home design – LEAP Architecture

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Want a Healthier Workplace? Try Architecture.

Creating a healthier workplace can cover many topics. Do we mean air quality of the building, employee satisfaction or the business bottom line? Yes, yes, & yes. Read on to learn how LEAP’s designs can holistically improve the health and productivity of your business.

Happiness is a Key Ingredient in Healthier Workplace

If your employees wake up in the morning and think to themselves, “Another day at the fart-factory”, (which is what my father snidely referred to the high school where he taught), maybe your space needs a little moral boost. So what goes into employee moral?

Well, job satisfaction and purpose are two of the big ones touted regularly. But we have a suspicion that even with all the purpose in the world, if you stick someone down in the window-less basement with Milton, their job satisfaction will be taken away, just as sure as his stapler.

Why should you care about your employees’ happiness? Well, in a 2010 review, Brent D. Rosso, PhD showed that having job purpose increased motivation, engagement, empowerment, career development, job satisfaction, individual performance and personal fulfillment, and decreased absenteeism and stress (Research in Organizational Behavior, 2010). Furthermore, organizations directly benefit from workers who are invested in their jobs, as they are most likely to build new products and services, attract new customers and drive innovation (Gallup, 2013).

Okay, so happy employees need job satisfaction, job purpose, and a great environment. Jane E. Dutton, PhD, a professor at University of Michigan can help your employees find meaning in their work; Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace, 2013.

LEAP Architecture will show you 6 important design concepts, creating spaces where people can’t wait to get to work!

LEAP’s 6 Concepts for a Healthier Workplace

Healthier Workplace: Increased Productivity

The 6 concepts above, work together to increase employee productivity and also client satisfaction. When employees feel better, they take fewer sick days and are more excited about their jobs. Did we mention that even Walmart redesigned their stores to incorporate skylights?

Good design reduces workplace stressors, such as:

Sick building syndrome – where mold, pollen, material off-gassing and bioeffluence can build up
Poor lighting – where space feel confined and may be too dim, create glare, or have flickering fluorescent lights
Temperature gradients – sweltering or freezing, neither is comfortable
Noise – where it sound like your co-worker is sitting inside your cubicle, or sound from machinery

Good news, LEAP isn’t alone in this mission of business health. There are at least 2 programs out there, International WELL Building Institute and Fitwel, offering guidance and certification for healthy building. The other good news is that LEAP’s commitment to human and environmental health is already built into our design approach!

How does your business environment stack up? If there are some areas that could use improvement, give us a call. We can help.

5 Benefits of a Happy, Healthy Home, Part 2

in Healthy Home, Stories

Energy efficiency never felt so good! In our last post, we discussed how great home design can enhance family life, along with your sleeping, eating, bathing and lifestyles. If you missed it, pop over and have a read. This week, we delve into the last 3 design considerations on our list (daylight, air quality and energy), and how they can be leveraged to make a happy & healthy home!

Just to refresh, we consider all of the following aspects in LEAP’s Residential Designs.

How to:

Enhance Family Life
Enhance Sleeping, Eating, Bathing and Living Lifestyles
Increase Daylight
Promote Healthy Indoor Air
Increase Energy Efficiency

Healthy Home: Increased Daylight

You have probably experienced for yourself the sense of well being you get from a little sunshine. It can improve your mood, stimulate your circadian rhythm, and make you feel more connected to the outdoors.

Sunlight is energizing. Getting a good dose during the day helps you feel more alert, and can also be beneficial for a good nights rest. It also helps keep seasonal affective disorder at bay.

And let’s face it, in the North East, we’re all trying to get as much sunlight as we can. During the day, natural lighting makes rooms feel cleaner, more spacious, and more comfortable than electric light. It’s also a free source of illumination, which plays into energy efficiency. Natural light will animate spaces and can create drama and diversity.

Windows with high head heights provide more access to daylight by an increased sky view (which is particularly important in dense neighborhoods) and better daylight distribution in the room.

Healthy Home: Indoor Air Quality

No doubt you’ve heard reports of smog, and the really poor air quality in some developing nations, but have you stopped to consider the air purity inside your house?

