This has actually happened. A client contacts us. They want to build a new home. They’re about to close on a lot in a neighborhood development. At our introductory design meeting they describe to us the kind of house they wish to build. A certain number of bedrooms, bathrooms. Energy effeciency. Passive solar design. Sustainable building. A two car garage. A relatively simple design without complex rooflines. And then we go to the site for the first time.
The site the clients had chosen was steep and in the trees. The building envelope was rather small, and because of height restrictions, the home would have to be built so that it stepped up and down the slope, complicating construction dramatically. Solar gain would be limited by shade and trees that by development covenant could not be removed. The steep lot also made it imperative that we locate the garage up-slope and to the front of the home so as to meet requirements that stipulated the maximum slope of the driveway at 7%. Expensive retaining walls would also be necessary. As much as we at Trilogy enjoy a challenge, we had to tell the clients that the lot they had chosen was not conducive to building the rather simple, super energy efficient home they were seeking. The clients did not take this news well for they loved that this lot was adjacent to community open space. They purchased the lot and hired another architect. About a year later the lot was back on the market, I suspect, because the clients had finally discovered for themselves how difficult a lot they had purchased.
Building in the mountain regions often means dealing with slope and trees. But even when the lot is relatively level, the site can still have an enormous impact on budget and design. Today, modern design and technology allows us to create passively energized, super insulated homes with dramatically decreased energy consumption. But if the lot orientation is north or if the lot is shaded then energy costs will necessarily increase. Views are always a concern and in some developments, homes are built without taking into account that the vacant lot next door won’t always be vacant and views may be impeded when the neighbors build. Other subdivision and local government codes can also severely limit design opportunities. Some neighborhoods put limits on the amount of glass, or the use of solar panels, limiting the use of sustainable energy resources.
Which is why, if at all possible, the Trilogy Design Team likes to assist our clients in the selection of the site for their new home. If the lot is indeed going to constrain design, it’s a great idea to have the design and build team assess exactly what those limitations are going to be.
What would be the ideal site for the home of your dreams?
Some of our favorite projects
Storm Meadow
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
Is it cold and wet where you are? When it’s like this it’s so tempting to light up a fireplace isn’t it? Except do you know it’s terrible for the environment? It really is. The NY Times had an article about that here.
Anyway, we love the idea of using firewood as decoration though. It’s so organic (so overused, we know), but it just adds warmth to a room without having the hassles and expenses, you know?
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
Cash Deals Raise January Sales of Existing Homes Nationwide
By Dina ElBoghdady Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, February 23, 2011; 10:59 PM – Sales of previously owned homes increased nationwide in January, driven by all-cash purchases that suggest investors are chasing after foreclosures and other bargains in an ailing housing market, an industry group reported Wednesday.
Sales rose 2.7 percent from December, to a seasonally adjusted 5.36 million, the National Association of Realtors reported. The purchases – which include single-family homes, condominiums and townhouses – were up 5.3 percent from a year ago.
Although the figures reflect an improved economy, they also capture some of the underlying weaknesses in the housing market, namely the persistently large number of foreclosures that continued to drag down prices in January and attract investors.
Foreclosures and other distressed properties made up 37 percent of homes sold last month, the group reported. The cheap homes lured investors, who accounted for 23 percent of buyers, up from 20 percent the previous month and 17 percent a year ago.
As more investors entered the market, all-cash purchases surged to their highest level since the group started tracking the numbers in October 2008. The increase suggests that stringent lending rules are shutting out traditional buyers and empowering people with hefty sums of cash to close deals, said Lawrence Yun, the group’s chief economist.
But the January sales numbers may be deceptively high, said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities.
After reports of widespread paperwork errors surfaced in October, many major lenders temporarily halted foreclosures. Some have since lifted the freeze. “Sales that would have normally taken place in October, November and December got pushed into January,” Vitner said.
None of this bodes well for home prices, because foreclosures tend to drag down values. The median price nationwide fell 3.7 percent, to $158,000, in January, the Realtor group said.
Many economists said that if the economy takes a turn for the worse or oil prices rise significantly because of political turmoil in the Middle East, consumer confidence could wane and home sales could plunge.
Some economists also cast doubt on the Realtor group’s numbers, suggesting that they were inflated because of its methodology. Most recently, mortgage research firm CoreLogic said the sales results could have been overstated by 15 to 20 percent in 2010.
