Greening of Georgia Street: wishtv.com

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – It’s similar to the material you see on a football field. Now, the artificial grass is making its way to Georgia Street in Downtown Indianapolis.

It‘s all part of the push to spruce up the area in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.

Hundreds of thousands are expected to pack Georgia Street Super Bowl weekend and the days before.

Saturday, a small crew form SYNLawn spent the majority of the day installing artificial grass.

SYNLawn — the company the city contracted to install the grass — donated nearly $14,000 worth of material to help spruce up the city.

The company’s owner, Phil Phillips said, “We saw that we might be able to do something and be apart of it and the whole family went for that very quickly.”

Jan Pritchard and her husband, Ron, spent the day checking out the recent changes.

“We wanted to walk and see what it is going to look like before the Super Bowl,” Jan Pritchard said. Her husband added they wanted to beat the big crowd leading up to game day.

Meanwhile, Super Bowl week warming stations will line Georgia Street. There will also be a host of activities for you and the family.

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By Paula McCooey, The Ottawa Citizen

We’ve come to that point in the year when we can park the lawnmower and not think about it for the next six months. But what if you could scratch that task off your list of chores forever and still have the benefit of a “manicured lawn?”

Larry Roy has the answer — artificial turf — and his work is starting to get noticed across the city, whether it be the lawn of a new residential infill, an indoor putting green or even a Minto model home.

Roy is a distributor and installer for SYNLawn Canada (SYNLawn.ca) and patches of his artificial lawn product are cropping up in all kinds of places, including rooftops, roof decks, patios, playgrounds and the new Ott­awa Humane Society on West Hunt Club Road — of the more than 20 varieties of grass, there is even one specifically designed for pets.

Why go for fake grass?

In the case of Minto, the leader in green building is testing it as part of the company’s green initiative, installing it at two model homes, the Gainsborough and Hathaway, in the Orléans community of Avalon. Installed in the spring, it’s too soon for Minto to know whether it’ll be cost-effective, but marketing director Catherine Shea says they’re getting positive feedback from those visiting the models.

“There are a number of benefits to it … we should be saving on water, irrigation system, mowing, fertilizing, aeration, etc.”

The look and feel is made to come as close to the real thing as possible. Soft on your feet, with realistic-looking blades, the synthetic grass uses recycled material. And no matter how you slice it, maintaining real grass costs time and money.

The company claims about a 50-per-cent reduction in residential water use, as well as reductions in carbon emissions from lawn equipment.

“Without having to power up heavy lawn mowers, whack weeds, or water grass, SYNLawn removes those elements and is virtually maintenance free,” says Roy.

Using the Minto home as an example, he estimates the return on their investment at around 28 months if they own the showhome for five years.

“The biggest concern was water usage, cutting, and the (long) labour hours in maintaining it, especially being a showhome because you want it to always look good,” he says.

The product is manufactured in Dalton, Georgia, which is known for textile manufacturing, and distributed across Canada and the U.S. You’ll find it at high-traffic tourist areas such as the San Diego Zoo, Disneyland and the Wynn Las Vegas Resort.

Locally, Roy says, he’s done about 150 residential and commercial installations over the past five years and business has grown substantially even from last year. One interesting project was a $6-million home he worked on in Rideau Forest in Manotick that mimics a live roof.

“When (the owner) was on the second floor, all he saw was asphalt shingles and all this gorgeous forest around him,” says Roy.

“So we ended up turfing his entire rooftop. And you know what, it looks like a live roof.”

Besides saving energy, he says these applications are recognized as LEED compliant. A water retrieval system placed under the synthetic grass allows rainwater to penetrate and follow channels into a collection system.

Other projects include the more traditional installation of indoor greens at the Ottawa Athletic Club and the Kevin Haime Golf School, several home indoor putting greens and the not-so-traditional 6,000 square feet of dog turf at the new humane society. Roy also installed the grass on two rooftop courtyards at the Claridge Plaza 1 condo tower on Rideau Street.

The turf costs $5.50 to $7.50 a square foot with installation running from about $3.50 to $8 per square foot.

For residential projects, Roy warns homeowners be wary of artificial grass overkill and suggests striving for balance by incorporating different textures of interlock, river rock and garden.

So how does the turf weather Canadian elements?

Just fine.

“In the wintertime, it is covered in snow, so it is actually being protected from the ultraviolet rays,” Roy says of the fade factor.

“And the rays here in Ottawa are not as strong as they would be down south where the product is used, too.”