We as Americans, spend a lot of time inside, and all that time is spent, well, breathing. So where do these nasty bits come from? Most you could guess, but some may be a surprise.

Particulates – pets fur and dander, pollen, mold spores

VOC – cleaning products, paint, paint remover, furniture or building products such as flooring, carpet, pressed wood products, kids arts supplies

Bioeffluents – people give off toxins, such as breathing (CO2), skin shedding, bacteria loads

Eww. So before you accuse everything and everyone in your house for being polluters, let us tell you how we can help. Tightly sealed houses (as discussed below) have a very low rate of air change, meaning, a means of mechanical ventilation is required to remove stale air and provide fresh air. These mechanical ventilation systems are designed to be very energy efficient, and what’s better is that we install HEPA filters inline, which does the job of filtering out those nasty bits that make you sick.

Reducing particulates, VOC, and bio effluents means relief from allergies, congestion, better sleep, and reduced eye irritation. Ventilation systems also reduce mold in moist areas such as kitchens and bathrooms, which is definitively something that makes a healthy home.

What’s important to note, is not all home designers incorporate this system for ventilation and filtering, but LEAP does!

Healthy Home: Increased Energy Efficiency

Lowering heating and cooling bills is one way to put a smile on your face! The even better news? Energy efficiency is tied into all of the life enhancing design considerations we’ve already discussed. When working with LEAP, efficiency is an added bonus—we already build it into all we do.

Why? Well, LEAP is Passive House Certified (we have a whole series of posts explaining), but in a nutshell, it means that your house is designed and built to operate with very minimal energy input. So even if you don’t intend to go for Passive House Certification, we drawn upon those principles in all our work.

This is especially important for new home construction. In October 2016, the New York State requirements for building sealing were upgraded to an ACH50 of 3 . This means 3 air changes or less per hour, which requires the installation of a whole house ventilation system (per ASHRAE standards). If you are interested in more specifics on how air changes are measured using blower tests, check our our post on air sealing.

Are you considering a new home or addition? Leverage LEAP’s design expertise to make the most of your new happy and healthy home.

5 Benefits of Designing a Happy, Healthy Home

in Healthy Home, Stories

More and more families and businesses are recognizing the value of designing for health, and working with architects like LEAP to create happier homes and more productive businesses. You probably spend a significant amount of time in your home, but is that affecting your health for better or worse? Check out 5 ways we design to ensure a healthy home, which also makes you feel great!

5 Benefits of a Happy, Healthy Home

Feel better, save money, and add more of that je ne sais que to your day. Sound good? We think so. LEAP’s design process was developed to truly understand and enhance your family’s goals, dynamics, and needs. We gather information and then custom design your space, while working to save you money in the construction phase, and long-term on utilities.

How do we do that?

We consider all of the following aspects in LEAP’s Residential Designs.

How to:

Enhance Family Life
Enhance Sleeping, Eating, Bathing and Living Lifestyles
Increase Daylight
Promote Healthy Indoor Air
Increase Energy Efficiency

For today, let’s look at some of the specific ways design can enhance your life with respect to enhanced family life, and living lifestyles.

Enhanced Family Life

Architecture, whether or not we realize it, can shape our relationships with each other and our environment, through space, form, and materials. How? By creating interactive settings—places to congregate, or just making it difficult to avoid each other. For example, designing so the stairs to the upper floor bedrooms cannot be accessed from the front hallway. This directs everyone to pass through the main living space, creating more opportunity for family interaction, as opposed to a straight bee-line upstairs. More open floor plans, or the use of L-shaped interlocking rooms can also creative a sense of connectedness, even when family member are technically in a different “room”. Increased human interactions improve our sense of well-being, enrich our lives, make them healthier and more pleasurable.

“The shaft of sunlight in a recessed window seat that creates a moment of warmth and calm, combined with a glimpse of nature, soft and acoustically absorbent seat materials, and the tactile delight of the smooth grip to adjust a wooden shutter.

