkfArchitecture at www.dannyforster.com