Now if we could only turf our snowblowers.

CLICK HERE to read the full story online.

By Patrick Langston, Ottawa Citizen

Green homes, except for the odd rebel, just want to be one of the gang. At least, that seems to be the message from the Kermit-coloured corner at the Housing Design Awards held Oct. 22 by the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association.

This year, there were entries in the green tract, renovation (entire home) and development categories.

Corvinelli Homes’ 1,338-square-foot Napoli bungalow took the tract prize. It was the second year in a row the company has won the award.

“This is really nice,” said company president John Corvinelli after winning the trophy. “Everything I did in this house is standard in our homes. It shows you don’t have to be a tree-hugger to use less energy.”

And while the home stood out at the awards, its Century Stone elevation and covered front entrance would fit into any neighbourhood. Looking at it, you’d never guess it’s so efficient that the total monthly energy bill shouldn’t top $150.

That’s thanks to heavy insulation, an R16 garage door, a drainwater heat recovery system and other elements that boost it above Energy Star standards.

Yet features like an open-concept design, coffered ceilings in the living room, entranceway and bedroom and ceiling-high upper cabinets with crown moulding and valance lights in the kitchen make the home both functional and attractive.

“It costs maybe three-per-cent more to take the house from code to super-insulated,” says Corvinelli, who builds in outlying areas.

An “Ultimate Insulation” package, which boosts attic insulation, for example, to R63 from R50 and cuts those heating bills even further, is available for an extra $3,000.

The Napoli sells for $267,080 in Crysler and $320,070 in Russell.

“These are all tract homes,” says Corvinelli, referring to his full line of Energy Star dwellings, “but they look nice, I think.”

Looks are critical when it comes to green, agrees Matthew Sachs, general manager at Urbandale Construction. The company went up against Corvinelli with itsMenlo Park III model.

“One of our guiding principles is trying to keep design first and foremost when we’re integrating green technologies,” says Sachs.

However, with an EnerGuide rating of 86, both an R-2000 label and Energy Star certification, and a claim that it uses 66-per-cent less energy than a home built just to code (the building code will be upgraded come 2012), the Menlo Park III is clearly green-savvy.

Amid all this eco-awareness, the three-car garage is a bit of a head-scratcher.

When it comes to design, the 3,290-square-foot home echoes Frank Lloyd Wright in its strongly linear elements, says Sachs. The home, part of Urbandale’s modern-themed Horizon line, features a shed rather than a gabled roof line, and the black mullioned windows underscore the linearity. Available in Kanata Lakes and elsewhere, it starts at $614,900.

Buyers don’t rank green among their top priorities, he adds. The community and look of a home are more important, while green is “the feel-good clincher.”

The third tract home contender was Minto’s spacious Gainsborough in east-end Avalon.

Starting at $453,000, it features four bedrooms, a stylish curved staircase, a generous kitchen with a breakfast nook and other gracious must-haves. At the same time, it’s Energy Star-rated with interesting green features, like an all-off switch system and SYNlawn, an artificial sod alternative that saves millions of litres in watering each year and eliminates the need for mowing and fertilizing.

Contenders like these prove that esthetics are important in a green home, says Chris Hewett, a professor of architectural technology at Algonquin College and a judge for this year’s Housing Design Awards.

Esthetics, not just green features, were a larger consideration in judges’ decisions this year than ever before, he says. “It was one of the recommendations we made last year. You don’t want to just throw money at technology and call (a home) green. It has to stand on its own against conventional homes.”

The green renovation prize went to an Echo Drive-area project that’s anything but conventional. A blocky modern home clad in airtight acrylic stucco, it started life as a modest brick bungalow. The existing home was renovated rather than replaced to avoid disruption of the building site.

Amsted Design-Build, a regular green winner at the annual awards, did the massive overhaul, picking up honours for custom bathroom and kitchen in the same home in the process.

A LEED Platinum candidate, the highest level in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building, the house is heavily insulated and features triple-glazed windows, including two storeys of glazing on the southwest wall to light the stair tower and provide natural illumination deep into the home.

A solar system heats water for domestic use and preheats water for home heating.

“We were building green houses back when we were granola crunchers and hippies. Now we’re cool,” a jubilant Steve Barkhouse, Amsted’s president, said at the awards. By giving green awards, he added, the association has raised the energy efficiency bar for builders and consumers alike.

Amsted’s sole competitor was RND Construction and co-submitter Chuck Mills Residential Design and Development. Their project saw a drab and drafty house transformed into an Energy Star-equivalent home with timber and Arts and Crafts elements in its new façade and a host of new interior features, including a spacious, stone-tile vestibule.