Our well-being is intimately linked with such moments of delight. To an extent, such stimuli happen all the time, often without being recognized or designed, but when they are orchestrated throughout a building the effect is cumulative.” –Koen Steemers, D&A Magazine issue 23 by VELUX

Enhanced Sleeping, Eating, Bathing and Living Lifestyles

Healthy Home: Sleeping

The design of the bedroom can make or break a good night’s sleep. Naturally, light plays an important role for sleep cycles. A good dose of morning light will stimulate the circadian rhythm and help you feel more awake. Conversely, at night, bedrooms should have effective blackout options to support total darkness. This can be achieved using thermal shutters (for cold periods) and/or with adjustable louvers (for secure night time ventilation in warm conditions).

The bedroom shown at the right was designed as part of a master suite addition. It has an open floor plan between the bedroom and the bathroom, with a partial wall that creates a sense of boundary. The openness of the space allows sunlight to permeate far into the bedroom space, which gently illuminates the space in the morning. By afternoon, the space is so bright, no additional illumination is required. The white walls, ceiling and floor tile provide a sense of calm, spaciousness, and airiness. The wood bed and headboard/partition ground the space for a restful sleep.

Healthy Home: Eating

And for tonight’s kitchen performance… A good strategy for healthy, community eating is to create a sense of theater related to cooking. This can be achieved through designing in accessible counter-tops and seating, allowing for both spectating and participating (like the breakfast bar with stools shown to the right). To further support communal eating, (and the social interactions that result) the dining area should be adjacent to the kitchen, making an easy transition from preparation to eating enjoyment. (Read how LEAP used Ikea cabinets to get this look)

Conversely, the TV area should further from the kitchen, limiting the temptation to mentally check-out and simply down your food, while watching reruns of Seinfeld.

Healthy Home: Bathing

Hopefully we do not need to go over the merits of good personal hygiene here, well, unless you have a teen that refuses to shower. Bathing and the family or master bath have so many functions. When washing, the surroundings should not only enable you to get clean, but to also mentally wash away the day. You should be able to both literally and figuratively cleanse yourself. Bathrooms should generally feel serene, have clean lines, streamline fixtures, which should be easy to keep clean, along with the proper amount of storage. The master bath shown to the left creates an ultra calming atmosphere, with its white and soft gray pallet, along with contemplative views of nature. (BTW, this addition won a design award).

Healthy Home: Living Lifestyles

A thermal design strategy encompasses not only room temperature, but also radiant conditions, air movement, and thermal conduction of materials. We’re talking about things like sunlight, natural ventilation, and the feel of materials. Materials such as wood feel warm to the touch, while stone is cooling.

These various characteristics can be mixed and matched to create the mood for different rooms. A reading nook could comfortably warm, with ample sunlight and plenty of wood and fabric surfaces to create a cozy retreat. You may want your office to feel more stimulating—cooler both temperature and material-wise, minimal clean lines, with a good view outdoors for inspiration.

Sound is another important consideration. As with thermal design, different materials have different acoustic properties, which can be tailors to fit the space. Within the home there are places where acoustic privacy is welcome, and spaces where room-to-room conversation is desired.

The great room shown on the right was designed with a mixture of materials (wood floors and beams, stone fireplace, metal staircase and rails) to be a stimulating, yet balanced space. The high ceiling creates an air of magnificence, while the natural materials (wood and stone) provide a grounding effect.

Are you considering an addition or building a new home? Leverage LEAP’s design expertise to make the most of your new happy and healthy home.

Smart Bathroom Renovation As Featured on Houzz

in Stories

It’s time for your bathroom renovation project. There is a lot of effort involved, so how do you insure enjoyment for years to come?

Smart Bathroom Renovation

Any readers of Ram Dass know the mantra “Be here now”, which basically directs you to live in the present moment. While we at LEAP try our best to Carpe diem, it does make sense to give a little nod to the future every now and then.

And what pray tell do we daydream about? Well, how you use the bathroom—em, or rather—how your bathroom serves your needs. Yes, the less graphic one.

