Our Green Philosophy

Duxbury Architect's philosophy concerning green architecture and construction is most importantly built in to the design and geometry of the house. The green factors we consider when designing a project are the following:

Site

• The location on the site - Factors that we evaluate include orientation to the sun, prevailing winds and use of existing features, such as slope, trees, and sunlight.



• Using natural elements of the site - We design the house to preserve and use the natural features of the site, including slope, trees, natural drainage, rock/physical features, and natural waterways. Preserving the natural features provides the best context and avoids costly site work, landscape design and construction.



• Rainwater catchment and gray water systems - The use of rainwater harvesting and gray water systems allows for year-round irrigation without additional water usage.

House Features

• Natural daylighting at the interior and exterior of the building.




• Geometry/roofs and Passive design - The use of eaves and building geometries to create an efficient envelope to promote daylighting and to take advantage of passive designs for heating, cooling, ventilation and reducing solar gain.



• Materials - The selection of exterior building materials to promote energy efficiency and longevity of the structure. This will reduce costly maintenance and save in energy use over time.


• Planning - Efficient planning of all spaces and storage systems to minimize building mass and size. Create a more energy efficient and sustainable living space.



• Energy - Selecting the best energy systems, such as radiant heating, geothermal heating, photovoltaic panels, and/or solar hot water for each project. Orientation of the building to take advantage of this is inherent in this process.



• Site plan - Creating a siting for the house using underground construction, courtyards and basements for energy efficiency and natural ventilation.



• Adaptive reuse - Using and preserving all or most of an existing structure to create a new building/house to satisfy the full client requirements. Saving the base structural system and envelope is very green. This can also include using recycled products and recycled building components, from the existing structure or from other abandoned structures.



• Regionalism - Duxbury Architects believes in regionalism. In other words, house designs should suit the environment, climate and historic context of Northern California. We generally believe that Northern European styles, plans and elevations do not perform as well as other proven building geometries. If we design a more European or New England style of house, we often employ or suggest arbors, outdoor rooms and/or covered patios and good ventilation designs that can help this style building perform better in this climate.

Green design is not new. Good architecture has always naturally reflected all of the above strategies in their design. This is obvious in regional design and the work of past masters such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Antonio Gaudi.

Peter Duxbury graduated from Syracuse University in 1974. His thesis was on a sustainable building system using all found materials and methods that were indigenous to Porto Santo Island in Portugal: a system that developed maximum building systems using minimal energy, resources and money. Peter started developing passive solar design houses, which heated and naturally ventilated without mechanical systems, in Upstate New York in the 1970's. Peter has been designing green houses for over 35 years. Duxbury Architects has a staff of all licensed architects that understand and have used the above strategies. Peter project manages and directs the engineers and other consultants to integrate these systems into one architecture.

Green architecture goes beyond the use of recycled materials, using ground up blue jeans as insulation, and using energy star products. Green, simply put, is about good architecture, designed by knowledgeable architects.