suba

A New Building System for All

suba — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:29:06 +0000

Carbon Glut and Construction Waste

Quiet . . . I am thinking as I ponder my blog . . . hammering and yammering from the house next store. Workers are renovating yet again. Tearing down a house to build anew is such a wasteful process. A house comes with warranties and is built to last, yet we go about expanding and renovating our living environment often on a whim. Demolition damages materials still in their prime. It takes 6-9 months to build or renovate one quality home. On any given day at a construction site, enormous effort is made to frame, plumb, sheathe, wire, apply moisture barriers, add windows, doors, sills and roofs. Exterior finish materials need on-site trimming, flashing, priming, painting and/or sealing. So much effort for one building envelope. Do we really need to start over each time?

Consider our human skeletal system. It has remained and evolved supporting a multitude of body parts in a variety of designs. Why not create one standard frame and panel system expansive to all building conditions with uniform fittings and flashings designed to accommodate any structural loading or weather condition? Though we have companies producing modular homes, our building industry has not embraced one system for all. Our industry is fragmented in construction methods. Many are slow to take on new technologies due to the learning curve and additional costs. Codes are becoming unwieldy. A standard frame and panel system might level the playing field and focus energy on innovation to refine and perfect it creating opportunities to invent new products and designs.

Client, Builder, Architect, Designer, Planner and Building Inspector would gain a common knowledge of the kit of parts thereby simplifying the Building Codes and the construction process. Building materials could be mixed and matched in panel designs and added or removed in the field leaving the framing system intact. This would eliminate tearing down walls and destroying products .

How It Might Work:

The modular frame would anchor to an engineered foundation specifically designed for each site. All exterior and interior walls, roofs, ceilings, floors, mechanical and plumbing chases would be fabricated in panel modules and attached to the framework through uniform connections. Each panel would support an exterior and interior finish and insulating material which would become a floor, wall, ceiling or roof component providing infinite possibilities for design. Interior built-ins for Kitchens and Baths could be integrated into specific panels. Material suppliers, fabricators, window and door manufactures, lighting designers and green building experts would collaborate directly with factories in a team effort to provide constant quality control and innovation in the assembly line process. Features such as windows, doors, photovoltaics and living roofs could be panel integrated and ready for delivery. With universal connectors and standard sizes, every panel could be designed to be removed and returned to the factory for exchange and recycle of valuable building materials thereby eliminating waste. An endless variety of panel types could be showcased and ordered through various dealers fueling competition for design, quality and innovation. This system would be inclusive to all manufacturers of green technologies.

Each house could have a main “dash” or control panel which displayed all house functions (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, lighting, audio, internet and security) all in one place for easy monitoring and maintenance.

Isn’t it time to put the hammers down and consider the possibilities?

Let’s Talk Cabinetry. . . .

suba — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:39:39 +0000

Are you in the market for a good cabinet maker? I know of one who springs to mind . . . Rob Robinson at The Village Collection in Belmont, Ca. If you have questions, he has answers with a wealth of knowledge and creative information. I had the pleasure of touring his cabinet shop the other night . . . quite impressive.

Rob works along side Architects and Interior Designers in a team effort from the very beginning of the cabinet design. His showroom offers Clients a variety of hardwood veneers, crown molding profiles and cabinetry displays. In showcasing numerous styles and finishes, Rob makes it easy for Clients to understand terms like “flush inset” and “full overlay”. At the Village Collection, shop drawings are created for each design and the cabinet makers use state of the art equipment to intricately measure, cut, sand, assemble and finish the full cabinetry package. The cabinetry joints are so clean and tight, the connection is invisible making it easy to brake cabinets down and reassemble them in the field. Rob told me that every piece is recorded in a cutting schedule so if, during the manufacturing process, a particular piece is not up to quality standards with their electronic cutting equipment, it is possible to replicate that part perfectly at any time. The Village Collection even matches custom paint colors to fabrics making an Architect’s/Interior Designer’s concern for quality easier to control.