Minto took the green development award for its Stonefield Flats condominium project in Barrhaven’s Chapman Mills. It had no competitors. Registered as Canada’s largest LEED multi-family community, the flats, which start at $218,600, are close to walking and bike trails, public transit and other natural and commercial facilities.

Again, looking at their tri-coloured exteriors and gabled roofline and entranceways, you’d never guess they contain state-of-the-art insulation systems and other green features.

With trends like this, Hewett says green homes will in all likelihood eventually be absorbed into the main award categories. “Right now, green is still on the fringe, but it will become just the norm.”

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The Loose Affiliates presents Picnurbia
Opening Reception: Friday, Aug 11, 5-8pm

Posted by Artsy! Dartsy! Weekly!

Location: Robson St between Howe and Hornby. BYO-Picnic!

In the summer, Vancouverites leave their neighbourhoods and head to the beach, thereby inhabiting the edge of the city. PICNURBIA suggests an alternative to this exodus, creating an inland zone for people to gather and picnic in the heart of downtown.

At PICNURBIA, the summer act of picnicking is heightened by an über–picnic-blanket. This undulating landscape provides spaces for people to hang out and play in alternative formations, providing a new experience of urban picnicking.

PICNURBIA offers space for people to come together, relax and watch. Inserted into the urban downtown neighbourhood, a community where people already live, work and visit, the site is intended to become an easily inhabited summer zone, where people may gather to enjoy the long summer days. PICNURBIA is designed to offer an ‘on-the-block’ amenity where people can drop by on purpose or stumble upon more informally as they walk or bike home. This will establish PICNURBIA as a summer node, carried on mouth-to-mouth, “Let’s meet at PICNURBIA”

Picnurbia is realised in collaboration with Viva Vancouver and is supported by SYNLawn, suppliers of PICNURBIA’s vibrant yellow turf.

Read the full story at this location.

Okanagan, BC — The phrase artificial turf or artificial grass might raise a multitude of thoughts or feelings, but when it comes to artificial lawns and putting greens, SYNLawn synthetic grass is at the head of its class in technology, texture, appearance and performance.

While the SYNLawn name and product has been used for commercial and residential applications for a decade; their family of grass products have been distributed under the AstroTurf^® name to professional and collegiate organizations around the globe since 1965. The SYNLawn brand includes over 25 different synthetic versions of grass for both commercial and residential applications. SYNLawn Okanagan offers synthetic grass solutions for landscapes, pet areas, playgrounds, rooftops, patio decks and customized golf greens, all with the look and feel of natural grass.

Golf in your own yard? Why not! Whether you are serious about your golf game or just looking for recreational putting at home, a SYNLawn golf green is the solution for you. SYNLawn golf materials offer consistent ball speed, minimal off-line deviation, and natural impact performance.

“Having the proper material is only part of the recipe,” says Rene Bourgault from SYNLawn Okanagan, “the quality of the installation is just as important as the quality of the products used.”

Artificial putting greens will only perform as good as the base underneath. A proper base must be perfectly smooth, maintain a proper slope, and can include various elevations. It is by combining these elements that SYNLawn creates a versatile putting surface that can be used for practice and play.

“We have fun collaborating with customers, building something functional as well as beautiful for their property,” says Bourgault.

For playgrounds and well used areas, he says, “We have materials specifically designed for high traffic applications. In fact, we have a playground specific system. For something like this, we would use a recycled foam material on top of the crush gravel base, followed by the grass. The system is both CSA approved and extremely “green” in nature. We’ve completed a number of projects for licensed child care facilities in Kelowna, all of whom could attest to the resiliency and low maintenance aspect of using SYNLawn in their facility.” SYNLawn is the perfect choice for these high traffic locations – and no mud means cleaner pets and children.

Green all over – beyond the colour of their products, SYNLawn goes a long way towards better environmental sustainability which makes it truly “green.” SYNLawn products utilize a soy backing using over 60% renewable resources by weight. This backing helps prevent any unwanted growth (weeds) and is equipped with drainage holes for any snow melt, rainwater and other fluids. SYNLawn landscapes reduce not only water consumption, carbon emissions and fuel consumption from lawn equipment but the noise pollution too.

What about the heat? With Las Vegas being SYNLawn’s largest market the need for the grass to withstand heat was apparent and the solution is HeatBlock Technology. HeatBlock Technology is one of many features separating SYNLawn from its competitors this key benefit reduces surface temperatures up to 20% compared to competitor products.

