Ryan Morton did not have a vision of a home he aspired to own until he saw the highly stylized, three-story, loft-style sustainable “green” home replete with bamboo floors, radiant heat, bathroom tiles made of recycled glass bottles, skylights and walls of glass.

“Until I saw this, I didn’t have an idea of a home I aspired to own,’’ Morton said of the house, the basis of the Museum of Science and Industry’s exhibit, Smart Home: Green + Wired, which is open in Chicago through Jan. 4, 2009. “This is it. It’s essentially zero maintenance.’’

Morton happens to know the 11-room house, including a master bed and bath, a child’s room, two baths and a powder room, inside and out. He is a tour guide. “It’s really a great job,’’ he said.

The house highlights ways—big and small—that people can make green living an all-important part of their lifestyle. Built to celebrate the museum’s 75th anniversary, the energy efficient house was designed by Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a leader in green design community, and built by All American Homes.

“In celebration of our 75th anniversary, we really wanted something forward-looking and something that went back to our roots,’’ said Jeff Buono, coordinator of temporary exhibits and events. “This is something that does both.’’

Don’t be fooled by its seemingly complicated designs and features, which include prefabricated modules, terra green ceramic floor tiles, bamboo floors, and ash wood, the house took only two months to build. Thanks to prefabrication, that is. But the cost to build the house is nothing to sniff at. Morton estimates it was about $500,000.

The cost was well worth the effort, according to one tourist, who mused: “It makes you want to build one yourself. It’s totally fascinating and beautiful.’’

People don’t always equate beauty with sustainable green living, but the Smart Home is the exception to every rule. The home is embraced by a garden, including a sustaining vegetable garden, rain gardens and other vegetation.

When it comes to the interior of the 2,500-square-foot house, a word that comes to mind is chic, a dramatic departure from the log cabin roots of the green movement.

Throughout the Smart Home, visitors can find the sleekest and most modern technology, including:

• The NuVo Multi-room Audio System with ceiling speakers (part of the Kevlar series)
  
• Thaw-Pak Radiant Floor systems, including system engineering, tubing manifolds and pump control station
• Toxic-free Yolo Color House interior paint
• Energy-efficient windows and motorized skylights; including a rooftop skylight that’s wired to detect a cool breeze and open automatically to reduce air conditioning use
• Interior doors and millwork created from recycled sawdust and responsibly harvested hardwoods
• Heating ventilation and air conditioning, which use narrower ducts than traditional forced air systems, making the air flow from vents faster, providing heat or air in less time
• Exterior wood siding; bamboo flooring; and metal stairs and wood stair treads

The slinky eco-manse also includes a home office, lounge, and mechanical room for laundry. The washer is an Energy Star GE frontload and the dryer is a GE frontload electric. Most of the products were provided through donations.

“The interior architecture, which is inviting, sophisticated and family-friendly, demonstrates the use of natural light, open spaces, energy-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and energy-efficient building components to maximize a healthy-living environment,” according to a press release.

Designers selected material—from the windows to the fixtures to the counters and floors—tells a powerful story of sustainable architecture and eco-friendly design.

Visitors become privy to how storm water runoff can be used for landscape irrigation; how toilets can be installed to use waste water from the shower and bath; how spray-in foam insulation can create a completely sealed building, which results in better air quality, a quieter home and great energy efficiency; and how recycled glass bottles can create fashionable bathroom tile.

Beyond these fashionable flourishes, the house harbors a practical side vital to its sustainable credentials. Evaluated by some of the toughest standards in the industry, it was found to be nearly twice as energy efficient as a comparably sized Energy Star-rated home, and nearly three times more efficient than a conventionally built Chicago bungalow.

The interior also includes esoteric eco-furnishings, including a sofa covered in fabric made from recycled t-shirts, an ash wood dining table made with wood from a fallen tree, an organic mohair rug with a backing made of recycled coffee bean backs, whimsical chandeliers that recycle old colored light bulbs and mid-century dining chairs found in a resale shop, Morton says.

The following is a brief description and interior of some of the rooms:

The other day, at the swank Blue Water Grill in downtown Chicago, chef Eric Kendrick held a treasure trove of

Photo by Terri O’Hara
Chef Eric Kendrick and a bumper crop of locally grown food.

vegetables in a huge amber bowl. The haul, plucked fresh from a local farmer’s market, included deep purple torpedo onions, colorful zucchini flowers, flavorful French breakfast radishes, robust heads of yellow and purple cauliflower, and hearty Queen Ann cherries.

It was a good day, judging by Kendrick’s effusive praise.

The finds were remarkable, not only because of their uniqueness and variety, but because shopping at the Green City Market in Lincoln Park is one of the many practices that helps Blue Water Grill maintain its cachet as a “green restaurant.” Serving locally grown foods, for example, helps reduce the fossil fuel pollution associated with transportation.

It’s not easy being green, but it’s well worth the effort, say Kendrick (pictured) and Charles Przybylinski, the director of operations for Blue Water Grill for 18 months. Przbylinski has overseen a large part of the restaurant’s green endeavors.

The restaurant, which opened more than 3 years ago, is owned by B.R. Guest Restaurants, which owns 13 eateries that have received the coveted green certification from the national non-profit Green Restaurant Association. The Boston-based organization, founded by Michael Oshman, has about 260 members. The number recently dipped from about 350 after a chain that he declined to name failed to meet compliance standards. Members are charged an annual fee of $500 to $4,200, depending on their size, and they receive a “Green Restaurant” seal for their window after completing some important first steps.

Some of these steps require eateries to use a comprehensive recycling program for all products, replace all polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) products, and phase in environmental efforts each year, including conserving water, composting, converting to chlorine-free paper products and using non-toxic cleaning and chemical products.

Photo by Terri O’Hara
Charles Pryzybylinski, the restaurant’s director of operations, and Chef Eric Kendrick, right, have taken extensive steps to have their business declared ‘green.’

For its part, B.R. Guest restaurants recycle glass, cardboard, plastic and metals, and have installed water-efficient faucets. At the Chicago location, to-go containers are made of 30 percent post consumer material and are toted away in plain brown paper bags. At the tables, consumers use cloth napkins and bamboo butter knives.

To ensure compliance, the association conducts spot checks of restaurants, looking more at invoices than products to determine whether the staff is indeed buying toxic-free cleaning supplies, energy efficient bulbs and chemical-free paper products. Blue Water Grill uses peroxide and citrus-based cleaners around the restaurant, Przybylinski said.

“We don’t preach,’’ Oshman said of the restaurant association. “They already know this is the right thing. We have restaurants from Tavern on The Green (New York’s famed upscale restaurant Central Park) to crunchy granola that are green certified.’’

From New York to Chicago to Little Rock, Ark. to Los Angeles, restaurants are going green to help save the environment and to tap the wallets of environmentally savvy consumers.

A recent survey by the National Restaurant Association found that 62 percent of consumers said they would likely choose a restaurant based on its environmental friendliness.