For this post, we are really focused more on a family bathroom, rather than a master suite. The family bathroom needs to be robust in order to serve everyone from adults to children to guests, and adapt as families grow.

Considerations for a family bathroom renovation include:

Accessibility
Age and ability of users
Space/layout
Ergonomics
Appearance
Future needs

Let an Architect Do the Design

When you start taking into account all of the bullets above, planning out ye ole bathroom doesn’t seem so simple. But not to fear. Years of meditating have instilled clairvoyant sensibilities to Eric Davenport, LEAP’s chief architect. With a short interview, Eric is able to foresee the needs of your family for years to come, and design a space that encourages good personal hygiene for all.

So you may be thinking, “My bathroom is so small, I don’t need a professional design”. In fact, if you have a tiny bathroom, that’s all the more reason to bring an architect in. Professional designers have tricks up their sleeves for maximizing storage, making your tiny space feel much larger, and arranging fixtures for enhanced efficiency and comfort. We have used Duravit vanities in some of our bathroom designs, as the super clean lines are modern and simplistic, yet they supply ample hidden storage.

An architect can also weigh-in on the possibility for expanding your bathroom space. Do you have a closet or cupboard adjoining the bath? Well, we can determine if that space can be incorporated in order to gain a few extra square feet.

Modern bathroom renovation in white with clean lines

Modern bathroom designed by LEAP Architecture, shown with Duravit vanity.

Approach for Cost Savings

According to Nadia Sakey, interior designer and Houzz contributor, “People are surprised when I tell them that professional fees usually represent only 4 percent of the total project budget.”

LEAP also makes a special effort to be inventive with materials, creating eco-shiek looks out of common, inexpensive materials. For more on surprising approaches to bathroom design, check out our post Affordable Modern Bathroom Design.

LEAP Bathroom Featured on Houzz

One of LEAP’s bathroom renovation designs was featured in an article by Houzz. Click through the images below to check out our design with frosted privacy glass, along with many other ideas from inspirational designers.

How to Future-Proof Your Family Bathroom

LEAP Architecture’s mission is to bring green building practices into everyday living. We serve the Eastern Corridor of New York, from Long Island to the Adirondack Mountains. We bring you sustainable living technology with elegant modern design aesthetics, and competitively priced services.

Contact LEAP to ensure success on your next residential or commercial project!

Architects Creative Every Day Features LEAP

in Get to Know the Architect, Stories

LEAP Founder—Eric Davenport—relates what the life of an Albany Architect is like, in this 6 strip comic by local artist Ira Marks.

Architects Creative Every Day

Creative Every Day – Tales of Art and Life Colliding – is a collection of stories from local creatives around the Capital District of New York. It was conceived, collected, drawn and collated by local cartoonist, Ira Marks. This book, available in print or as an electronic PDF, is meant as a resource for kids, parents and teachers who wants to know what it’s like to work in a creative industry. The entire collection can be found at creativeeveryday.us LEAP Architecture is proud to be included among the many talented folks who shared their creative stories!

Life of an Architect

Q: What got you interested in solar powered cars in high school?

Eric: I was fortunate that in my high school, we were able to chose specialty tracks, and I choose engineering and design. My teacher had us look at designing solar cars, as there were so many aspects to consider. They needed to be lightweight, yet have enough solar panels to produce sufficient energy. They needed to carry a person in relative comfort, move forward, be aerodynamic, and also have enough surface area to orient the solar panels in the proper direction to capture sunlight. The exercise helped open my mind to all of the design demands a project could have, and think about how best to balance competing needs.

Q: Do you think people generally think of architecture as a creative career?

Eric: Yes and no. Some people are under the impression that architecture is strictly engineering—math, math, math—and crazy number crunching. Others have the impression that I sit around and draw artistic pictures of buildings all day. It’s really much more a holistic approach, managing projects and managing people. I would say the biggest skill I apply everyday is creative common sense.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from this cartoon?

Eric: Don’t be afraid of hard work. When you find something you are passionate about, you don’t mind spending the long hours to make it successful. When I was an intern in NYC, my mentor tried to convince me (& all the other interns) NOT to become an architect. Despite his warning of hard work, long hours, and little glory, I knew that being an architect is what I wanted to do then and I’m still passionate about it today.