Yun said his group will review data from the past few years.
He acknowledged a possible “upward drift” in the numbers. The sales data are collected from local multiple listing services. A Realtor, for instance, may advertise a home in two neighboring cities. When the home sells, the transaction may be counted twice, he said.
A decline in homes sold by owner may also distort the numbers, Yun said. Multiple listing services include mainly properties advertised by Realtors. As more sellers have turned to Realtors in recent years, the increase may register as an increase in sales when it is only a rise in transactions by Realtors, he said.
Yun cautioned that no housing data is flawless. The CoreLogic data, for instance, came from court records. As the recent foreclosure paperwork debacle shows, not all court records are accurate.
Some of our favorite projects
Storm Meadow
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
Ooh-arr, straw appears to be the sustainable material of choice at this year’s Ecobuild. The natural material features in board form in the latest home design from eco-architect Bill Dunster, in prefabricated panels in a turnkey retail building from Modcell and there is even a series of straw bale workshops for those planning to build homes, schools and offices from the readily available agricultural by-product.
For the StramitZED house (right), Dunster has teamed up with straw board manufacturer Stramit to produce an eco-house in two-, three- or four-bedroom configurations, all of which meet the latest Lifetime Homes and London Housing Design Guide standards. Its design is based on Dunster’s code level 6, RuralZED development at Upton in Northampton. The homes are assembled from cassettes of strawboard combined with Welsh timber and recycled newspaper insulation.
Hot water and electricity are generated by solar photovoltaic and solar thermal panels, with surplus electricity sold to the grid. The homes costs upward of £135,000, a figure claimed to be £20,000 less than the normal cost of constructing a code level 6 house.
Straw bales are at the heart of Modcell’s retail solution too. This uses prefabricated panels (left) made near the costruction site, in a leased workspace or barn. The panels are assembled from untreated, locally sourced straw set into a panel frame assembled from sustainably sourced timber, which is then plastered with a protective lime render. The turnkey solution is claimed to save energy, money, carbon emissions and build times.
For those that want their straw raw and not pre-assembled, there will be plenty of opportunities to learn all about both load bearing and non-load bearing straw bale construction techniques at the straw bale workshops, which take place twice daily at Ecobuild – for further details and timing check out www.ecobuild.co.uk.
Phase change materials
If straw is too rustic and high-tech is more your thing, then check out the various phase change materials (or PCMs in techie-speak) at this year’s show. A good starting point is the Cool Workspace, which is one of the interactive attractions on the exhibition floor. Sponsored by Capita Symonds, the attraction has been designed to showcase how cutting edge materials and technologies can be used to create a more sustainable workplace.
PCMs are just one of the technologies on show. The advantage of these materials is that they can be used to store both heating and cooling energy. In the Cool Workspace, PCMs are embedded in the walls and ceiling tiles where they will absorb heat to help keep the workspace cool and reduce the need for air conditioning.
If you want to know more about the technology visit both the BASF and DuPont stands.
BASF’s Micronal PCM has been incorporated into the Racus ceiling tile system for both new build and retrofit applications. Developed by Datum Phase Change, the tiles feature microcapsules of a special wax developed to store latent heat as it absorbs heat during the day, changing from a solid to liquid – . At night, when the temperature drops, the wax gives out heat and returns to being solid. The tile system has been used in the Victorian terrace refurbishment project at BRE in Watford.
DuPont’s phase change offering is called Energain. It is available in lightweight panels developed to enable thermal mass to be added to lightweight structures. The company claims that using the material can reduce indoor temperature peaks by up to 7ºC, optimising comfort and decreasing air conditioning costs.
Sustainable towers
With the world’s population becoming increasingly urbanised, the need for a fast, economic, high-rise, sustainable solution is becoming ever more urgent. One solution could be to build upwards using timber. As part of the fringe session, Advantage Austria is presenting a case study of a modular high-rise timber construction system designed for energy-generating buildings of up to 20 stories. Not sure about timber high-rise? Hear the discussion at South Gallery 10 at 12.30 on Wednesday 2 March.
