Ideas
General Philosophy
It’s our belief that sustainability and being “green” is not only sensible but should be a must. Therefore we need to be able to take this for granted — it’s an expectation on a base level. However it’s unfortunately not a broad reality in our culture but we as individuals have control. In order to frame our expectations of a living environment, we set a few goals or rules against which we could cross check every detail of the design and build.
+ materials should strive to be honest; avoiding unnecessary veneers, coatings, layers or multiple bonded materials so that they will innately have used very little energy in their production
+ where possible, materials by nature should not have demanded a greater amount of energy than from their source such as natural stone or wood demands and these materials should not demand further energy to become part of the house other than installation avoiding processes such as painting, finishing, tiling, or general covering with another material
+ honest, natural materials are timeless, aging gracefully in both a stylistic and wearing sense and are therefore truly sustainable long term
+ no materials should be used that off gas creating VOCs
+ the house shouldn’t create it’s own demand for resources which is essentially the result of poor design such summer sun penetration, hitting dark materials and generating heat gain requiring air conditioning, or dark zones of the house that require artificial light by day — only the occupants of the house need to create the need for energy use
+ energy consumption is a design or comfort issue, not a necessity
+ unhealthy environments can be avoided with proper design and without excess energy use; clean fresh well conditioned air, good lighting, efficient use of personal energy in the use of the home, good feeling, good sleeping, quiet
+ materials and labour should be sourced locally where possible because distance consumes energy and encourages economic disparity
+ the design, technologies used and material selection should consider future use as a criteria for choice in order to maintain relevance in the future to us and the next inhabitants such as future construction methods or standards, timeless materials, low energy systems, interiors that can be added to rather than subtracted from by demolition
Sustainable Design
Our philosophy on applying sustainability is to design a living environment that is not only relevant to the user today but also in the future. Therefore all materials, layouts and finishes should be easily adjusted for future uses by adding, not subtracting.
All materials should be of low energy manufacturing and be as recyclable as possible for future generations to be able to reuse efficiently. Veneered materials are waste, solid materials hold value and can be reused. Materials that have a long and energy intensive manufacturing cycle need to be avoided as they create unnecessary waste at the beginning and throughout their lifecycle.
Complex, chemical or petroleum based materials today will be deemed cumbersome and possibly harmful in the future causing the need for removal and abatement so therefore simple materials are most sensible and likely more relevant or valuable to future inhabitants or even us down the road.
Similarly the home must be efficient and produce as little waste as possible through its life cycle. This is achieved by designing features that are inherently energy efficient or load reducing as well as long living to reduce the need for reconstruction or renovation. Future generations should be able to relate to the forward design in order to move in rather than reno. If changes are required, add-ons to the relatively stripped down design can be easily achieved with little waste.
Paying for Sustainability
In the long run, sustainability needs to cost less — irony. It is our belief that for every dollar we have to earn, despite our efforts to reduce the industrial impact of our business, we inevitably mow down some trees, create some C02, and fuel our computers on Panda tears. So the most cost effective route needs to be involved in the sustainable equation. Simply, you can’t throw money at the sustainable problem without considering that the high footprint money spent outweighed the positive results unless, the positive results were infectious on others – another story.
However, in the short run, sustainability costs. Not only because longevity costs by nature of good quality but also in R&D. Simply, companies that are developing sustainable thinking and technologies need to get paid. Therefore we need to support them by specifying and buying these sustainable ideas and products.