With all the wonderful focus on being Green @ Home and simple ways to get green here at AT, I wanted to share a great neighborhood built on green (and modern!) sensibilities here in Austin. Whether you're thinking of buying a house in Austin or just want to see inspiring photos of Austin modern architecture, the Agave neighborhood has all the bases covered. More after the jump!
First dreamed up by Vicinia Development in 2005, the idea behind the Agave neighborhood of homes was to create a development entirely of affordable, energy-saving and green houses. The job was undertaken by seven Central Texan architects who brought their best to the table and have achieved beautiful residential architecture results that receive both Austin S.M.A.R.T. and Green Building designations.
The most surprising thing to me (besides the amazing fact that all these homes in one place are so eco-friendly) is how diverse the architecture is here. I admit, sometimes when all you see is a modern home here and there around different Austin neighborhoods, it’s hard to remember them being all that different. But at Agave, you can really stand back and admire them all for their differences in shape, size, color, material--even orientation to the landscape.
Agave homes come equipped with green features such as 14 Seer HVAC with energy-efficient gas furnaces, tank-less hot water gas water heaters, low profile water saving commodes and fixtures, R-13 std Batt insulation in walls and R-30 Blown-in insulation in ceilings.
Potential future homeowners will have to take the fact that you can’t quite walk to downtown (it's close, but not very close) into consideration before moving to the Agave neighborhood, but for the prices these amazing houses are going for (starting in the low $200s), it might be worth the wait to let the city come to you.
You can learn more about the Agave neighborhood on their website. Agave is located East of Highway 183 on Martin Luther King Blvd.
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Comments (11)
wow!!!! THAT'S a prefab community i could live in. no mcmansions for me thanks.
All those flat roofs seem like great places for rooftop gardens . . . but I guess they would have to be designed not to need much, if any, water. Beautiful homes!
the architects website for the house in the first photo is"
www.wabisabimodern.com
very nice work. not many photos (click on the pdf portfolio link) but a few more of the agave projects and others in the works.
I really liked Agave with the exception of the lack of adult trees. I hope their next project doesn't include mowing down all the trees.
It would be nice if they also had more of a range in pricing.
atxmod, thanks for that resource! Those were some good photos
creolesugar, I believe that the development they are building next door to Agave will offer green living with different price ranges. http://fioregreen.com/
creolesugar- there are places in that area that don't have a lot of trees, although they usually do have a lot of scrubby (and famously allergenic) cedars. But I agree, one way or another it needs trees.
how does the quote go? "Suburbia is where they cut down all the trees and name the streets after them." Growing up in small towns I had no idea that having mature trees was such a big deal. I'm finding out...
I love how this place looks, except for 2 things:
1. I don't see a single solar panel.
2. I see lots of grass lawn.
Calling this a green neighborhood without solar panels and with grass lawns in a place that looks to be perfect for the former and the wrong climate for the latter is a complete misnomer. Perhaps the solar panels aren't pictured and the grass is native grass that needs no extra water, but I would expect that to be loudly proclaimed if it were the case. I didn't see anything about either on the website.
As for the trees . . . it takes a lot of water to help a tree survive in a dry place like Austin. I personally prefer sweeping views of rolling prairie hills to the enclosed feeling that I get in forested areas, but I think it's a beauty that not as many people appreciate. I only hope that the trees that get planted in areas such as this are chosen with their water consumption in mind.
I am an "Agavite"...as we call ourselves living in Agave so I thought I would address some of the other comments after your great article.
1. For a neighborhood only a couple years old, we already have MANY solar panels on the homes. It has been a 1st priority for many of us and many others are saving after the expense of closing on a home and will have one soon.
2.There is a vast range of pricing. Phase 2 just opened with homes starting at $200,000 and they go up to half a million dollars.
3. We do have houses with roof top decks and/or gardens
4. The builders did not plow down all the trees. In fact in many cases, they went to great care not to so so. You'll see driveways that go straight, curve around a big tree, and continue, etc. In my home home I was thrilled at how they worked around grading my yard but weaving in between trees to do so in order to leave them.
5.My house also backs up to a forest and always will
6. If you drive straight out MLK you hit downtown in 7 minutes and, since we are at the top of the hill, the views of downtown and sunsets are breathtaking from most homes.
7.All homes had new trees planted after they had to be graded and built...every home has custom landscaping including one tree.
8.Fiore is by the same developer as Agave (Vicinia) and will be the next phase. It will be 5 star green rated, have electric plug ins for cars in all garages, etc. These should start in the 400s so you actually have a wider range of pricing in the Agave series.
9.We also have community areas...one that is being built now will have shared edible gardens.
10.Many homes are doing ecofriendly lawns. Again, most houses here are a year or less old. Althought many have already bought solar panels, redoing your yard and adding solar panels instantly isn't so easy after closing on a $300,000 home which is the average price here. Fiore will have ALL Xeriscaping though rom the get-go.
11. Ive owned many homes and even worked for builders in the past but never have I had a home built as well as this, with great energy efficiency and fast repsonse when I call the builder after closing to to do a touch-up or whatever. Plus with planned activitied (such as a movie under the stars from Alamo Draft HOuse's MObile theater in Sept) it's a great place to really KNOW your eco-friendly neighbors
12. We just won Dreyer's "Coolest US Neighborhoood" contest and we ALL get a truckload of icecream for an icecream party for it (a national contest that had 20,000 entrants...we were Grand Prize winner.)
13. We also won the Chronicles "Best Of" issues: Best Cubist Neighborhood.
14.Therefore, I am a huge cheerleader for where I live, obviously. I drive home happily every day after work for the first time in a very long time.
Also, No home in the entire community is "pre-fab" as someone thought.
Come on out and see...every board, beam, foundation, bit of wood, stucco, or hardi, metal roof...done right here on-site.
I have fallen in love with the homes in the agave community, they are breathtaking. There are similar homes all throughout Austin (architecture wise). Some of my favorites are west of South Congress avenue. I feel weird driving by and looking into their homes since many have floor to ceiling windows.