Q: What reaction did your own kids have, seeing you in a cartoon?

Eric: Well, compared to some of the other stories, my oldest daughter thought mine was boring. She would have like to see me jumping off a building, or imbued with a superpower. So, let me reiterate,there is little glory being an architect. My daughter is a super-creative young actress, dancer, and designer of clothes. I think building design is not in her future, but my hope is this comic strikes a chord with a young version of me, dreaming of the day their designs become real structures.

Want to get to know Eric even better? Check out our post Meet the Architect.

Do you work in a field that allows you to be creative? We’d love to hear what it is. Leave a comment below and tell us what you do!

ENERGY STAR Partner – Leap Makes Pledge

in Stories

As an ENERGY STAR Partner, we are creating house plans designed to earn the ENERGY STAR certification, and helping meet consumers’ growing demand for high quality, energy-efficient homes.

ENERGY STAR Partner – What it Means

If you’ve ever walked into a big box store looking for a new appliance, you’re probably familiar with the ENERGY STAR labels proudly affixed to that new washer or fridge. But did you know that ENERGY STAR rating and certification go beyond dishwashers? Yep, you could slap that shooting star across the front of your house, well, provided that your whole house meets certain environmental standards.

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR, administered nationally by the U.S. Department of Energy in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, offers a comprehensive, whole-house approach to improving energy efficiency and comfort of homes, while helping to protect the environment.(1)

The Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can’t do it all alone—they need help—specifically our help. So in order to unleash the ENERGY STAR certification to the whole home model, they bring in architects and builder partners, the entities who are really in touch with you, the end-user.

Why Partner?

LEAP Architecture’s mission is promote sustainable building practices. We build basic energy conservation into each of our projects, which is to say, we already met ENERGY STAR certification, but unofficially. Partnering with EPA and making it official, provides higher visibility for conservation and an existing framework to help our clients understand the requirements for green building design. As mentioned above, since you are already familiar with the ENERGY STAR rating for appliances (less energy usage, lower green-house gas emissions, saves money), it’s an easy jump to envision that those same benefits will apply to your house.

Watch this 2 min video by the EPA for a run-down on the merits of an ENERGY STAR home.

Beyond ENERGY STAR

If you are interested in home energy conservation, don’t miss our post on Sustainable Building Goals Made Simple. This write-up shows the sustainability pyramid we use, and where ENERGY STAR fits into the scheme of things. ENERGY STAR certification creates a good solid foundation and a jumping off point to go even further into sustainable building, NET-Zero, for example.

LEAP welcomes your questions. We strive to make sure that your project is a good fit with our expertise. Give us a call 518-669-9435, and speak to Eric.

1. Home. Energy Star. [Online] https://www.energystar.gov/homepage.

Architects – AIA’s List of Critical Questions to Ask

in Get to Know the Architect, Stories

LEAP Architecture is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Here we share AIA’s list of questions to help you decide if an architect is the right fit for you and your project.

Questions, Questions, Questions

Every architecture firm brings its own combination of skills, expertise, interests, and values to its projects. The challenge is to find the one that aligns most closely with your project’s needs. Selection is a mutual process.

The most thoughtful architects are as careful in selecting their clients as owners are in selecting architects. Be prepared to answer questions about your project’s purpose, budget, time frame, site, and the team of players you anticipate being involved with the project.

Below are some questions, broken up by topic, to address when meeting with a prospective architect.

Architects Experience

• What is your design philosophy?

• What sets your firm apart from other architects with similar experience?

• Do you have experience with the building type and size of my project?

• Will you share with me a portfolio of similar projects and provide a list of client references?

• Who from the architecture firm will I be dealing with on a regular basis? Is this the person who will design my project?

Take a look at LEAP’s Portfolio for Residential and Commercial Projects.

My Project

• What challenges do you foresee for my project?

• What do you see as the important issues or considerations in my project?

• What is your estimated timetable for my project?

