Not So Big Remodeling · Mar 26, 04:45 PM

Are you searching for your dream home? Sarah Susanka’s latest book Not So Big Remodeling could help you realize that you’re already living in it. She focuses on how to tailor your home to the way you really live, how to make it beautiful, functional, and durable.

Her chapter on green remodeling has lots of tips for reducing your carbon footprint, and even shows a blower door test in action!

She included two of our projects in her book: a green kitchen remodeling project featured on pages 66, 107, 146, and a whole house renovation on pages 51 and 211.

— Laura Campbell

Passive House Goes Mainstream · Dec 28, 10:27 PM

Passive House is going mainstream! With yesterday’s piece in the New York Times, this program for energy-efficient design will get a completely new audience. And it is about time!

Here’s why: If we are to avoid the climatalogical tipping points now fast approaching, we have to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels. It is impossible for us to replace those fossil fuels in the timeframe we have left if we rely primarily on the development of new alternative energy sources. We simply no longer have that luxury; it will take too long to bring these resources online. Our only remaining option is to cut energy usage. Buildings in this country account for 40% of our greenhouse gas emissions. If we cut those emissions by 90%, as the Passive House approach does using available low-tech construction techniques, we will have cut total carbon emissions by 36%.

Then add to that the fact that the Passive House is quite easy to take off the grid entirely. When you are using a total of 11kwh/square foot per year, that translates into a very small array of photovoltaics. Suddenly, with such low demand, photovoltaics can become an affordable option for the average homeowner, not just movie stars.

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— David Peabody

Adding Space and Looking for a Simpler Life · Nov 7, 10:30 AM

Do you really need more space?

If you think you do, ask yourself why. If it is just to provide room for more stuff, or because the present space isn’t laid out very well, then maybe there is a better way.

On TV and in the magazines we see the pictures of the good life and we are told we can buy it. We buy the clothes, the boat, the extra car, the entertainment center. And then we find we need a place to put all this stuff. And we enlarge our house and take on more debt and more stress from having to work harder and having less free time. And are we really any closer to having the good life? We may actually have moved in the opposite direction.

People often come to us at the initiation of a project with photos of houses and rooms they like, and they want to have these beautiful things incorporated in their own house. I would say 90% of these pictures are of arts and crafts or English cottages, or zen-like rooms free of clutter. And I ask them what it is that they like about these places. While they often answer in terms of interesting windows, or nice trim, or clean lines, what really appeals to them about these places is their simplicity. They conjure the image of a simpler time and a simpler, less complicated, less stressful life. But simplicity is a reductive, not an additive process. By taking on another $300,000 or so of debt, expanding your house and filling it with more and more stuff, are you really moving toward a simpler life?

You are certainly not being very green. There is a maxim in green building that says, “The greenest space you can build is the space you don’t build. The average size of a house in 2008 was 2,350 square feet; in 1950 it was 983 square feet. That’s a growth of 239%. Are we raising noticeably better families within these larger houses?

Instead of adding space, rearrange and rationalize existing space.

Most houses built from the 40’s though the 70’s had small, isolated kitchens, and precious little storage space. It is a legitimate beef that these houses don’t work that well for the way we live today. But rather than doing the design/build knee-jerk solution of putting a big kitchen/family room box on the back, we urge people to look at re-organizing the existing space to adapt to the more open and informal living of today. We try to make existing houses feel bigger, while making them smarter, inserting storage as space dividers.

And when you absolutely need to add space, do so judiciously.

When you need another child’s bedroom, or a bedroom and bath for an aging parent, you need it, and then you have to expand. Maybe you give up your bedroom add a new master bedroom and bath. But remember who you are designing it for—you and your spouse, not the neighborhood and not the glossy magazines. And remember how many waking hours you spend there—not many. So why go overboard?

