Contemporary Design in Detail: Sustainable Environments

56 Sustainable Environments

 e design strategies found in “Connection to Habitat” address sustainability through

an architectural correlation with a regional defi nition of place.  e determination of a

regional condition is geographic but broadly scaled, whether drawn from solar angles

at a particular latitude, local meteorological conditions, or a specifi c architectural

vernacular. In each case, the habitat maintains a close relationship with its external

environment by adapting to and learning from its locality.  e diff erences between

various climactic and cultural contexts is not emphasized here so much as the variety

of the methods attuned to regional conditions, since these residences are, in fact, all

located in the northern and southern temperate zones.

Bioregionalism carries a broader implication beyond architectural practices. Often

it refers to the cultural and political economy of a specifi c geographical location and

applies to large-scale issues of dwelling, including the social and economic. A biore-

gional approach to sustainable residential design considers local origin as fundamental

to its architectural methodologies, played out especially in the types of construction

materials used and the source of these materials. Of critical importance is the build-

ing’s involvement with the local economy—through labor, production, and consump-

tion. At its simplest, it can be understood as using environmentally harvested wood

grown on native soil and purchased at a local lumberyard, thus minimizing pollution

from transport and stimulating the local building trades.

 e four projects gathered under “Bioregionalism,” however, more specifi cally dem-

onstrate the infl uence of the vernacular in contemporary design. Each integrates tra-

ditional architectural details, building practices, and materials in ways that ground the

home in a particular place, yet respond to the needs of inhabitants of the twenty-fi rst

century. And each projects adds to the experiential and connotative, the environmen-

tal dimension.  e Split and Black Houses and the Kropach/Catlow Farmhouse make

use, respectively, of earthen walls, cement fi ber, and corrugated metal enclosures as

common, locally available materials that draw on local building traditions.  e layout

of the Split House shows clearly how this adaptation can unfold from regional hous-

ing typologies.  e Black House and the Water Villa, as outgrowths of the building

typologies of the barn and the houseboat, are unmistakably contextual. Architectur-

ally responsive to the conditions of their agrarian and marine landscapes, these homes

nonetheless possess identities quite distinct from other interpretations of their types,

as they avoid any literal rendition. Such work vehemently opposes the interpretation

of the vernacular on a purely representational level (found in so many tract houses in

Europe and North America) as a stylistic application that ignores the climactic and

material basis of the original forms.

 e projects in “Environmental Interface” explore habitat through the boundary

between exterior and interior climates. For these houses, the designers articulate the

building envelopes—insulated and fenestrated wall types, surfaces with thermal mass,

solar chimneys, and green roofs—to take advantage of natural means of heating, cool-

Connection to Habitat