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Get to know Geraldina

Geraldina Interiano Wise — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Principal Designer, Casa Concept Inc.

My favorite city to go recharge my artistic energy- a toss up between New York and London

My favorite artist- Robert Motherwell, Miro, Jeff Koonz

My favorite City Hotel- I love the environmental edge of the Kimpton Hotels, the courtyard entry of the New York Palace, and Las Ventanas in Cabo. My favorite country hotel is Cadran Solaire in Provence.

State of Design- 20th Century modern has become generic. I continue to espouse eclectic design that has been pared down to elegance, airiness, and comfort, with personal touches

Spaces that touch my heart- urban small scale streets that double as cafes at night; a cozy modern and elegant bathroom with a balcony and lounge chair to take in vitamin D; a prayer chapel in Patmos Greece, the mineral baths of Bath Ragaz, Swiss Alps, the jagged peaks of the Andes.

Elements that permeate my design- views, air and light; healthy and environmentally friendly finishes and materials; a cadence of small and large spaces, romance, and a keen sense of perfect proportions

My favorite music- Coldplay, The National, Arctic Monkeys among many of the indie bands that my teenage son introduces me to, opera, classical violin and guitar.

Favorite family outing- Austin City Limits in the fall, river tour and Art Insitute visit in Chicago, best restaurants in NYC, Serpentine gallery in Hyde Park, London, hiking the Alps

Magazines I read regularly- Dwell, Architectural Digest, New York Times magazine

Materials I favor- 100% recycled glass tile, natural stone, stained concrete, large format and rectangular floor and wall porcelain tiles preferably rectified for the most minute of grout lines, leather, the earthiness of saltillo tile. A house is like an empty canvas, and it is in the juxtaposition of the honest materials that I find the evolution of personal style.

Favorite colors- white, coral red, bright salmon, the colors of the aquamarine Caribbean waters, the color of limestone

Favorite places- world patrimony sites like Antigua Guatemala, Las Joyas del Ceren ( El Salvador), Prague, Bath (England); they connect me to deep time and force the thought that the present is the future.

Next trip- overdue to understand the vastness of the Chinese soil, people and traditions

16-Nov-09 7:00 PM

Father's Day Green gift

Geraldina Interiano Wise — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

What could be a greener gift to give Dad (of any age!) for FATHER'S DAY than a SOLAR FLASHLIGHT! Sometimes, what seems to be too good to be true is THAT GOOD. $29.00 + shipping gives you not only the most practical and greenest gift for Dad, but also lots of bragging rights for him. This solar lamp has been vetted in Iraq by our soldiers, and by young and adult users in Africa. Designed to be indestructible and to be used also as a tasklight, this solar lamp will not only give you 6-8 hours of light per night, but also keep you from having to purchase batteries, keep batteries in reserve, and dispose of batteries that leach into our landfills.

Dad would probably prefer our orange solar flashlight, but our hot pink one is so hip that Mom may want one too. These lamps are true renewable energy at work. The joy of not having to turn on lights to get up in the middle of the night, or to read by this truly white LED light is priceless, but does translate into energy savings once you discover the many uses it has at night. Our dog-lover customers keep a lamp by the leash, and enjoy many hours of safe walking the dogs at night.

The media is already preparing us for the impending Hurricane season, are you prepared? The best Hurricane tool that our customers had for Hurricane IKE was their personal Solar lamp. While most people were scrambling for batteries, these solar lamps were simply recharging on window sills during the day, and on all night. Read more about our SOLAR Flashlight.

Give Dad bragging rights this Father's Day by giving him the greenest gift of all, a personal Solar lamp. Visit our showroom

26-May-09 11:00 AM

Energy Study: the household economic stimulus package

Geraldina Interiano Wise — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Texas leads the nation in energy production. We also lead the nation in energy consumption, and we are paying 56% more each year for electricity than the national residential average, according to the latest findings from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The nation is looking at President Obama to give us an economic stimulus package that will reach each one of our households...NOW! Yet the answer to saving money is at our fingertips: energy remodels to our existing homes. This is the GREEN economy at work, the savings are real, and the impact is now. The key is having an energy study of your home in hand, some sweat equity, and a modest investment in your house. The result? Lower energy bills for the rest of the life of the home.

Energy studies, audits or doctors come in many different formats and at different cost. This is a relatively new phenomena, but one that is here to stay. The existing housing stock of America is consuming too large a share of energy in this country, and the best way to protect an investment is to do a due diligence on the home. After hearing a presentation on a case study at the Greenbuild Conference in Boston in Nov. 2008, it became evident that we have the new technology to do an energy study of every home in America, and tackle efficiently and economically the main culprits of energy waste in the home.

The technology is the Thermographic camera, which forms an image using infrared radiation, similar to a common camera that forms an image using visible light. Instead of the 450-750 nanometer range of the visible light camera, infrared cameras operate in wavelengths as long as 14,000 nm. The results are similar to an X ray machine in that it can see through some walls and detects surface anomalies; they can tell the story behind ceilings and walls of old insulation that is compromised, of ductwork that is leaking, of cracked walls that let in moisture and outside air, of attic accesses that allow for attic and indoor air to merge. Out with the generic notion of having to change all windows and doors, strip the whole house, or demolish the old leaky house. In is the notion that we can evaluate each home and find the culprits of energy waste that can reduce the energy bills by 20-50%.

It is important that you trust that you will be getting not only a thorough report on the energy performance of your home, but also an individualized and prioritized list of the most impactful changes that are to be made to the house or to the systems in order to maximize the return on the investment made. Don't think about this much longer; if you have a house older than the year 2000, you too can garner the savings in your monthly energy bill next month...to the tune of minimum of 20%, and up to 50%. In these economic times, there is not a better investment out there.