• What means will you use to collect information about my needs, goals, etc.?

• How will you help me to fully understand the scope and sequence of the project? Will you utilize models, drawings, or computer animation?

Design

• What are the steps in the design process, and how are they organized?

• What criteria will be used to establish priorities and make design decisions?

• What do you expect me to provide?

• How disruptive will construction be?

• What role do you have during construction? Am I expected to work with the contractor directly?

Here’s a pretty thorough walk-through of LEAP’s design process.

Green Design

• Do you have experience with “green” or sustainable design?

• Do you regularly integrate low or no cost sustainable design strategies into projects?

• Considering the many areas that may be affected by sustainable design, how will you determine which options to pursue?

• If sustainable design technologies are implemented, do upfront costs exist that may affect the construction budget? What are the expected pay back times?

Read how LEAP approaches Green Design.

Architects Fees

• How do you establish fees?

• In anticipation of a formal proposal with costs, what would you expect your fee to be for this project?

• What is included in your basic services and what services would incur additional fees?

• If the scope of the project changes later in the project, will there be additional fees? How will these fees be justified? How will this be communicated to me?

• What is your track record with completing a project within the original budget?

Here’s one of LEAP’s posts that covers the benefits of working with an architect and our general fee structure.

LEAP welcomes your questions. We strive to make sure that your project is a good fit with our expertise. The AIA also offers a nice PDF guide, You and Your Architect. Download it here, and start asking away! Give us a call 518-669-9435, and speak to Eric. And lastly, check out our client reviews and testimonials.

Architects —Why You’re Not Working with Them

in Stories

Do you have a building project on the horizon? Have you kicked around the idea of calling in an architect, but got talked out of it? Here are the 3 reasons why you aren’t calling architects, and why it hurts you not to.

1. My Builder’s Doing the Design

“My builder says we don’t need architects. His team can do the design”.

Sure, they absolutely can, but here’s how it’s likely to go. First of all, the builder wants to keep your design fee, the primary reason they cut out the architect. In order to make the most profit, the builder will look through their stock plans and grab an existing design that most closely matches your requirements. Change the name, move a wall out here or there, and call it done. If you are in the market for a standard issue, (cookie-cutter) house, hey, this really is a fine way to go (no cynicism).

Good Design Floats

You only need an architect if you want your structure tailored to your needs, routines, and desires. If you want a dream-house, or incredibly efficient office building—where form and function are seamlessly integrated—tell your builder you insist on working with an architect. Better yet, get your architect first and then approach a builder.

In recent conversations we’ve had with bankers and real-estate agents, it is established that homes with excellent design have a significantly higher re-sale value, compared to poor or average designed homes of the same square footage. You’re spending the money anyway, let’s make your home great! See an example here of before and after photos for a modern addition we designed. The value of this property has increased astronomically.

modern addition, before and after photos, home improvement, home renovation

House exterior before and after dramatic modern addition

Communication Bridge

Having an architect is having a building advocate. When the builder suggests a change, how do you know it’s in your best interest? It may not be, and it may not fit with your design theme. At LEAP, we make sure all the details that make this design exclusively YOURS—actually get built into the structure.

LEAP Architecture is your communication bridge between you and your builder. We speak plain old English, and we also speak builder. We can take the time to understand your goals from the start, explain building terms, and what impact a particular change will have. Builders also appreciate this arrangement, as they are crazy busy with construction. For a builder to take time out to even pick up the phone, let alone take time out for a in depth conversation, is time away from what they do best.

Documentation (or How to Cover Your Butt)

What if (eekk) something goes wrong in construction, and delays might be the least of it. The wrong type of kitchen counter was used, formaldehyde containing paneling was installed in your bedroom, the project is over budget. How do you protect yourself and make sure you get what you signed up for? Well, a big part of our jobs as architects is documenting everything! It’s certainly not the most glorious part of our job, but from a legal protection standpoint, an absolute necessity. We keep track of the paper trail from day 1, including all correspondence, dates, decisions made, etc. If the time ever arises where say, your builder made a mistake but assures you it’s actually your fault; we quietly pull out our files and get to the bottom of it.