Although, I love the look of modular cabinets simply layed out in linear designs, custom cabinetry will use every inch of leftover space in creative ways . . . no filler panels . . . please.

These days cabinet hardware is very advanced offering a multitude of ways to use narrow, hard to reach corners and vertical slots to gain hidden storage. These areas are no longer considered “dead space”. Though, the hardware can get expensive, it is important to plan for pull-out drawers, baskets and shelving. If you have the money to spend, it is worth it. Remember those lower cabinets with double shelves? The ones where you needed to bend down and practically stick your head in trying to find anything? Now, gliding drawers pull out toward you to accommodate your needs and then softly close with a touch. Hard to reach corners are accessible again. As a final tip, Rob reminded me that upper shelves and cabinets need a full 12 inches of space inside clear to easily accommodate plates and stemware when the doors are fully closed. Thanks Rob, I will remember that. . .

Do you have any thoughts on cabinetry that you would like to share? We would like to hear from you. . . .

Architecture and Interior Design/Still Trying to Reach the Sun . . .

suba — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:43:57 +0000

Presently, I live in shaded quarters beyond the reach of the sun. My roof overhangs my glass doors which face directly north, enclosing me in a cool gray neutral zone of light, undramatic in soft shadows. I long to feel interior sunlight, warm in energy . . . golden in quality . . . bathing light to soak in for awhile . . .

The photo below shows the area directly beyond my window and roof overhang. . . . . . a sunlit outdoor room . . .

I have experienced first hand the importance of balancing natural daylight in the interior design of a room. Most windows are focused on exterior views regardless the quality of light passing through them. A home needs varied zones of daylight and sun. Four which come to mind are North, South, East and West. Each exposure has a profound effect on the interior environment throughout the day. Poor quality of daylight can be a dramatic and elusive element to correct. No amount of interior fussing is going to change room exposure in a cold gray northern light. Although room lighting can be artificially modulated, it is not a strong starting point for efficiency nor design. Who wants to keep lights on and the heat up continually throughout the year for ambiance and comfort?

Pay attention to the quality of light in one room over another during a particular time of day. Ever noticed your pet snoozing in a bit of sunlight washing across the floor?

If you live in a single family dwelling and can select your window locations, coordinate them with daylight expectations for each room. Site your windows properly tracking the sun patterns from East in the morning to West at night in order to capture not only desired views, but heat and light. If you aren’t able to relocate current windows, skylights are a terrific addition to capturing sun. Just remember to carefully select skylight locations . . . North, East, South, West, so that the desired light quality will be achieved.

Sustainable Green Buildings | How Does Your Home Perform?

suba — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:02:01 +0000

As this season of giving draws to a close, I ’d like to share some basics learned last Fall at the Pacific Energy Center (PG&E) . Terrific sustainable design courses (paid for out of our energy bills) were offered to anyone interested . . . and I just happened to be . . .

Fact: Air moves throughout a home . . . hot air rises drawing cooler air in behind to replace it.

How:

Follow a breeze through a window or door;
Open the flue in a fireplace; the stronger the draw of warmed air, the brighter the flame;
Turn on a forced air heating system or wall furnace;
Use the mechanical fans in Kitchens and Baths. They continually draw air and moisture up and out of a room pulling in air from other areas of the home;

Why Should We Care? Well, if air does move throughout a house, drawing new air in behind it, where does this replacement air come from? Now, that is a scary thought . . .

The answer turns out to be many places and not all of them good. Understanding air movement can have an enormous impact on the energy efficiency of our homes and indoor air quality.

Why Efficiency? We need to keep a desired sustainable temperature within our living space so we don’t pay for wasteful fluctuations in our heating/cooling systems.
Why Quality? We want to make sure the air we breathe is clean and contained within a healthy environment. Need I say more?

