Our work isn’t always sexy

Is it Form Follows Function, or Function Follows Form?  As designers and architects we are taught that design or more specifically aesthetics are an important aspect of the job.  However good design is not always a priority, or should I say what we consider to be good design.

Twitter PostA picture and comment posted on twitter reminded me of that.  It sparked a conversation with John Morefield (@Arch5cents) of Architecture 5¢, he is quick to remind us we don’t work for sexy, we work for our clients.  And that is what makes our job difficult.  What is not aesthetically pleasing to our trained eyes may be beautiful to our clients.  After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  With each project we spend lots of time with our clients to personalize their home, and at times it can be hard to not get personally attached to the project because you have made some sort of personal connection with that person, couple, or family.   So we have to remind ourselves that every aspect of our job is about design, we are designing our clients new way of life and it goes way beyond the exterior facade.  We design spaces, solve problems and in general improve our clients way of life by accommodating their needs and wants.

Now I don’t claim to be a strong designer, nor do I have a style.  My style is what the clients’ style or needs are; I solve the problem handed to me.  And sometimes aesthetics takes a back seat to budgets, programming needs and site constraints.  Again, we as designers may not be satisfied by the final solution, but in the end, if the clients life has been improved and they are happy, then it was a successful project.

View more photos of this project on our facebook page.


Challenging our priorities

As the new year begins, we all have resolutions to improve or change our lives in some way.  For the design and construction industry, I truly believe there needs to be a shift in thinking.  Energy efficiency needs to be a key player in all of our work, and I am not just talking code minimums.

As I am now performing home energy audits, I am inspecting way too many homes built before the 1960′s with small to large additions or alterations.  Yet the majority of the original structure in not touched.  This is why I am visiting these homes, they have these brand new additions and brand new high efficiency furnaces, yet they are not comfortable.  No surprise when a newly insulated addition is added to the home and the original structure stills sits uninsulated.  But what may be more disturbing is the rare addition built within the past couple of years that are extremely under-insulated at the ceiling.  And what amazes me even more is that home owners are so conditioned into thinking that they are uncomfortable because they have “bad” windows. Read the rest of this entry »

Project Invasion

Frank Lloyd Wright was known for making surprise visits to his residential projects.  During these visits he would rearrange the furniture (in most cases he designed it specifically for the project), and even took pictures down and asked the home owner to throw them away.  Now I am not such a control freak, but I did have a chance to stay in one of my residential design projects for almost two weeks.  So what better way to make a designer to second guess and critique old work than to experience living in it firsthand.

Overall my family and guests enjoyed our time at the lakeside cottage in upstate New York.  The open floor plan flowed nicely and left plenty of room for the 5 kids to run around and play.  The 4 bedrooms gave both families plenty of room and allowed them to have their own private space.  This will be nice for the owners as their family grows in size and is passed along between generations.  The bunk room was a hit with the kids and the open railing served its purpose to monitor the little ones from sneaking out.  My wife liked how she could lock the first floor bathroom and Master bedroom can act as a Master Suite by opening the pocket door.  During the planning and design I was skeptical of the placement of the laundry in the main entry.  Although spacious, the main entry is very utilitarian and is only used as a transition between spaces and the laundry goes almost un-noticed.  Plus being only a summer home, you tend to overlook the utilitarian nature of the space.

The large South facing windows provide a great view of the lake (a far cry from the original design provided by a drafter that was originally hired).  And with the clerestory windows, plenty of daylight was available in all areas of the home.  This also took advantage of the prevailing winds and is a very effective way to naturally ventilate the home.  At times it felt as if we were sitting on the screened in porch.

Overall the experience staying in the home was good and it was a fun project to work on.  Therefore  looking back, I really wouldn’t change anything that I did.  As a designer, our job is to solve problems and create places.  We were given the task to add two bedrooms and an additional bath to and existing cottage, and I think we came up with the best solution possible.  However the only complaint from the owner is they wish they had more storage space in form of cabinets and a larger deck that will soon be rectified.

Sym-Home Re-Launched

Symbiotic Home (sym-home) has expanded upon its mission of documenting the “Greening” of a typical 1960’s home on a modest budget prioritizing projects in terms of needs, environmental benefits and financial paybacks.

Sym-Home is now providing residential design services, home energy audits and consulting.  Sym-Home specializes in energy efficient, healthy & durable homes.  Joshua Lloyd, owner of sym-home, draws from a decade’s worth of experience in the architectural field. In addition, his experience includes producing construction documents and coordinating LEED documentation for Ohio’s first LEED Platinum Home, located in Columbus, Ohio.

Sym-Home also provides home energy audits, helping home owners to take control of their homes energy usage by providing them the appropriate information after a thorough inspection and test on the home to see where the most energy is used and prioritize a list of recommended projects in terms of financial payback.  Joshua Lloyd, is a certified Building Analyst through the Building Performance Institute (BPI) to conduct home energy audits.

Sym-Home also provides consulting services to homeowners, builders and other design professionals.  Sym-Home can assist project teams with issues related to high performance structures, from building science issues, schematic level energy modeling for both commercial and residential structures, and LEED documentation and coordination.

Sym-Home considers residential design and home energy audits as a complimentary service to each other, especially for home owners looking to renovate or add on to an existing home.  Home energy auditing tools can be a valuable resource during the design and construction phases of a new home and renovation.

For those of you who have been following the renovation process, we will be re-posting all the projects with more images and information regarding each project in a series called “To Kill an Energy Hog”

Read the rest of this entry »

Video Friday: Geek Builds Green

I am always telling people with green design and construction, you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere with what goals you are going to try and obtain for any project. Are you going to focus on energy efficiency, indoor air quality, renewable materials, etc.

Catherine Mohr makes her decisions to building a green home by analyzing the numbers and examining the embodied energy of the materials and systems going into the home. So watch her presentation, and ask yourself this; if you are building a new home home, what is important to you, and where would you draw the line?

Catherine Mohr builds green

Check out Catherine Mohr’s blog as she ventures into green home building.