See themography pictures

See a video excerpt of our Casa Concept Energy Study

Video #1 What elements are we recording

Video #2 Insulation that doesn't work

Video #3 Rethinking windows and shade trees

Video #4 Size of A/C unit and ductwork as the big energy culprit

Video #5 Recommendations for energy remodel

Video #6 Healthy home

See a sample Casa Concept Energy Study

24-Feb-09 3:00 PM

Is Your Countertop Making You Sick? Radon in Your Home

Geraldina Interiano Wise — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:15:00 GMT

When it comes to building or remodeling, GREEN or not, the preference for many years now has been to use granite countertops for their durability and aesthetic qualities. This top choice of architects, designers and homeowners is at the center of ongoing controversy: is naturally occuring Radon in stone making our homes a health hazard? Could it be as simple as avoiding using stone from certain countries?

There is no such list of countries, and never will be. To get to the bottom of this subject, we started by testing the all the stone in our Casa Concept House, 6 months ago, under the pilot program in Houston conducted by the non-profit Build Clean. The tests were negative. It was important to ascertain this, because this GREEN, Energy Star, high efficiency home is built tightly, and Radon or any other gas can and will acumulate in the indoor air.

Is it possible that we are endangering our families by introducing natural stone in our homes? It is.

The best and most recent research on this subject has been done by Rice University Professor W.J. Llope, who published his research in April of 2008. According to Professor Llope,"naturally occurring Uranium nuclei decay into an element called Radium, which produces an unstable gas called Radon. Breathing air that contains radon thus deposits radioactive elements directly into the soft-tissues of the lungs and can cause lung cancer."

Is it possible to test the material before purchasing it? Not easily at the moment, but that time is coming, and it will depend on consumers getting serious about ascertaining that these natural materials don't come from quarries that have a high ocurrance of Radon. The day should come when stone slabs and quarries are tested for Radon before the imported slabs arrive at our ports, given that in this capitalistic nation, if the material is already inside the country, it is bound to show up in some unsuspecting victim's home. .

If you are ready to know if your existing granite or stone countertop or floors are emitting radon ( it is hard to deal with the possibility of having to change your countertops or floors), you can find Radon testing kits in most hardware stores. The kit you chose should state “meets EPA requirements" and should be listed in the National Radon Safety Board's devices list.

As for acceptable concentrations of Radon in your house, Dr. Llope states:"The EPA suggests remediation for radon concentrations exceeding 2 pCi/L, and strongly recommends remediation for concentrations exceeding 4 pCi/L. These administrative limits are our best guide of what levels of exposure are dangerous and what levels aren’t. However, there is no safe amount of radiation or radon."

What can we do if we find the aforementioned levels of Radon in our homes? If you own natural stone countertops, here are some suggestions from Dr. Llope's report: " Ventilate your home as often as possible by opening windows - this exchanges potentially radon-laden air from the inside of your home with essentially radon-free air (at least in the Houston area)
from the outside. The radon concentration in an unventilated volume of air reaches its saturation density in about 27 days - so open your windows for a half-day once every few weeks. Make sure that you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the regular maintenance of your countertops, which typically call for regular resealing of the surface (once per year)."

As for preventive measures for Greening your home, it should be specified in writing to contractorsand/or fabricators that the granite/stone countertops can and should be sealed on all four sides.

Eventhough too much regulation can deter the natural flow of the Green movement or of the economy, when it comes to our collective health, green building equals best practices, and our government needs to protect our people from ending up with high radon stone in their homes. It is simply unsustainable.

28-Nov-08 0:15 AM

Green Spa Design harbinger to Green Home and Bath trends

Geraldina Interiano Wise — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:00:00 GMT

The Hospitality Industry and the Home Design industry are inextricably related. It is hard to say if what consumers want at home is the driver of the newest Hotel, Spa, and Hospitality design, or if Home design follows the trends in Hotel design. Given that hotels are remodeled and updated on an average every seven years, it is crucial for the industry to stay ahead of trends so that the looks can withstand all those years of wear.

Looking at hotel bathrooms and spas in particular, hotels have found the nitche that easily can place them in the Green realm. Spas, the fastest growing industry in the nation -until the economy tumbled in October of 2008-, are a natural fit for Green design, given that holistic and natural products are a defacto expectation in the industry.

In a nutshell, hotel bathrooms are commanding at least 30% more area than they were in the past, and the expectations for bathrooms in luxury accommodations are anything but standard. Most noteworthy is that bathrooms and spas are going Green. These trends are already permeating home bathroom design. With plenty of green products in the market ranging from recycled paper and concrete countertops to dual flush toilets and low flow shower heads, turning your bathroom into your personal spa is not only within reach, but also the green way to go.

The Hyatt Key West Resort & Spa did a multi-million dollar "eco-renovation" , including the addition of an eco marine-inspired spa, featured in the November issue of Hotel Design Magazine. The choice of materials and colors is reminiscent of the spa/master bathroom retreat in our Casa Concept. Both projects include a serene choice of materials, including our CASA Concept 100% recycled glass mosaic tile in the color Seafoam, which gives the wall texture and is reminiscent of the pale green waters of the Caribbean and the Florida Keys. It is worthy to note their use of porcelain tile in the 12x24 inch format for the walls. This is the newest large format for tile and stacking it with small grout lines is the modern way to cover walls.

It is expected that small green remodeling projects will dominate the home construction industry during the few years that it will take to get our economy healthy again. Bathroom remodels will continue to be at the top of homeowners' dream lists. Now, you too can do an eco-renovation to your bathroom, and turn it into your personal spa.

24-Nov-08 5:00 PM

Casa Concept looking to provide top quality tiles