One of the most common locations for air temperature difference is high up along ceiling planes where the attic space is not sufficiently sealed off from the living space below. The attic is usually vented and is essentially open to outside air. At ceiling/wall intersections, air gaps in the Gyp. Bd. as small as 1/8″ can allow air to pass up into an unconditioned attic space. Air passes through walls along the edges of electrical outlet covers, recessed ceiling cans, bath tub framing and heating vents if, during construction, they are not properly enclosed. Replacement air may be drawn in through unsealed areas in basements or crawl spaces below. What do you have in your crawl space . . . worth the air you breathe? Perhaps you have furnace ducts . . . are they asbestos wrapped, leaking, old? Any moist soil, mold, rodent residue?

Getting a home performance test is an excellent way to find out. We tend to monitor our body health, why not sustainability for our home?

Imagine what we might learn if we color coded air movement and tracked its source within a living space. We would probably try harder to keep it pure and contained. If we could visually see the where and understand the why of air flow for both quality and temperature, we might better understand its affect on energy use and our health. Two tools used in a home performance test which demonstrate this are an Infrared camera, a thermal imaging device which shows a range of different temperatures within a room: blue being the coldest, green more neutral and red hotter. These images can be used to show areas that are not properly insulated. In the case below, the camera is locating an area that is much colder than the rest of the room.The second tool is a blower door. The blower door is just that: a powerful fan that is attached to a door. Air is blown into or out of an enclosed area for testing purposes. If the fan sucks air out of an area, it will cause negative air pressure and begin drawing available air from any location. One can then place a hand over furnace duct vents, around windows or doors, outlet covers or an open fireplace to test for drafts. Where there is a draft, there is a definite air leak in the interior building envelope and we are breathing air from that location.

I believe home performance testing is the starting point for building green. Before adding solar or taking note of the wind, we need to evaluate and perfect our building’s envelope. Conservation of energy and quality of life begins here forcing us to focus on performance in detail and understanding our living environment with an educated mind.

I recommend the following companies:

Andy and Cara Wahl of AC Home Performance, Inc .

Gavin Healy of Balance Point Home Performance

New Apple Store Location | Grand Central Terminal

suba — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:45:01 +0000

How timely was the news this morning upon my return from my neighborhood store. I had just finished my “one to one” session and came upon this press release . . . new Apple store opening in Grand Central Terminal . . . both monumental.

Click here to see Apple’s Press Release on the new Grand Central Terminal Store.

Design does matter and Apple has it right on this one . . . instant marketing on a grand scale in a city that never sleeps . . . not entirely anyway. I wonder how many are Mac users?

Commanding a marker on most city maps, Grand Central is a destination, a watering hole where everyone gathers at some point. It has the largest number of platforms in the world and is a major hub for trains and subways offering connections everywhere. It is a place of arrival and departure much like Apple in the digital world.

As for precision and beauty, history proudly remembers the flap panel display which tracked arrivals and departures high overhead the famous clock. New Yorkers waged a battle to save Grand Central . . . ceiling constellations and all. Now they have a new global connection under the stars.

Butters Canyon Conservancy

suba — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 03:46:59 +0000

http://www.bcconservancy.org/

Who doesn’t enjoy a half mile walk along a quiet path, a treesy cycling route without the fumes along Peralta Creek? We support this upcoming event . . . check it out

Green From The Ground Up (Sustainable, Healthy and Energy-Efficient Home Construction) | Book Review

suba — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:31:33 +0000

Do you remember a time when you were traveling, confident in your exploration with your trusty guide book in hand? You reached for it to provide a bit of history, neighborhood details or the best meal in town? That guide book never left your side and served you in multiple ways? David Johnston’s & Scott Gibson’s book Green from the Ground Up (The Taunton Press, 2008) has become that type of guide book for me in the land of green design.

