NEWS + BLOG

Architecture and Light The psychological effect that your surroundings have on your mood is absolutely fascinating. Many researchers and psychologists have spent quite a lot of time on researching the effects of different designs, structures, lighting styles and colors on your mind and mood. During many years of research, these professionals found that colors and…

The 9 questions you should ask at the start of a project. There are 1000s of things to do when starting a new project. This is why having right professionals on your side is essential. There several questions you are going to need to ask your architect and several more you are going to need…

What Is LEED? LEED stands for Leadership in Energy Efficient Design and is a rating system and agency that certifies buildings are sustainable according to their rating system. LEED, unlike PassiveHouse, takes many factors beyond energy usage into account when certifying a project. Indoor air quality, material sourcing, recycled content, and construction techniques are among…

Sustainable Design Strategies Green design is an idea that most people have heard of, but few understand what it means from on a practical level. Most people when they think of a Green Building think of solar panels, but in reality, there is much more to it. While onsite renewable energy generation like solar panels…

CRI (COLOR RENDERING INDEX) CRI is a measure of how accurately a light source can reveal the intrinsic colors of what it is illuminating.  Color is just the brain’s way of interpreting light wave frequency.  When light hits an object, it absorbs some frequencies and reflects others.  A red apple absorbs all the frequencies, except the…

Light and Mood How Architecture Uses Lighting Styles To Enhance Your Mood The psychological effect that your surroundings have on your mood is fascinating.  Many researchers and psychologists have spent quite a lot of time on researching the effects of different designs, structures, lighting styles and colors on your mind and mood.  During many years…

The Landmark Preservation Commission The LPC, or Landmarks Preservation Commission, is a city organization charged with protecting various historic districts and buildings. If your project falls within a historic district or is an individually landmarked building, you are required to gain approval from the LPC before any work can be done. This can be an…

What you need to know about Architectural Fees A good architect should ask about your budget in your first interview. Do not dodge this question. While money can be difficult to talk about, you should never be uncomfortable about answering honestly. The Architect works for you, and one of the Architect’s most important responsibilities is…

Do I Need an Architect? There are many reasons why you should hire an architect. Architects are designers and can typically deliver more creative, useful, and pleasing spaces than contractor’s or engineers (or you;) alone. Architects are trained project-managers and like a symphony conductor can help get all the various consultants, GCs, and sub-contractors to…

WHAT IS AN ARCHITECT? An architect is not simply somebody who works in an architecture firm or one who has graduated from architecture school. An architect is a licensed professional deemed by their jurisdictions to have met all criteria required to hold the license. It is a protected professional title. Each state has slightly different…

UNDERSTANDING PASSIVE HOUSE Passive House design is a strict design standard that limits the energy use of the house. While LEED concerned itself with many different factors, such as indoor air quality and embodied the energy of materials, Passive House only deals with energy usage. In the most basic terms, to achieve a Passive House…

FAR – Floor Area Ratio FAR is a zoning acronym that stands for ‘Floor Area Ratio.’ This number will dictate how much ‘floor area’ you can have in relation to the size of your lot. It is one of the methods used by city zoning regulations to control the overall size of a building. For…

Seeing Things From Our Client’s Perspecitve Most people only build or renovate their home a few times in their life. Many of our clients are working with an architect for the first time. I stumbled across an unusual post by David Kim, AIA, where he describes the 5 phases of design. I was expecting it…