This is Day 123 of the Slow Home Project.

I wanted to share some great coverage that our Slow Home Project just received in the Denver Infill Blog . The post was written by Caroline Tracey, a guest contributor and college student from Denver in the Urban Studies program at Yale University.

The Denver Infill Blog covers news, ideas, and commentary about urbanism in Denver. It was created by in 2004 by Ken Schroeppel, an urban planner who lives and works in Downtown Denver. I came across Ken’s blog while we were all working on Denver’s housing market last month and was impressed with what he was doing. His mission statements seemed to align nicely with our Slow Home philosophy:

• To inspire Denver citizens to envision and strive for exceptional urbanism in their city and region
• To inform and educate on topics relating to urban planning and city-building
• To serve as an online resource of notable urban projects, plans, policies, and programs throughout Denver
• To promote and showcase Denver and its opportunities to the world
• To advocate for positive changes to Denver’s existing and future built environment.

I also want to welcome to all of the visitors to our site from the Denver Infill Blog.

As you can see from our recent posts we are currently working on the Miami housing market (which from the results of the first week, does not seem to be as well designed as yours). If you are interested in the work our group did on Denver I have assembled some links:

Week One was about analyzing apartment loft projects and started on Day 90

http://theslowhome.com/slow-home-project/evaluating-aptlofts-in-denver/#comments

In Week Two we surveyed townhome projects starting on Day97

http://theslowhome.com/slow-home-project/evaluating-townhomes-in-denver/#comments

Week Three began on day 104 and was our analysis of single family houses

http://theslowhome.com/slow-home-project/evaluating-single-family-homes-in-denver/#comments

Finally, on Day 111 we started Week Four which consisted of a preliminary analysis of the results of our survey and announced the winners of the Slow Home Awards in Denver.

http://theslowhome.com/slow-home-project/choosing-the-best-aptloft-in-denver/#comments

We would all be interested in your comments on the work.

This is Day 115 of the Slow Home Project and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months. This week we are reviewing the results of our work in Denver and today we are announcing the winners of the Slow Home Awards, as well as the Slow Home Design Challenge.

It is our last day in Denver before we pack up our sunscreen and head south to Miami! Today is a big day because we are announcing the winner of the “Denver Design Challenge” as well as the winners of all the Slow Home Awards for Denver.

First, the Design Challenge. Thanks to all the Slow Homers who worked so hard on this re-design and a special thank you to everyone who participated in the very in depth and detailed discussion on the site yesterday. Here are the three short listed plans:

The first was submitted by Tara. We chose her scheme because of the modesty of the design. She created one big living, dining and kitchen space and put a “U” shaped kitchen in a very effective spot in the plan. The only points we thought could be improved were the front entry closet, which looked too shallow to hang coats and the location of the door to the powder room. Overall, a great design and great work!

The second short-listed project was submitted by Brad W. We really like the extra effort he put in to creating an outdoor space that visually connected the living, dining and kitchen space to the exterior. He even added a focal point with the outdoor fireplace. We felt that the back entry may have been a bit too tight and that the master bathroom shower was also a bit on the small side – but overall this scheme feels very open and light!

The final short-listed plan comes from Tiffany. She combined the kitchen and back entry into one very economical space. Perhaps her kitchen work triangle is a bit too large and the front entry could have used a bit more definition, but her segmented bathroom is really well done and the relationship between her kitchen, living and dining spaces really work. Well done!

To reveal who we chose as the winner, click on the link below:

Now onto the winners for the Slow Home Awards in Denver!

The winner of the best apartment loft is Unit 705 in the “Sugar Cube” building by Urban Villages and KPMB Architects. This project won by a landslide.

The winner of the best townhome is Unit 102 in the “Flats 15” project by Bothwell Davis George Architects. This race was a little tighter, but “Flats 15″ was still the clear winner.

And finally, the winner for the best single family house is “Washpark Green” by In Situ Design. This is a LEED gold project and this race was the closest in Slow Home history with only one vote separating the two nominees!

Thanks to everyone who voted and we look forward to visiting these projects in the near future! See you on Monday from beautiful Miami, Florida where we will begin the “Slow Home Project” analyzing apartments and loft projects.

This is Day 114 of the Slow Home Project and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months. This week we are reviewing the results of our work in Denver and today we are discussing the submissions to our design challenge.

We are almost finished our month in Denver. As we tally up the results from the past three days of voting for the Slowest Homes in Denver it is time to review the submissions to the first ever Slow Home Design Challenge. 18 proposals were submitted, and we think it was a great success. Some people submitted revisions of their schemes and we haven’t posted the originals – hopefully we didn’t omit the wrong ones. If so, let us know and we will make the correction.

