For more photographs, click here for a Sky slideshow. University of Florida students visited the Calhoun County property as part of a studio project to develop plans for idea houses and the Sky Institute.

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The Sky Institute
According to its developers, one of Sky’s cornerstones will be the Sky Institute. An all-in-one teaching, research, and conference center to be built on 2 acres, the institute will provide a facility for research and development of various sustainable living practices. “The Institute, at its core, will be there to provide a research arm for the basic ideas that Sky is pursuing,” says Steve Mouzon, director of the New Urban Guild who is on the board of the Sky Institute.

In addition to developing new environmentally friendly energy technologies, organic farming techniques, and other Green-living practices, the institute will also work to further hone the definitions for sustainable communities and buildings. Here’s what Steve and the institute are working with now.

A sustainable community must embody the following characteristics.

• Feedable: It must be able to feed its residents.
• Serviceable: All daily needs must be within walking distance.
• Accessible: Whether they’re doctors, teachers, or emergency personnel, people who provide the services must live nearby.

A sustainable building must embody the following characteristics.

• Lovable: “It must be lovable,” says Steve, “or it gets carted off to a landfill.”
• Durable: “We must conceive of creating millennium buildings again.” But, Steve adds, “the myth of no-maintenance is true if you plan on bulldozing it in 15 years.” Buildings must be cared for and adaptable, which leads to the next point…
• Flexible and recyclable: The interior must be adaptable so residents can accommodate new technologies.
• Frugal: Buildings must be efficient to decrease waste.