High-Performance

Not in My House! Toxic Building Materials 101 - Part 1

Not in My House! Toxic Building Materials 101 - Part 1

Believe it or not, all the hazardous, toxic materials in our homes are not under the kitchen sink or on the top shelf in the garage. Toxic building materials are a problem that affects almost everyone, and it is hard to know what to avoid. These products are right under our nose and everywhere we turn! So, how do we protect ourselves and our families? 

Over the past century, our methods of construction have become increasingly more reliant on the products of mass-production, the free market economy, and rash scientific research. Many of the building materials we use today are both unhealthy and unsustainable. I shudder to think how we might have wrapped ourselves in products that are literally killing us!

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Maryland reACT House Celebrates the 7 Generation Principle

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Maryland reACT House Celebrates the 7 Generation Principle

In my tour of the 2017 Solar Decathlon, Team Maryland was my favorite. Their project called reACT (ie. Resilient Adaptive Climate Technology) proved to me that a sustainable future needs to merge indigenous/cultural traditions along with modern technology. This is not just about energy either. Even though the architecture and engineering were exceptional in this design, the incorporation of cultural traditions gave the house much more impact than the rest of the entries at the Solar Decathlon. 

During my tour of reACT, I spoke with some of the team and learned about the Native American philosophy called the "7th Generation Principle". This simply means that we should think about our future descendants 7 generations from now (or about 140 years) and honor them by leaving the world better.

 

High-Performance Homes in the Mile-High City of Denver

High-Performance Homes in the Mile-High City of Denver

The Solar Decathlon is a competition where college teams combine beauty and technology to build high-performance houses powered by the sun. Held every other year, this international competition is the place where we become collectively smarter about high-performance solar homes - thanks to the best and brightest college students from around the world. 

At the University of Oklahoma College of Architecture, I first got the itch for sustainable, high-performance design. I was taught that architecture should be a machine for living in balance with nature, and a marriage between ecology and technology.

Although the Solar Decathlon began while I was in college, it was usually held in far-away Washington D.C. and it was just too far away to attend. This year the U.S. Department of Energy moved the Solar Decathlon in Denver, Colorado for the first time. I mentioned it once to my wife while feeding our toddler twins, and she must have seen something in my eye when I said that I would love to go and see the event. She later surprised me with airplane tickets and my heart leaped at the chance to go. 

The Primitive Hut to the High-Performance Modern Retreat

The Primitive Hut to the High-Performance Modern Retreat

I grew up with camping as an integral part of life - from staying at deer camp to many trips through Scouting as long as 30 days out. There have been too many overnights to count, including more than a few spent sleeping in high places.  Being up in the mountains above tree-line, or on the side of a sheer cliff face is often called a bivouac (or “bivy”) by climbers. Although far from comfort, these places award a magic that cannot be found in more civilized places. You only bring the absolute necessities, which allows time to think, reflect, and live in the moment.

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Conquer Whole Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits in 3 Stages

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Conquer Whole Building Energy Efficiency Retrofits in 3 Stages

Call the energy retrofit doctor! Historic and existing buildings may look alright on the outside, but they could be a lot more energy efficient. Don't get me wrong; they have potential. Through the years, these properties have often been updated and remodeled, usually to address particular issues, without considering effects on whole-building energy efficiency. We tend to compartmentalize our homes, and changes to them reflect this paradigm. In the past, we many have needed more space, so we built an addition or enclosed a porch. A room got too hot or cold, so we installed an A/C unit or baseboard heater. You might live in a house with these kinds of alterations.

This kind of thinking allows for quick comfort and cheap solutions (in the short-term) but does improve the property value or allow it run at its best. 

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Holistic Building Design: Inherent Green and High Tech

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Holistic Building Design: Inherent Green and High Tech

Preservation Future Tense” was the theme for Oklahoma’s 29th Annual Statewide Preservation Conference held in Oklahoma City. In partnership with our State Historic Preservation Office, the Oklahoma Main Street Program invited James Lindberg, Senior Director of the Preservation Green Lab (PGL) to speak at the closing Plenary Session. Since 2009 PGL, a part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has authored some of the most current and forward-looking sustainable preservation research ever done. 

Through reports such as The Greenest Building: Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse, PGL is outlining how historic preservation

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Pre-Design for Fidelity and Buildings with Spirit

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Pre-Design for Fidelity and Buildings with Spirit

Last week we began discussing the Pre-Design (aka predesign) process currently underway for a high-performance residential design unfolding in the Red River Valley of Texas. So, why share the process with you? 

My hope is that “live-streaming” the architectural design process will serve us both. Writing provides reflection and adds surety to my decisions. I also know that involving others in the design process is a great way to reveal additional opportunities, and avoid missteps.

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How to Design a Passive House in the Red River Valley

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How to Design a Passive House in the Red River Valley

There are some places that take a long journey to reach, and there are places that have always been there waiting to be discovered. This is sense of how I felt last week when Lucas Sustainable was hired to design our first Passive House. 

For several weeks prior, a wonderful property owner and I have been working to assess our fit as a team, and considering the prospect of this kind of undertaking.

For a project such as this one communication should be open and transparent from the very beginning. Especially, for such a beautiful piece of land, nestled in the rich, verdant Red River Valley. 

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Existing Buildings are Green: Do They Energize You Heart?

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Existing Buildings are Green: Do They Energize You Heart?

Existing buildings just don’t stand a chance. Every month many glossy architecture magazines hit the newsstands, arriving in checkout lines like a plague of locusts. Anyone who loves beauty and design can’t help but shoot a quick glance and read the headlines. We can’t help but peek. As Americans, we are programmed to desire, want, and spend.

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