2. Architects Are Too Expensive

“Building a house is so expensive, bringing in an architect will just waste more money.”

Design Fee

Let me break it to you gently, you’re going to pay a design fee either way. Either the builder will get it—see above—or it can go to your architect. Here’s why you want it to go to the architect. A great design will enhance your day-to-day living and it will also significantly increase your property value. And in many cases, you’re not paying anymore than what the builder charges.

The table below shows two options for LEAP’s services, a) a bare bones option for a permit set of drawings and b) our Design Package. Our Design Package only cost a few % more than the bare bones, and what you get for that will amaze you. In addition to structural drawings, we do a whole integrated design where we specify the materials to be used, color schemes, lighting, window placement, storage, functionality and site analysis. For a more in-depth read, take a look through the series on our design process.

3. Architects Aren’t Accessible

“An architect wouldn’t be interested in my project, it’s not grand.”

What comes to mind when you hear the term architect? Skyscrapers? City centers? Looming glass clad structures that seemingly defy the laws of gravity. Well, yes. Architects do design those, but architecture is not exclusive to monuments or anchor buildings. It’s accessible to everyone, and everyone should take advantage of architects services.

You can call us right now (518-669-9435) for an initial conversation about your project. We’re happy to give you feedback and guidance. In the first 5 min we will ballpark the construction costs, so you can make an informed decision, and move forward with realistic expectations. Whereas builders can be tempted to low-ball project budgets and up-charge later, we prefer to be upfront and give you the best information we can from the start.

So what are you waiting for? We don’t bite, and we don’t gouge. Making our clients happy is in our best interest. Give us a call today!

Passive House Design: Live like Goldilocks, Minus the Bears

in Passive House Design, Stories

Designing by trial and error can be exhausting. Take it from Goldilocks. She was so tired after all the rigmarole of finding “just right”, she actually fell asleep in a bear’s house. LEAP Architecture takes the guess-work out of Passive House Design with our (Bear-Proof) Design Process. Our intelligent site design consists of four main steps, each with the aim to maximize human comfort, energy efficiency, and real cost savings.

Passive House Design Process

Site Analysis
Doors and Windows
Insulation
Air Sealing

This week, we focus on the in’s and out’s of site analysis. We circumvent all the wandering through the woods, sleeping on hard beds, and eating loads of porridge. We nail just-right the first time around. Did we mention it also provides a great payback?

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

That old military adage couldn’t be more appropriate here. Maybe we’ll make it the company tagline. But seriously, upfront site planning for your building makes so much sense. And, it doesn’t cost anything extra! The builders don’t care if your front door faces north or south, but when the arctic air blows in, you will. It pays to orient the building to capture more sun-heat in the winter and stay cool in the summer. Here’s how we figure it out.

The Down and Dirty of Passive House Design

We measure, map out and consider all of the following:

Sun paths—Measure and diagram the arc throughout the year, location of shadows
Wind patterns—Measure and map the micro and macro climates
Vegetation— Survey what, where, tall/short, do they break wind? (hehe, break wind)
Topography—Hills? Valleys? (Caves of hibernating bears?)
Roads—The approach. You would like to access your building, wouldn’t you?
Views—Gaze on lavender fields doing dishes (move to France, but you get the idea)
Notoriety or Privacy?—To be seen or not to be seen, that is one of many questions.
Acoustics— Want to hear the babbling brook, but not the highway?

We combine your personal preferences with the climate data to optimize the placement of your structure.

Geometry: Be There or Be Square—if You’re a House

Building geometry is defined by how large your structure is going to be, or it’s volume. Smaller structures, like houses, are more efficient with a square footprint and minimum surface area. If you are not a house, be rectangular. High surface area buildings are much better for offices and larger structures.

To help understand surface area, picture a cube vs. a long rectangle. They can both have the same volume, but the cube is more compact, where the rectangle is long and skinny. The actual surface exposed to the outside environment for the cube is smaller, requiring fewer square feet of insulation. Smaller structures tend to be externally loaded, which means the outside environment has the largest influence on its energy efficiency. Minimizing the area for that interaction to take place helps to dampen the effects.

