14 Eco-Friendly Architects
Eco-Friendly Architects & Green Design Principles
These architectural features result in energy efficient house plans that sip energy. HOME ARCHITECTS ® are among the leading green home architects in this movement and eco-friendly architects whose designs exceed Energy Star Partner recommendations.
When eco-friendly architects are designing your house, one of the things all residential designers should keep in mind is Green Design. This not only results in a more energy efficient design, it decreases your power bills and if Healthy Home Design (a trademarked program by Rand Soellner Architect) is followed, the very air you breathe in your house will be cleaner and safer for your family.
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Luxury Residential Architects Become Eco-Friendly
Rand Soellner specifies Energy Recovery Units (ERUs) as options to the basic HVAC systems of his houses, so that heat exchangers can recycle the energy normally lost to heat gain. Eco-friendly architects at Soellner also indicate HVAC condensors having an SEER of around 19, which exceeds Energy Code and Energy Star housing design recommendations. These eco-friendly methods include the use of electronic filters on AHUs (Air Handling Units) to result in more efficient and complete clean air filtration without any paper filters that standard houses today utilize.
“Parents who have children with asthma and other respiratory issues really appreciate having cleaner air to breathe,” said Soellner, “Having a healthy home design is just one subset of the whole Green Home Architects – Green Design movement, which is also part of sustainable residential architecture, which also addresses recycling and reducing energy consumption.”
Timber Frame Architects & Eco-Friendly Approaches
Luxury house design and custom home architecture, log home architects, timber frame design and post and beam are not terms one might normally link to Green Design and Eco-friendly approaches. They can be combined to result in houses with strong appeal and aesthetics that harmonize with the mountains, lakes, waterfalls and even the trees in suburbia, AND still be energy efficient designs and healthy as well. Timber frame houses can have higher insulation levels, depending on the type of structural systems used for the roof and walls. It is a misperception, we believe, that SIPs, for instance, create the best value. Structural Insulated Panel = SIP. SIPs are typically composed of 15/32″ OSB (Oriented Strand Board) bonded to a core of EPS (Expanded PolyStyrene insulation), with another layer of OSB.
It forms a structural sandwich that is capable of spanning 24′ +/-, depending on thickness and width, and optional internal splines and support members underneath the panels. Personally, we feel that SIPs can work very well for roofs, particularly when used over timber frame roof members. That does not mean that is what we feel is the preferred Home Value Engineering arrangement. You may wish to see our Home Value Engineering pages for detailed studies of optional systems. Walls, in our opinion, are probably better as prefabricated stud wall construction, as greater flexibility can be obtained here for field corrections for electrical, plumbing and HVAC runs. Soellner evaluates every design to decide on what is best for a client’s budget and environmental parameters. The desired result is to maximize the insulation level for the least investment of dollars and the lowest carbon footprint on the planet.
Architects Can be Eco-Friendly
It’s true. Whether your new house is being designed by Atlanta or Big Sky designers, or a Denver professional, you can benefit from them also being eco-friendly. Your pocketbook and lungs will thank you. Soellner provides luxury residential design services in a multitude of places throughout the United States and the World.
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Contact Information for eco-friendly architects:
Rand Soellner Architect
Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB
E-mail: randsoellner@earthlink (dot) net
tags: eco-friendly architects, green, cashiers, highlands, asheville, atlanta, charlotte, myrtle beach, canada, denver, houston, timber frame, post and beam, mansion architecture, castle design
GREEN HOME DESIGN UNIVERSITY QUESTIONS, for those of you taking Rand Soellner’s course of green instruction: about the above subject:
1. Eco-friendly architects specify what?
a. ERUs (Energy Recover Units) to improve HVAC system performance.
b. Large vehicles.
c. Oil-fired furnaces.
2. What is the SEER rating of air-conditioning condensers exceeding Energy Code levels?
3. What kind of filters on air handling units can make the air in your home much cleaner to breathe?
If you are continuing in your Green Home Design University course to the next level,
Favorite this page now, by clicking on your “Favorites” menu choice in the upper left of your Windows Internet Explorer window,
then click here: Green Design Checklist 1 to go to the next level 15.
1. a., 2. a., 3. b.