From Sumerian times to today, we have experimented with what is sustainability. It is arguably possible that several of the most significant factors in the rise and fall of civilizations have been a reliable source of food, water and a place to live. As populations have grown, so to has our ingenuity risen to the [...]
We are here to help you imagine and create the spaces you want to live, learn, and work in. In the pre-industrialized and early industrialized world people lived and worked together in a collaboration that fed and housed them. An archetypal image of this collaboration in the early US was the barn raising. Here the village got together for very short periods of time and built lasting structures.
We are all experiencing a “market correction”,
in other words, slower business, lower paychecks, and worry. Our dollars and those of our clients and customers do not seem to go as far as they did just a year ago. You know the drill or you know someone who is experiencing this.
Speaking together with a number of folks, we realized there may be some service by providing some clues to ways to make things go a little better.
This is the first of series of pieces that will talk about different ways to practice using sustainability as a bench mark to improve your bottom line at home and at work.
In my architectural design practice I am trying to bring sustainability to the forefront of each project I work on for several reasons.
When you think about your business or home in longer periods of time and add up the costs to keep things going, the numbers can get very large and quickly. If you design a new building or redesign an existing building incorporating products that will have a long life cycle (last a long time) you can avoid the cost to replace them.
If you make the envelope of your building better insulated and air tight, you can conserve a great deal of energy and related costs.
It turns out that if you spend the time to carefully design your work space to be more comfortable and address your day to day needs, you can become more effective and productive. A well designed space can save you time at home and even make you money at work.
The following articles will explore ways to become more energy efficient, save money, stimulate the local economy, and generally take steps towards a more sustainable work and home life.
At the end of the day, if it feels right to live in and use a space, then the design is successful.
In order to get to this successful result I like to work with all the key people involved in the creation of the project as a team. The team usually includes some combination of the clients, myself, key consultants, the builder, essential subcontractors, and often municipal officials.
Today we are living in a time when it is especially important to apply careful thought and consideration to how much space we live in and how we make our space and how we live in our space.
Sarah Susanka, author of “The Not so Big House”, feels we can create well considered space with good quality design and forego a larger quantity of space.
It is important to me as a designer to make each project as sustainable and green as possible. Sarah’s sensibility aligns with my own in that together my clients and I can create a better result by focusing on a good design rather than on simply more space.
I try to integrate solid design principles with the concepts methods and means espoused by the US Green Building Council in the LEED program. There is often a give a take between some of the elements of the design, energy use, economics, and the environment. I always try to work out a reasonable consensus with other members of the project team
Sometimes, clients want more space because that is what they really need and then together we create their living space adopting as many ways to conserve as plausible given the scope, time, and the budget.
Sometimes, we can really do more with less.
Technical drawings require carefully planned details in order for the craft person building the project to understand the design fully and implement it accurately.
Communication and the free exchange of ideas are essential elements of a successful design process. Sometimes I will meet with a new client for a good portion day to find out what if what they are saying initially is really what they want and what they need.
I find that if I can listen and really hear what a client is asking for I can often express back to them their own ideas in the form of sketches and concepts.
The internet has brought forth a world market of possibilities for each project. I have had clients find things that make their project work in an essential way by finding key components on the World Wide Web.
Integrating all the elements of the design into a well written specification document helps all members of the project team understand the breadth and scope of the design as well as the underlying intentions. Hence I usually begin writing the specifications as early as during the programming of a project.
Everywhere you turn now, things are “going green”? What does this mean for building design? Well, in some cases, it means going back to basics, and in other cases it means taking a leap forward.
Certainly, the old ways of powering your home are out, being replaced by, as President Obama states “harnessing the air, sun and soil” to give up our dependance on fossil fuels.
For many building materials, however, the green decision is to stay local, keep it simple, and utilize products that are as little processed as possible.
I work with clients to understand their budget, values and priorities to maximize sound decision making with an eye towards low impact, long lasting products with a minimal carbon footprint.
This is a phrase that is thrown about a lot. Talk to me about what you think this means.
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From the United Nations Brundtland Report of 1987 titled ” Our Common Future”
