heiland hoff architecture
sustainable design for winery, commercial, and residential projects
jackson county oregon siskiyou county california medford oregon ashland oregon grants pass oregon klamath falls oregon talent oregon phoenix oregon southern oregon northern california
When most people think of energy conservation, they think of freezing in the dark. People tend to equate sustainable architecture with complicated and inconvenient active solar technology. But no matter how environmentally friendly an idea seems to be, it really isn't sustainable if it doesn't make people contented and comfortable.
Heiland Hoff Architecture is committed to producing healthy, nature-inspired buildings that are easy on the environment. Elements of passive solar heating and cooling are built into every idea on our drawing boards. But people who live and work in buildings created by Heiland Hoff Architecture may never realize that they are conserving energy; they just know they are enjoying a delightful space that makes them happy, and that they are physically comfortable.
Current events have made being “green” equivalent to being cool. But Heiland Hoff’s longstanding commitment to sustainability dates back to well before the current emphasis on “green” technology, and before the formation of the US Green Building Council and LEED rating system. The federal government maintains an official website, www.greenbuildingpages.com/links/paperlinks.html which is devoted to educating Americans on how to build using green technology. The website maintains a staff of professional readers who compile lists of books worthy of study by people interested in green technology. In the bibliography, the website has a list of recommended reading material. Nearly all of the recommended books listed are popular coffee table books, best-sellers that are available at any bookstore. However, one of the recommended books is “A Sustainable Living Complex in Bremerton, Washington”, published in 1990, by Heiland Hoff. This was his graduate thesis at Cal Poly, and it is only available for reading at the reference desk at the Cal Poly library! He was rather surprised to discover that the federal government recommends his architecture school graduate thesis to be critical reading for the average consumer. But it does demonstrate his credentials as an authority on what is green and what isn’t, and it proves that he was committed to sustainability back in 1990, when the rest of America was obsessed with conspicuous consumption.
It is imperative that buildings stand the test of time. But standing the test of time means more than mere structural soundness. Needs change with time. A building can be constructed to meet only the needs of today, or flexibility can be built into the design. No matter how much green technology is employed in a building, it isn’t green if it is torn down and added to a landfill in thirty years.
It is the easiest thing in the world to heat a building using the sun. What's hard is keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Does your architect calculate the solar angles for your exact location and climate and design accordingly? Building green also translates into lower heating and cooling costs, less job-site waste, and less use of unsustainable materials. The biggest setback to green architecture is up-front costs. Typically, a green building costs more up-front, but pays for itself with time. This is known as life cycle costs. The longer the life cycle, the greater the advantage of green architecture.
Green architecture becomes ever more important, and indeed more popular, as it becomes more and more clear that man must learn to walk softly on the earth.