A higher surface area to volume ratio is desirable for larger structures, as they tend to be internally loaded—meaning inside activities have the greatest influence on the inside environment. Picture a skyscraper—the sheer number of people occupying the building, machinery running and other inside activities have a much greater impact than the outside environment. A rectangular structure is preferred (vertical or horizontal), not only for the higher surface area, but to also help maximize natural light penetration into the space. Ample natural lighting can significantly reduce electricity usage.

Quick Summary of Building Geometry:

Smaller structures:

Maximize building volume; minimize surface area
Square floor plan preferred
Tend to be externally loaded structures- outside activity effect environment

Larger structures:

Higher surface area than volume is desired
Rectangular floor plan is optimal
Better for natural light penetration
Internally loaded structure -inside activity effects environment

Orientation – Get your Walls on Straight

All that previous work of mapping the sun and wind and rain and…well, that gets put to work. Houses for example, will predominately have windows and doors located on south and east facing walls. This helps reduce blasts of arctic wind infiltrating your domicile, as cold wind tends to blow from the north in the north east. Eric Davenport, our very own Avatar, also considers things like banking wind currents off hills to create more ventilation in your house. If this isn’t some air-bender shit, I don’t know what is.

For larger structures, orienting the short end of the rectangle to face west will prevent that terrible afternoon glare on your computer screen and eyeballs. Maybe you’ve experienced this unfortunate office situation, or another. When the long side of the building faces west —the afternoon sun heats 1/2 of the building, jacking that side up to 90 deg—and those people get hot. People on the dark side freeze because the air conditioning kicked on and now their space is 50 deg. Intelligent site design gets the temperature in your office building just right, keeping the bears happy and solving all your HR issues. Well, at least the fight over the thermostat.

[box type=”bio”] LEAP Architecture Makes Environments JUST RIGHT!

Passive House: Heat Your House by Watching TV

in Passive House Design, Stories

Passive House Design is a little bit like Vegas. Well, the slogan at least. Passive houses or buildings, are designed with an extremely air-tight-envelope. Nothing gets in or out without being allowed to. This makes it possible to harness the energy of seemingly small actions to eliminate your heating bills.

What Happens in Passive House, Stays in…

Imagine going about your normal, day-to-day activities, —watching TV, using your computer, and turning on the stove and all that energy is captured for use.

Microwaving your lunch at the office? Same deal. New office buildings can seriously benefit from passive house design. And did we mention body heat? The warmth you generate also contributes. It’s pretty amazing to think that those small actions provide all the energy required to heat a building. That’s one of the beautiful things about passive house.

It takes an extremely high level of architectural design to achieve a Passive Building. That’s why Passive House Certification is one of the most rigorous for architects. And guess what? LEAP’s very own Eric Davenport is Passive House Certified.

According to Eric, the qualifications and tests for his Passive House Certification were harder than his architecture exams, but totally worth it. “Sustainability and net-zero building is such a passion of mine, I wanted to offer this as a core service to my clients”.

Commercial and Residential Passive Buildings

Passive Building Design is applicable to both commercial and residential buildings. This is exciting because it means everything from skyscrapers to single family homes can be designed for sustainability. This includes office buildings and multi-family units. In all cases, passive building design is comprised of three main features:

Proper Insulation
Zero Air Leakages
Zero Thermal Bridges

Particular consideration is also made for using triple pane windows, proper orientation to the sun, and heat recovery ventilation. What does this really mean? It means designing your building to work for you. Set it and forget it. Yes, you will spend a little more on high quality insulation, windows, and a heat exchanger, but it will literally insulate you from fluctuating oil and gas prices.

[box] Interested in reading more on Passive House and Building Design? We have a great article written by Eric Davenport, along with a “Passive House Explained in 90 Seconds” video. Check them out here. [/box]

LEAP is part of the Passive House Alliance. For more information about making Passive House Building mainstream, check out PHIUS.