The results of a student competition to design sustainable towers located in the Greenwich South district of Lower Manhattan, New York will also be announced at the show. The design must encompass Isover Multi-Comfort principles, which are based on Passivhaus ideas of high levels of energy efficiency and comfort for the occupants. Wolfgang Feist, founder of the Passivaus concept and the Passivhaus Institut in Germany, will judge the competition and will attend the award ceremony on Isover’s stand N260, where the winners will be announced at 3pm on 2 March. See below for the shortlisted designs.
Shortlisted designs
Manhattan Sky Podium: a design which aims to connect Greenwich South with its surroundings through a series of elevated pedestrian routes which meet to form a significant green podium in the sky.
Social Tower Experiment: a tower designed to foster vibrant communities and social interaction at height.
The Green Ramp: a design which aims to integrate Lower Manhattan’s green spaces into the city fabric with a building that forms a ramp from Battery Park to theGreenwich South site, culminating in a Passivhaus skyscraper.
Solar Slice: a tapered tower that evolved through consideration of New York’s sun paths, it respects the solar rights of the existing 88 Greenwich Street tower to the north of the site by carving a huge slice out of its mass.
Green Canyons: a prototype to counter the depleting quality of life in vertical urban sprawl.
Green Tower: a design which takes into consideration the forms of surrounding towers and icons such as the Statue of Liberty.
Windgate (below): a tower which aims to make maximum use of wind energy while also utilising the building design to form a new gateway into Manhattan.
Vertical Sunspace Tower: taking inspiration from the Denby Dale Passivhaus, this design features a series of stacked, south facing sunspaces to maximise passive solar gain, daylight penetration and to create social spaces at height in the city.
The three winning UK teams will receive cash prizes of up to £1,000 and will go on to compete in the seventh international final, which takes place from 18-21 May 2011 in Prague and features a top prize of €1,500 (£1,263).
Wolfgang Feist will also be participating in two fringe sessions taking place on 1 March from 4pm to 5pm (North Gallery Room 9) and 2 March from 4pm to 5pm (North Gallery 6 & 7). The sessions will provide an insight into the Passivhaus and Isover Multi-Comfort House concepts.
Bees and biodiversity
With wild bee populations facing a growing number of threats including pests and diseases such as the varroa mite as well as a growing lack of wild flowers to provide food and habitat, is it time for the urban beekeeper to come to the rescue? A small back garden or access to a rooftop is all that is needed to keep bees. What’s more, there is a rich variety of plants in urban gardens, parks, railway sidings and tree-lined roads, all of which can be turned into delicious honey by our pollen and nectar eating friends.
The idea is not as crazy as it first sounds – probably the most exclusive address for bees anywhere in the world is the roof of upmarket grocers Fortnum & Mason in London’s Piccadilly. Even the beehives have been given a distinct architectural style and some rather elegant gold details (www.fortnumandmason.com/fortnumbees.aspx).
Honey bees rely on a diverse range of garden and urban flowers for their diet, which means it is important to create an environment in the city that not only safeguards existing wildlife but also encourages further diversity and food for bees. Helping designers and planners incorporate biodiversity and meet new regulations is just one of the topics in the Cityscape programme, along with a biodiversity surgery.
For further details and timings, check out the Cityscape area on the Ecobuild website www.ecobuild.co.uk.Alison Benjamin, co-founder of Urban Bees, will be offering top tips for potential urban beekeepers on Wednesday 2 March, in Cityscape theatre two, at 11am.
Sustainable materials
In addition to the hundreds of products already made from recycled materials that are on display at Ecobuild, Kingston University will be looking for the construction industry to use sustainable materials seen in other sectors but little used in design and construction.
Rematerialise, a library of 1,200 samples of sustainable materials from 15 countries, is being launched by Kingston University. The materials have been selected to provide an environmentally responsible alternative to more resource-hungry materials and include post-consumer and post-industrial waste streams, scrap and refuse otherwise destined for landfill. The library holds information on a material’s recycled content and its sustainable attributes along with technical data and examples of current applications for each material. The database was recently used to advise retailer Marks & Spencer on the use of appropriate sustainable materials for its new headquarters.
Part of the collection – including finished products manufactured from sustainable materials – will be showcased at Ecobuild to inspire further collaboration with industry and to bring to designers’ attention to sustainable materials not yet used in construction.