Asked what sets SYNLawn apart from the competition, Bourgault says, “SYNLawn is a vertically integrated manufacturer and produces the best synthetic grass in the industry. What that means is that we can control quality from “yarn to yard;” from the initial research and manufacturing to on-site consultation and final install,” something Bourgault says no one else in the industry is able to offer. Completed SYNLawn projects transform a previously high maintenance, costly lawn into an easy to maintain, water-saving show piece.

If you’re wondering about wear, colour and warranty, they’ve got
all that covered too. There is only a “5-8% loss in original colour over the warranty period. We have a manufacturer warranty on the material that depending on the material used can range from 7-12 years. This warranty covers any staining from pets, chlorine, and product failure.”

So how does Bourgault sum up SYNLawn Okanagan? “Synthetic grass solutions for any application; SYNLawn is the most advanced and realistic synthetic grass system available.”

The industry innovator produces the most advanced landscape solutions and putting surfaces in the market.

“Throughout 2010, we strategically expanded our presence by partnering with exceptional distributors that share SYNLawn’s commitment to synthetic grass innovation and the highest quality workmanship, installation and service,” said George Neagle, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for SYNLawn^®. “Now residential and business customers have the opportunity to experience and buy more of our products in person in addition to ordering online.”

Over the past year, SYNLawn^® expanded from 10 locations to 35 throughout the United States and Canada. The company’s new distributors include: Heritage Landscape Products in the Bay Area of California, SYNLawn^® Chicago in Illinois, Easy Grass in Florida, SYNScapes of Indiana, Chesapeake Bay Synthetic Landscapes LLC in the DC Metro area, Turf Etc in Missouri, Big Sky Synthetic Lawns in Montana, MAXLawn Artificial Landscape Turf in North Carolina, Minot Enterprises in North Dakota, Strickly Green Grass in Houston and Texas Turf Solutions in Dallas.

SYNLawn^® has also gained attention for the eco-friendly nature of their synthetic grass, which is 100% recyclable. They led the industry in using renewable resources and recycled materials in their manufacturing process. Over the past five years, the amount of synthetic grass sold and installed by the company has conserved 4.7 billion gallons of water and prevented smog emissions equivalent to an automobile driving 1.1 million miles from entering the environment.

As a result of SYNLawn^®’s growth and innovation, the company has appointed Michelle I. Rybus to the newly-created position of Sales Support Manager. The job focuses on providing outstanding sales and marketing support to SYNLawn^®’s network of 35 distributors across the United States and Canada.

Prior to assuming this elevated role, Rybus held the key positions of Warehouse Manager, Sales Manager and also worked in outside sales since joining SYNLawn^® in 2006. Her 15 years of landscape industry experience also includes serving as the Marketing Coordinator for Kichler Lighting and handling outside sales of landscape supplies for John Deere Landscapes. She is a resident of Henderson, Nevada.

About SYNLawn^®

SYNLawn^® is the industry innovator on synthetic grass. Their lush and livable synthetic grass systems have transformed the way synthetic grass is used, producing the most advanced and performance oriented putting surfaces and synthetic landscaping solutions in the market. SYNLawn^® uses exclusive nylon technologies to produce unmatched solutions for synthetic landscape, golf, pet and playground systems. SYNLawn^®‘s grass products are 100% recyclable and lead compliant. As the only vertically integrated manufacturer/installer in the business, SYNLawn^® delivers customers the highest quality artificial grass products at a competitive price with the most genuine industry warranty. With the company’s rapid expansion, SYNLawn^® has 35 locations now open in the United States and Canada. To learn more visit SYNLawn^®.

SYNLawn^® manufactures, installs and warranties the very best synthetic grass available to the Canadian market today. With true vertical integration, SYNLawn^® is able to control the quality factors customers deem critical; all the way from the production of yarn to the end landscape install – controlled quality from start to finish!

SYNLawn^® synthetic grass systems are the most advanced in the industry and we pride ourselves on educating our customers about every aspect of your project to provide you with as much information possible about your project as we believe a better informed consumer means clear expectations and ensured satisfaction. We will design and install your synthetic grass project whether it be a residential lawn, Dave Pelz inspired putting green, or your neighborhood playground. Our SYNLawn^® roof-deck designs one of the most popular ways to expand your living space.

With approximately 25 different synthetic grasses to choose from, we have a grass for every application, every problem area, and can provide infinite design capabilities to suit your needs.