Gallery of 3-D Home Models Offered to Inspire Sustainable Design Ideas CHICAGO (McCormick Place West, Booth #798) (November 7, 2007) – Whirlpool Corporation is introducing the Green Home Collection during the 2007 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo November 6-9 in Chicago. The collection features 3-D models of sustainable homes drawn in Google(R) SketchUp(TM) by prominent architects and building designers. Located in the Google(R) 3D Warehouse Web site, the Green Home Collection is intended to promote creative ideas in sustainable home design. “Building a sustainable home starts with the design. We’re fortunate to partner with so many talented architects, designers and university students in developing this collection. By providing access to their home designs, we’re recognizing innovative thinking in sustainable technology and design,” said Mark Johnson, FAIA, CKD, architect and senior manager of architecture and design marketing at Whirlpool Corporation. The collection includes homes from Michelle Kaufmann Designs, including the mkLotus(TM) show home from the recent West Coast Green show and the “Elementhouse,” the University of Illinois solar-powered house that recently won two of the 10 Solar Decathlon 2007 contests. The Elementhouse is featured at Greenbuild, where attendees can view the virtual home at the Whirlpool Corporation booth, then visit the actual home. “The collection is an ongoing effort. We will continue to add 3-D home designs that demonstrate breakthrough ideas to benefit the residential construction market. We are also including several prototype homes from the recent Solar Decathlon in Washington DC, a solar home competition between university student teams, to bring attention to the next generation of architects and engineers as well,” said Johnson. The Green Home Collection is one in a series of projects from Whirlpool Corporation’s Digital Green™ Portfolio. “Each element in the Digital Green Portfolio offers architects the tools they need to improve their design process, save time and specify ENERGY STAR(R) and other energy- and water-efficient products to achieve sustainable results,” added Johnson. Google SketchUp is a powerful, yet easy-to-learn, software developed to provide quick and easy 3-D forms for conceptual stages of design. The Google 3D Warehouse is a repository of 3-D building objects that expedites the design process. Throughout the Greenbuild show, Whirlpool Corporation and SketchUp experts from the company, School, will offer tutorials and presentations at Whirlpool Corporation’s booth on using SketchUp for designing sustainable homes. Video tutorials for designing homes in SketchUp and incorporating 3D appliance models from the Google 3D Warehouse can also be found in episodes 20-24 of the SketchUp Show, produced by School, available at go-2-school.com or via Apple iTunes. Whirlpool Corporation also offers ENERGY STAR qualified and other water- and energy-saving appliance models within the Google 3D Warehouse, providing designers and their clients the ability to visualize their designs in 3-D and determine the configurations that will work best. SketchUp models can then be converted into all major CAD products without having to draw designs twice. When using Google SketchUp, the kitchen design can even be experienced as a “virtual walk through.” Free and professional versions of Google Sketchup 3D design software are available at sketchup.com. To view the Green Home Collection 3-D models, please visit sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse, then enter “Green Home Collection.” Whirlpool Corporation manufactures more ENERGY STAR qualified home appliances than any other appliance manufacturer. The company’s dedication to energy efficiency has earned it the ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence 2007 Award from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, making it the eighth time the company has been honored with an ENERGY STAR Award win. Whirlpool Corporation is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, with annual sales of approximately $18 billion, more than 73,000 employees, and more than 70 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. The company markets Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, Maytag, Whirlpool, Amana, Gladiator and other major brand names to consumers in nearly every country around the world. For more information on Whirlpool Corporation and its offerings for architects and design professionals, please visit www.insideadvantage.com or call 1-800-253-3977.