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
On January 18, 2011, in Observations, by Bob Borson – What is creativity? That was the question presented to a group of us who participate in a event where we are write on the same topic. It is an interesting exercise and one that I take part of quite frequently. So what is creativity? That is a leading question simply because creativity can manifest itself in many forms. Writing this blog 3 or 4 times a week takes an obscene amount of creativity if I do say so myself. In an effort to help define what creative can define, let’s consider some synonyms:
cleverness ingenuity originality imaginativeness
Who doesn’t have these traits in some form or another? When I was younger, being “creative” simply meant you were artistic and that you used your creativity to produce items of visual merit. I don’t feel that way anymore – not since I met my wife Michelle – the resident Borson household genius with the masters degree in Mathematics. I am constantly amazed by how smart she is and how her brain processes information. I’m not going to say she is always right but it is hard for me to win an argument against her. My debating technique has more to do with misdirection and confusion but she can rationally and logically peel away what I am saying and befuddle me. Truth be told, that’s one of the reasons why I married her, because I love how she thinks.
I started thinking that creativity has more to do with how a person thinks, views, and processes information rather than their ability to draw or paint well. As a result I think some of the most creative people are scientists – people who don’t generally come to mind when the topic of creativity comes up. These are people who conceive of the unthinkable and envision the unknowable. People like Ernest Rutherford, Niels Bohr, and Robert Oppenheimer, among many, many others. If you are unfamiliar of these men and what they did, take some time and look them up on Wikipedia. If all you know is their work on the Manhattan project, you are considering only a small part of their story. Besides developing concepts that made things like the atom and hydrogen bomb a reality, these people were visionary thinkers.
But you don’t have to be a genius level intellect to have demonstrate creativity. Sometimes it’s about being clever and noticing what’s around you and realizing that you can do something with what you see. Like Velcro.
Close Up Of Velcro
Most people have heard the story about how Velcro came to exist. The idea for Velcro is credited to a Swiss engineer, George de Mestral … in 1941. Apparently the idea came to him one day after taking his dog for a walk and saw all the burs that were sticking to his pet’s fur. He examined them under a microscope and noticed that the burs were made up of hundreds of hooks that were catching on anything that had a loop. Despite not being taken seriously, Mestral continued to develop the idea for Velcro. In the end, it took over 10 years before he was able to create a mechanized process that could recreate the hook and loop system he saw under his microscope years prior.
How about a composer how couldn’t hear? Ludwig can Beethoven was born December 17, 1770 and started losing his hearing in 1796 when he was 26 years old. He lived and continued to compose music for until his death in 1827 having decided that despite his profound hearing loss, he would continue living for and through his art. At the premiere of one of his most recognizable and famous pieces, the Ninth Symphony, he actually had to turn around after conducting the performance to see if people were clapping or not. For someone as interested in music as I am, I can’t convey how unbelieveable that is to me.
Creativity surrounds all of us everyday and there are no uncreative people. How people interact with their world shapes their experience – positively and negatively – but it is unique to their own doing.
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
Every once and a while I think it’s probably a good idea to take a step back and think about why we’re doing what we’re doing. For instance, I’m currently in LA at the Design Bloggers Conference. I’m meeting people who work in the design world, like myself, who are also spending a lot of time these days writing, or blogging, about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Which begs the question: why am I writing this little piece right now? What’s this blog all about? It’s a question I think I know the answer to. We at Trilogy Partners are different than most other firms in our industry when it comes to design and build because we are fully integrated and truly a “one stop shop.” We see it from all angles. We are designers and ditchdiggers. We are builders, planners, and accountants. We are carpenters and tradesmen and we are passionate about how things look and feel. We are storytellers. In effect, we wear a whole lot of hats around here for one reason. So that we can serve our clients fully and completely. And we want people to know that. But there’s more to it than just what we do.
We’ve been doing this for quite a while now. In the course of each project we learn a whole lot, and I want to take the time now to pass along some of what we’ve learned. The good lessons, the hard lessons. Each project is a journey and is its own story. Building a home is a rather long process that grows from concept to creation to a lasting realization of a vision and a dream. These journeys oftentimes take years, and during the course of these years things happen that are worthy of words and remembrance. Each project brings with it a separate wisdom. So I’m here to pass along the stories, and the knowledge of what it takes to design and build homes because, honestly, I couldn’t find anyone else who was. This is the only place where you can get a complete picture of both sides of the home design and build process that I’ve yet to find.
