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Green architecture doesn’t have to cancel out traditional community designs or striking good looks. EcoHome magazine’s second annual design awards announced this week went to breath-taking examples that mixed innovation with traditional appeal. I like to poke fun at platitudes. But it’s tough to play the comedy card when home designers create such exquisite homes that advance our culture. Here are four of the winners:

Architecture that looks great and acts green

Photo by EcoHome Magazine

Samsel Architects of Asheville, N.C., came up with the designs for the Celo Residence, a 1,538-square-foot home that captured an EcoHome Grand Award for its sustainable 3,750-gallon rainwater catchment cistern, low-flow toilet systems, and low-VOC interior paints. Read the details at EcoHome.

There was an old home in Nantucket

Photo by Inman News

Take one 264-year-old home on Nantucket Island, restore it to the charm of its original architecture, add a kitchen and bath – and do it all while meeting LEED insulation and air sealing requirements. Kudos (and a Grand Award) to Rosenberg Kolb Architects of New York City. Read more about the winners at Yahoo.

Aloha by Design

Photo by EcoHome Magazine

The trick was to build the 45 subsidized homes of the Kumuhau Subdivision on Oahu using solar power and rainwater drip irrigation, earning  LEED-Gold certification. Praise for architects Armstrong Development of Honolulu. Inman News offers a comprehensive write up on these homes that reflect traditional plantation architecture, honoring nature.

Going, going, green

Photo by EcoHome Magazine

The award-winning GO Home in Belfast, Maine, is only the 12^th home in the nation to earn the “Passive House” designation, and EcoHome predicts its solar, south-facing orientation will recover $170,000 in energy costs over three decades of use. The house, designed by architects at GO Logic Homes of Belfast, has a pending LEED-Platinum certification.

Bravo!

Every time I move, I make an earnest effort to sell, trade or give away several boxes of books. I collect them by the bushel. Some have deep emotional ties in my psyche and I’ll never give them away, books that opened my mind and soul, or books that are signed by friends and authors. I have cartons of books I have yet to read or that I store under the bed and in closets. Shelf space is a premium since I fill whatever space I have.

I was awestruck by the “Shelf-pod” house in Japan, built by architect Kazuya Morita. The 557-square-foot home in the Osaka area has bookshelves on every wall, from floor to ceiling, and it can hold ten tons of books. Take that, Kindle fans!

Architecture for book lovers

Photo by Inman News

The Shelf pod house exteriors are modest, lending no real clue to the amazing spaciousness inside for any bibliophile. The shelving, Yahoo reports, is strong enough to hang the entire house on it. Morita claims the pod is designed to resist earthquake damage.

Books, boots and beyond

Morita Architecture Studio

Morita says he loves the challenge of combining traditional Japanese architecture with sustainable features. His Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio is dedicated to making comfortable domiciles in small spaces.

Paying homage to architectural influences

Photo by Yahoo

The Shelf-pod is a harmonious combination of designs from a traditional Japanese storehouse and Kumiko woodcraft schools while using deft touches of Islamic calligraphy and Turkish patterns.

Bathtub reading permitted

Photo by Huh Magazine

Even the bath is supported by a wall of shelves. In an Inman News interview, Morita says his creations are perfect options for large cities in China, New York and England.

As resources continue to dwindle–along with usable space–it’s comforting to think that humans and their books will abide.