Today we want to have a general discussion about all of the work and we have posted all of the proposals along with the brief rationale provided by the author. To help structure the discussion we have organized the submissions into three broad categories based on the location of the kitchen. In many situations, the decision of where to place the kitchen is one of the first and more critical design choices to make. The plans are not placed in any particular order.

Remember, that the kitchen location is just the first of many other design choices and we hope that the discussion today will cover all aspects of the design. You can talk about one plan, compare two plans or discuss how several plans deal with the same problem in different ways. Feel free to download one of the plans, mark it up, and repost it to the site in order to illustrate your thoughts.

Tomorrow we will announce our pick for the best design as well as the results from the past three days of voting!

Group One – Kitchen In Original Position

Murray	Jessica	Brad W
Frances	Nicole	Tiffany
Tara

Group Two – Kitchen in Top Right of Plan

Terri	Molly K	Grace
Brad W	Andy

Group Three – Kitchen in center and front

Terri	Paul C	Mid America Mom
Mid America Mom	Mid America Mom	Molly K

This is Day 113 of the Slow Home Project and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months. This week we are reviewing the results of our work in Denver and today we are going to be voting on the Slow Home Award in the single family home category.

Single family houses in Denver have scored better on the Slow Home Test overall than in Dallas or Toronto with 39% of single family houses meeting the minimum design quality threshold in Denver – as opposed to only 20% meeting this level in Toronto and Dallas. We are curious as to why this would be the case – what do you think?

Today we need everyone to vote for who they think should win the Slow Home Award for the best single family house design in the Denver area. We have two nominees in this category.

The first is Washpark Green by In Situ Design. This is a semi-detached pair of houses located in the Washington Park neighborhood south of downtown. The houses are 2,890 sq ft and have two bedrooms over two floors. It is a LEED Gold project and scored 18 out of 20 points on the Slow Home Test. The project was first posted to the site by Molly K.

The second nominated project is House 3973D in the Spring Leaf community of Boulder. This project was developed by Ron Manahan and Terry Britton along with architect George Watt. This project consists of 12 custom designed homes located in an existing community. The project is Net Zero and LEED Platinum with a total of 2,748 sq ft on two floors. It was first posted to the site by Mid America Mom.

Thank you for voting.

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Let us know which project you voted for and why – we would love to have a discussion!

Join us tomorrow where John and Matthew will be reviewing the entries of the “Denver Design Challenge” and awarding the prize for the best design!

Today is Day 112 of the Slow Home Project and we need you to join us in our quest to evaluate the design quality of houses in nine North American cities in nine months. This week we are reviewing the results of our work in Denver and today we are going to be voting on the Slow Home Award in the townhome category.

We need you to vote on who you think should win the Slow Home Award for Best Townhouse Design in the Denver area!

Townhouses in Denver scored much better on the Slow Home Test than apartment/ loft projects. We think it is safe to conclude that Denver is a City of townhouses as opposed to a City of apartment/ lofts. In Denver, 46% of the townhouses that were analyzed achieved the minimum 13 out of 20 points on the Slow Home Test to consider their design acceptable. This is much better than the townhouses in Dallas where only 30% reached the minimum design threshold but still less than Toronto where 51% of townhouses scored at least 13 out of 20 points.

The three townhouse projects nominated for a Slow Home Award are:

The first project is Unit 3 in the “Zuni Townhomes” project. This unit is 2,523 sq ft and has two bedrooms on three floors. It was originally posted by Alejandro and scored 18 out of 20 on the Slow Home Test.

The second project is Unit 104 in the “Pure Townhomes” project designed by Ray Byron Design Development. This unit is 1,635 sq ft and is a three bedroom unit on four levels. It scored 18 out of 20 on the Slow Home Test and was posted by Mid America Mom and Wayne.

The third project eligible for the Award is Unit 102 in the “Flats 15″ project by Bothwell Davis George Architects. This unit is 2,218 sq ft and is three bedrooms on four levels. It scored 19 out of 20 on the Slow Home Test and was originally posted by Scott.

Thank you for voting.

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Post your comments as to who you voted for and why!

Remember, you can click on the link for the “Slow Home Project” and then either search the Google Map or the list to read the comments made by the original people who posted these projects. You can also have a look at the actual Slow Home Tests as they were originally filled out.

Also, don’t forget to submit your plan for the “Denver Design Challenge” to john@theslowhome.com before 9pm Calgary (Mountain) time to be eligible to win the prize for Best Design! John and Matthew will be reviewing all the submissions in Thursdays episode.

Join us tomorrow where we will be voting on who should win the Slow Home Award for Best Single Family House in Denver!