I can tell you this: designing, building, it’s hard work and harder still to do really well. But it’s a lot of fun. And it’s really rewarding to drive by a spot where once nothing stood and see, now, a wonderful home alight and alive with the people that live within its walls. That’s also what I want to write about. The joy and the how of what we do. And the gratitude we feel for being allowed to do what we truly love. With the hope that some out there will read our words and benefit from what we’ve learned. And be inspired to move forward, with confidence, in pursuit of their dreams.
Enjoy!
Some of our favorite projects
Storm Meadow
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
5 Tips For A Green Home Remodel from Sarah Susanka
While conjuring up comfort in the home seems like a basic principle, it’s a far more complex process for architect & remodeling guru Sarah Susanka, who believes that comfort can significantly influence the sustainability of your personal abode. With her mantra of “build better, not bigger,” Susanka promotes quality over quantity whenremodeling a home. Through transforming your living space into a more beautiful and comfortable environment, Susanka says that any home’s occupants will automatically take better care of their space in a more sustainable way. We sat down with Susanka to get the low-down on how to do more with less when revamping your space.
TIP 1 – Re-evaluate the Space You’re Working With
Remodeling is often associated with building an addition onto a home. However, Susanka is a strong advocate of re-evaluating the space that your home already contains and working within that original floor plan whenever possible. As she says, it’s important to ask yourself how you can make your existing house more tailored to the way you live. Instead of jumping ahead and planning a structural addition without any thorough thought, take a moment to consider whether or not you could work within the space you already have available. Ask yourself these questions: Do you really need more space? How much space do you need to be comfortable in your home? Can you borrow from the adjacent space to conjure the extra square footage you need? Then, as a last resort, consider a bump out or a small addition.
Unfortunately, most people start at the last resort instead of first weighing the other more economical and quality-generating options. Remodeling can be a difficult and often stressful project, so if you doubt anything along the way, look into hiring a professional to assist in the process. As Susanka says, “When we are having surgery, we normally don’t do it ourselves. Remodeling your home is one of the most expensive investments of a lifetime so we want it done well.” If you are in the market for a pro that understands Susanka’s philosophy on renovation, check out her Home Professional Directory for an expert in your area.
TIP 2 – Get an Energy Audit
When you start engaging in a remodeling project, one of the first things to check off the list is an energy audit. This helps you identify some of the most cost effective ways to make your home more sustainable, and those shifts can easily be incorporated into the changes throughout the rest of the renovation process.
Susanka tells Inhabitat that 20% of carbon emissions come from existing housing stock. By incorporating energy audits into the renovation process, not only will you end up with economical savings, but you will also contribute to the larger home emissions issue. This will help make your home easier to maintain as well as reduce your carbon footprint. It’s a win-win situation for both you and the environment!
TIP 3 – Invest in Quality Over Quantity
When you get home and enter a space that exudes quality and character, you automatically feel more at home. On the other hand, if you go overboard with quantity because it’s the knee-jerk response to generate change, you end up with a lot of uninspiring stuff. What Susanka reiterates throughout her books is the importance of utilizing the space you have to its highest potential. By creating a room that’s comfortable to be in, we are motivated to care for and sustain its beauty. Instead of tossing dollars around to quantify space, use your budget to induce quality elements that address your particular needs and aesthetics.
Ask yourself what will add more of your own personality into your space. What colors, shapes, or artwork do you enjoy looking at? Which rooms do you spend the majority of your time in? Do you have good heating and cooling systems that maintain a comfortable atmosphere in your home? These thought-generating questions will help you determine the best ways to approach the concept of quality over quantity.
TIP 4 – Use Lighting to Amplify Perspective
The way you introduce light into a space can have an enormous effect on an environment, hugely improving its quality and character. Susanka can’t say enough about how reflective surfaces can influence rooms throughout your abode. Reflective surfaces help bounce light around, augmenting the presence of natural light within a space.
One less obvious way to do this is by adding a built-in bookshelf near a window. The shelving edges act as reflective surfaces, bouncing extra light into the room.
Another option is to place a window adjacent to a perpendicular wall, instead of in its typical central location; that wall then becomes a reflective surface as well. Finally, placing soffits above windows can help transfer light into a room. All of these alternative lighting sources help with the ambiance and feel of a space.