First and foremost, the book is a good read with smart content and colorful layout. Each page is chock-full of photos, detailed building illustrations and energy saving techniques. All in small packets made easy to learn. David’s own story flows like an undercurrent from page to page chronicling his journey. He began as the owner of a solar construction company in Washington DC , before moving on to Boulder, Colorado where he become an author and trainer in green building programs.

In this book, David challenges the reader to look beyond the trendy words of sustainable architecture and building green by questioning the rationale for natural resource depletion and climate change. He encourages one to view the home as a system with interdependent parts (such as: insulated foundations; efficient windows and doors; rain screens and exterior walls). Each chapter explains green product alternatives one step at a time by using what is already on hand.

I agree with David’s perspective on green building owners. They become a part of a home’s efficiency because they take the time to understand not only how the house works, but how it interacts with the environment. David explains house orientation to the sun, indoor air quality and includes a punch list for preventing mold.

Many San Francisco Architects are committed to designing healthier building environments. I know I am. It takes time to gain experience and overcome uncertainty with new building technologies. Teaming up with experienced Contractors who are comfortable with these new methods and promote them makes the transition much easier. David fits this category perfectly and I am going to keep his and Scott’s trusty guidebook, Green from the Ground Up close at hand.

San Francisco Architects | My World View

suba — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:05:11 +0000

I create spaces . . . through passion and joy so naturally, I am awestruck by arresting places in this world. They stand apart from my daily routine and grip me in unfathomable ways . . . inspire me . . . lead me . . . craving to see more.

Scenic backdrops to an era I have yet to explore, they thrive in current events. One step in and one step out . . . this time it was Oia on the island of Santorini, Greece.

Three hundred meters above the Aegean Sea, spilling over caldera cliffs like white glue, each building magically marking its character on one of the most dazzling cityscapes I have seen. Old and new, then and now, above and below this volcanic cone . . . Oia’s buildings are rich in detail and commanding in many colorful ways. . .

San Francisco Interior Designers | Dwell Magazine Corner

suba — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:17:27 +0000

Kudos to Dwell Magazine for another fine conference, so much learning in small packets of time. One small gem in a quiet corner on the beaten path was the magazine library . . visually rich and enticing . . . .no talking or selling . . . just quiet entertainment . . . connecting people from all walks of life lost in translation of global magazines.

Welcome to my blog. I will use it as an educational resource for current and potential clients and any topic is up for discussion. . . got a question? I will be periodically posting information related to architecture, interiors, and sustainable design.

Following, are three noteworthy products that caught my eye:

www.goldbrecht-systems.com | Whenever possible, I try to include landscapes in my designs. California is lush in greenery and pools. Linking a beautiful garden to a living/dining area or expanding a sleeping area onto a deck and a pool can increase the home’s function and be visually intoxicating. We all can relate to those warm summer nights, but winter landscapes and climate changes can make for dramatic backdrops to any event. . especially if you live by the sea.

The goldbrecht-custom wall systems are breathtaking in their large expanse of glass and minimalist profiles. They even have remote controlled motorized glass walls that disappear at the push of a button. I have found it very difficult to locate a glass wall/sliding door manufacturer who is willing to detail the door thresholds to sit flush with the finished floors providing a seamless blend of indoor/outdoor living. Check out their website. Are you game to use one in your next design? If so, call me.

www.infinitydrain.com | Now this is an elegant and sophisticated drainage solution. We usually see these outdoors at sloped garages or around pools. I am excited to use them in bathrooms. In a shower area, the stone or tile is usually reduced in size to 5 x 5 or smaller with all four planes sloping toward a central drain. The look can get busy if larger tile is used elsewhere. The infinity drain is a linear solution which allows the whole shower pan to gently slope to one side eliminating this problem.

www.virofiber.com | My third great find was the Virofiber booth displaying chairs woven in elegant and colorful patterns made from non toxic synthetic fibers which are not affected by the sun. I have yet to find chair fabrics which hold up well outdoors over time. The woven patterns and colors definitely aroused my interest. Has anyone used this product? Leave me your thoughts.