Sustainability
Sustainable Architecture
As architects, we work for the betterment of the lives of our clients. The houses we create lift the spirit, while addressing our clients’ needs and budget. In addition, we believe that the design and construction of a house, addition, renovation, or retrofit can address the reality of climate change while also encompassing the health and wellbeing of our social and biological communities.
Sustainable design means building durable, efficient homes with future generations in mind, minimizing environmental impact through thoughtful use of materials, energy, and space. With the built environment responsible for a significant share of global carbon emissions, preserving and adapting existing structures is essential to achieving net-zero goals while maintaining functionality.
Truly sustainable design embraces biophilia—our innate love of nature and living systems—by creating homes that reflect what clients value most in life. Well-designed homes become both livable and deeply connected to the rhythms of nature.
The term livability can be used to summarize what most clients desire from the full spectrum of what a house consists of and, thus, is more comprehensive than the overly politicized term Sustainability. A truly livable home provides for what the client believes to be essential, including convenient access to shops, services, employment, and cultural resources.
Within, a livable house provides a place to restore one’s spirit through a variety of activities, including rest, as well as connecting with loved ones and friends. While all these conditions of livability are somewhat obvious, it is easy to overlook the most obvious and pervasive condition of the house: its setting within nature.
E.O. Wilson uses the term Biophilia to describe our innate love of nature, sunlight and breezes, as well as views of flowers and trees, waterways and sunsets. When an architect is able to couple the unique offerings of each building site with the homeowner’s unique specifications for domestic life, a truly livable home can be said to have been created.
As a responsible architect, I make every effort throughout the planning design process to use materials and architectural forms appropriate to particular climate and location on our precious planet.
Although the relation between architecture and nature has a long and honorable history, over the last three decades, the architecture/nature relationship has wisely increased its focus on environmentally responsible practices described – with great earnestness – using the terms sustainability and sustainable design. As these terms have become so politicized, many architects and designers have wisely embraced the terminology of high-performance buildings to describe those structures designed to conserve energy, materials, water, and land.
I will be sensitive to your budgetary concerns and use state-of-the-art technology throughout the duration of the planning design process. For fifteen years, as a university professor at Virginia Tech and UNC Charlotte and as a guest lecturer at numerous other universities, I taught the principles of high-performance buildings, as well as the critical aspect of sustainability known as Biophilic Design. In addition to the conditions of livability addressed above, Biophilic Design includes landscape design and integration.
My planning design services in Dublin, Harrisburg, Keene, Jaffrey, and throughout New Hampshire are complemented by nearly three decades of experience as an architect.
Contact me today to get started on your project.