TIP 5 – Enhance Your Space With Color
The way the light falls on different colors can completely transform a room. Determine the most important wall in each room — the place to which you want to draw peoples’ attention — and paint it to your heart’s desire.
This is the point in remodeling that can allow for personal freedom of expression in your home. Susanka points out that there’s no need to be shy in this process; be creative and experiment with a variety of colors to sense how they each make you feel in the space. Paint large pieces of paper in all the colors you could imagine and even all the colors that you’d never expect to use. You might just find that the brightest or most unexpected shade fits perfectly on your favorite wall.
Images from Sarah Susanka and Mark Vassallo’s book, Not So Big Remodeling, published by Taunton Press in 2009; by photographer Randy O’Rourke.
Green Remodeler – Sarah Susanka
Sarah Susanka, FAIA, is the leader of a movement that is redefining the American home and lifestyle. Through her “build better, not bigger” approach to residential design she has demonstrated that the sense of “home” we seek has to do with quality, not quantity. A thought leader and acclaimed architect, Susanka is the best-selling author of nine books that collectively weave together home and life design, revealing that a “Not So Big” attitude serves not only architectural aims, but life goals as well. Her books have sold well over one million copies. Susanka’s most recent book, More Not So Big Solutions for Your Home, was released in February, 2010. Join her online community at www.notsobig.com.
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
“They just don’t make them like they used to” applies more to big wooden beams more than almost any other home building material out there – gigantic old-growth trees are few and far between these days, and softwood like Douglas Fir (while not technically exotic) can be hard to come by.
Found for sale via various salvage operations, the core structure is composed of huge reclaimed beams that measure as much as a few feet wide – making traditional 2x4s and other dimensional lumber look a little small by comparison. Built-ins are also made of colorful recycled woods, while primary walls and floors were created of smooth concrete to create contrast.
Car decking and other lower-grade, solid-wood salvage fills in the various gaps, carefully sorted by length to fit the odd angles of the wall and roof lines. It may not be as pretty as its popular counterpart species – maple, pine, cedar or cherry – but it has a raw and rugged look that works well.
The net effect is a home that seems to grow right out of the ground, like roots of some ancient tree. The interior features a playful contrast between the rough and dark used wood and brand-new appliances, white-painted surfaces, modern amenities and contemporary furniture.
If you really boil this design by Omer Arbel down to the basics, it is successful for one reason above all others: there is no attempt to pretend that the house itself is old – the aged wood is used to balance with new shapes and forms that are of a distinctly contemporary vintage.
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
HOUSTON, TX–Not making money on your money? Saving is the new best investment strategy–so many people are investing their funds in future savings with green remodeling. Recently released data shows that in Seattle, in 2008 (the most recent data available), where nationally certified green homes were sold and compared as follows to non-certified homes sold during the same period:
Median sales price was 6% higher!
Time on market was 29.4% shorter!
Price per Squre Foot was 9.3% higher!
That should come as no surprise because it makes sense that a more energy efficient, durable, lower maintenance, healthier home is better built than the obsolete counterpart built only to meet minimum “code.”
With the 2009 debut of the NAHB Green Remodeling Standard, www.nahbgreen.org, anyone can and should make their home greener during a remodel. This is the first and only national green remodeling standard in the U.S. and it should be a homeowner’s blueprint for any remodeling project. Whether you are remodeling a kitchen or a bathroom, adding space or converting an attic, this Green Remodeling Standard is your guide to a healthier, more energy efficient home that will lower your living costs and enable you to sell your home faster and at a premium.
Homeowners have unprecedented choices when remodeling to create their dream home. Quieter, cleaner, lower maintenance homes with smaller energy bills and the best indoor air quality options in U.S. construction history are more popular than ever. Here are my top five choices for making your existing home greener:
Apply a radiant barrier paint to your roof deck. By applying E-Barrier paint from Sherwin Williams http://www.sherwin-williams.com/pro/green/index.jsp to the bottom of your roof deck from inside your attic, you can expect to repel up to 70% of the sun’s radiant heat from ever entering your attic.
