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Philosophy

We are a Design-Build Company that provides quality construction and consulting for light commercial, waterfront, and residential projects. "We strongly believe in fine craftsmanship and cost effective production bringing you the best product for the money. We make affordable custom products that are an alternative to generic production. We share a love for natural building materials, and have innovative ideas with which we use to create the best products for your project."

Today we live and work in two environments, the natural environment and the built environment. We need both, so for the purposes of a symbiotic relationship these two environments should work together. A house should not simply beat back the weather and the wild. It should provide shelter, while augmenting what our earth has to offer us.

WHAT THE WORLD CAN OFFER US

The world offers us many things to incorporate into the built environment: Sunlight is an abundant commodity, and it should be used as such, but in very specific ways. Today windows and skylights are placed in the average building without provisions for glare and direct heat gain. We do light studies to make sure that the building is being used to the advantage of the occupants without putting unnecessary loads on it's systems. Shading devices sized to sun patterns, light shelves to diffuse and penetrate a space with light, and light tubes to naturally light dark interior spaces are a few examples. Water, however, is not abundant, but we can use it wisely inside the home, and collect it outside the home to become less dependant on water meters. Low flow appliances, grey-water treatment, and rainwater collection are a good place to start. Weather, is often seen as the element that we should completely block from the built environment, however that is not the case. Analyzing wind patterns can give us tools to cool during the summer. Precipitation can become a water source, and the sun can help heat, or cool. Vegetation can be easily overlooked in the design process, even though it can be a very useful tool. Green roofs and walls are extremely efficient insulators; they also reduce the heat island effect. Green trellises can shade spaces during the summer, and let the sun in during the winter when the plants are in hibernation, and plants inside the home help clean the air, making a healthy environment, for example.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER THE WORLD

We can use materials that are not harmful to the environment such as local materials that aren't shipped from around the world, or materials that are easily renewable, such as cork or bamboo flooring, or materials that are so efficient that we reduce the amount of power required to operate our buildings, such as Structural Insulated Panels, or materials that will last the life of the building and reduce the need to repair and remodel. We can plant vegetation and gardens on our green roofs, walls, and yards, therefore cleaning the air and water, reducing our need for shipping fruits and vegetables, and reducing our power consumption. We can use the sun, water, and wind that the earth gives us to produce power, reducing the drain on the power grid, and eventually reducing the oil and coal that is dug up, drilled, and burned wreaking havoc with the environment. Finally, we can combine all of these things, and other strategies, to design and build efficient buildings that give back as much as they take.

HOW

It seems simple and intuitive, but getting there can be complicated. We are very well versed in the art of offering the world as much as we take, and we'd like to help your building do that as well. We study the site thoroughly and analyze its weather, sun, and wind patterns. The initial design is then informed by those studies. Once we have our initial design and concepts, we do lighting studies, load studies, figure infiltration and insulation for the building etc., and then work toward the systems, methods and materials that we will use in construction.