Design for yourself, not the next owner

Many clients we work with come to us figuratively looking over their shoulder at what the next owner might want in the house. “We don’t want to hurt the resale value” is the usual comment. And our answer to that is that there are at any time thousands of people in the DC market looking for a house and only one family is going to buy yours. So unless you do something really stupid, there ought to be more than a few people out there that think what you did to your house is really neat. Go with what excites you, not what you think the average overall buyer will want. Chances are what excites you will excite someone else just as much. And conversely, don’t put something in just because you think the next owner may miss it. If you don’t need a double sink in your bath, don’t build it. Same with the Jacuzzi tub, or even the formal dining room. You’ll save money in the process.

— David Peabody

Passive House · Nov 3, 02:35 PM

A new kind of home is taking over Europe. It is called the Passive House, or Passivhaus, in the language of its inventor, Wolfgang Feiss. The first Passivhaus was built in 1990, and 18 years later, the EU has scheduled adoption of the Passive House standard into their 2015 the building code.

So what is a Passive House? It is any house than can be built and certified to achieve the following:

The Passive House drastically reduces the demand side of the energy equation. It requires super-insulating and super-sealing the skin of the house. The costs of this extra attention to the building envelope are largely offset by the fact that the typical $40,000 heating and air conditioning system is simply not needed—these houses can be heated and cooled by the equivalent of a window air conditioner! As a result, energy costs for these houses are about 10% of those of a typical home. They are also incredibly comfortable, because there are no hot or cold areas, and no drafts.

Sound too good to be true? 20,000 families now living in Passive Houses disagree! We have joined the Passive House Institute network and are now learning the Institute’s energy modeling progam and energy detailing systems, upon which certification of Passive Houses is based. As energy costs continue to rise, and as our nation awakens to the realities of climate change, this approach to building may become mainstream here, as it is already becoming in Europe.

Update: Our Passivhaus Prototype shows how these super-efficient houses could fit into neighborhoods on this side of the Atlantic.

— David Peabody

Client / Architect working relationships · Sep 23, 02:34 PM

In 2002, a client of ours was working with a group of homeowners to help them discover how best to work with an architect. She asked for our advice about some of the pitfalls of the client /architect relationship. Here’s the list we gave her…just as relevant today as is was then.

Biggest Mistakes

Unrealistic Expectations:
Building a new home, or renovating your existing home is expensive. If you can align your budget and dreams early in the process, this will save you both time and frustration. Too often, clients come to architects with fabulous (but expensive) ideas. If the client can give the architect a clear and accurate idea of budget, the architect can help the client understand what they can afford. If there is no clear budget, an architect might spend a lot of time designing and drawing something a client can’t afford. This obviously prolongs the process and wastes money on design fees.
Neglecting a Cushion:
In establishing a budget, don’t plan to spend every cent you can possibly afford on your house. The reason for this is simple – unexpected circumstances often arise during the construction process (delays in permitting, unstable soil, etc.) You need to establish a cushion (we recommend 10% of the construction budget) so you can comfortably deal with any unexpected circumstances that arise.

Proactive Steps

Clarify Your Desires:
Gather photos of houses and interior spaces you like. Put a post-it note on each describing what you like about each image. Think about what rooms you need and their relationships to one another (i.e. you want a master bedroom which is separated from two additional bedrooms, you would like a family room with a wood stove which is connected to an eat-in kitchen). Give your architect an understanding of how you want to use your rooms (i.e. you want to eat breakfast in a sunny space with a table that accommodates three people, you like to get dressed in your closet and want a full length mirror there). Where do you normally eat? Where would you like to use your computer. Which rooms will have a TV? What kind of entertaining do you want to do?
Get Specific:
Give your architect as much specific information as you can. If you have furniture or paintings you want to accommodate, give their sizes. How much linear hanging space do you need in your closets?
Prioritize:
In case you can’t afford everything you want, begin to prioritize. Expensive items include: windows, built-in cabinetry such as bookshelves or bureaus, wood paneling and trim, stair detailing, custom kitchen cabinets, granite countertops, high end appliances, double height spaces, large rooms, high ceilings, bathrooms, complicated roof lintes, stone or brick exterior. Which are the most important to you, and which can you do without?

— Laura Campbell

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