Add more insulation to your attic. Blow it in to make sure you cover up all the cracks and leaking holes in your attic. You can do this yourself or hire a professional but make sure you reach R-38 when you are done. Your contractor or equipment rental company will tell you how deep it needs to be to hit that golden mark.Use only Energy Star rated appliances like Miele www.Miele.com in your next kitchen remodel. Regardless of the price range you are considering, these high efficiency, German engineered appliances will save you more energy and water than their non-rated appliances. Plus they are so quiet you can’t hear them and they are the snazziest looking products on the market today!
These wise choices make your home efficiently more cost effective to live in and more desirable at resale. With the current real estate market in flux, many homeowners are opting to add on for more space or just freshen up their current home instead of moving and this is the perfect time to invest in future cost savings.
The www.nahbgreen.org website is a valuable tool—almost as valuable as an experienced Green Builder or Remodeler. Green building is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide with new and improved products being introduced at a rapid pace. Many of the techniques and products that will give you the greatest return on your investment can be recommended by the professionals who work with them on a real time basis and who keep up with the new trends and technology.
Think Green, Live Green, Build Green—it’s the right thing to do.
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
Lessons Learned: Make Nice With Your Building Inspector
As I’ve posted before, when we started building homes we knew a lot less than we know today. Each day brought with it new lessons. I can remember the first day I met the building inspector from the Town of Breckenridge. His name was C and he was in a foul mood the moment he got out of his car. He’d come out to our building site to check to see if there was frost in the ground. We were installing pre-cast foundation walls, which are bedded in a gravel footer. Beneath the gravel was compacted dirt, and the building department had stipulated that we must lay our foundation walls on ground that was unfrozen. It was about 5 degrees that morning, and per agreement we’d called in our frozen ground inspection, and C had arrived thermometer in hand. After sticking the thermometer into the ground and consulting it, he told us in no uncertain terms that we were not going to be putting in our foundation walls that day. Determined to get the walls in (we had a crane on site charging us by the hour) I commenced to debate with C. I had gone on with my carefully crafted argument for about a minute when he gave me the blackest of looks and turned and walked away. And it dawned on me that I had just managed to completely annoy the one person who held sway over our entire project. I’ve previously posted about how we’d erected a plastic tent over the entire site to keep the soil from freezing. And how the wind had blown the tent away. Big mistake. And now another big mistake. The building inspector hated us. For minutes afterward my brother and I just paced in silence wondering what to do next. Because it certainly wasn’t going to be getting any warmer for months. How were we ever going to get those concrete walls installed? Then someone suggested that there was a miraculous device called a ground heater that was usually used in situations like this. And so we rented one, and when C came back the next day, the ground heater had thawed the ground and we were allowed to proceed. I went out of my way to apologize to C telling him that I was doing the best I could to figure out how to build my first house. And to my surprise, C told me about feeling totally miserable the day before because of a terrible cold, and how he was feeling much better today, and we had a chat about colds, cold weather, and building in the cold winter. From that day on, C and I got along just fine. Over the years my brother and I grew to know, to respect, and to appreciate all of those who worked in the Breckenridge Building Department. They can be your greatest allies, or, should you decide to cut corners, your worst enemies. They are our partners in standards of quality and safety. And we are proud to join with them in producing the best product possible.
Some of our favorite projects
Storm Meadow
The Rocky Region’s best and boldest example of Western – Mountain – Asian fusion. A one-of-a-kind 6000 square foot home with a totally authentic 800 square foot Japanese Tea House surrounded by gardens and a hot springs spa.
This home was another unique collaboration between owner (an engineer with decades of construction experience) and Trilogy Partners. Trilogy was entrusted as Design Build Project Manager and retained bhh Partners for basic architectural design.
Perched in a sublime setting at the base of Three Peaks along The Raven golf course at 9000 feet in elevation, this mountain getaway was created for Denver-based clients who love the mountain lifestyle.
This modern marvel has some of the best views in all of Summit County of the 10 Mile and Gore Ranges. A multiple grand award winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes, bhh Partners served up the principal architecture.
This castle is truly a tribute to energy conservation. Modeled to be Breckenridge’s (and the nation’s) first luxury Net Zero Energy slope side home, at 9000 square feet, the owner refused to compromise on either aesthetics or energy conservation.
HOUSTON, TX–Not making money on your money? Saving is the new best investment strategy–so many people are investing their funds in future savings with green remodeling. Recently released data shows that in Seattle, in 2008 (the most recent data available), where nationally certified green homes were sold and compared as follows to non-certified homes sold during the same period:
