sustainable design portfolio

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clarke snell ☼ portfolio ☼ 828.230.9857 ☼ [email protected] ☼ p. 2

architectural design/build/publishnauhaus prototype 4

design 5

build 6

publish 7

“building green” cottage 8design 9

build 10

publish 11

marshall house 12design 13

build 14

publish 15

other design and consultingmaster plans 17land analysis 18

“green” remodel consulting 19other creative endeavors

photography 21writing 22 - 23music 24

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Slocust post from “building green” cottage


ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN/BUILD/PUBLISHMy interest in architecture started out very practically. I was an environmentalist looking to increase my self-sufficiency and improve the sustainability of my lifestyle. I needed a house and a homestead, so I decided to learn how to build one. That was twenty years ago and in the interim I’ve come to see the built environment as both our most fascinating artifact and the habit most in need of reform. Buildings are the forest we live in and, as such, they are the hand with which we either caress or strike the world.

I have been both a builder and designer. For a number of years, I ran Think Green Building, a small con-sulting and design firm that offered innovative housing design; architectural engineering for solar/natural resource management; and energy modeling, land analysis, and consulting for all types of “green building” projects. Mainly, however, I consider myself a researcher. My passion has been to seek out, test, analyze, and then share alternative methodologies to present norms for residential design and construction. My proj-ects typically have had three distinct stages:

B U I L D

P U B L I S H

(1) Design. This phase begins with an intensive period of research, the results of which then serve as the starting point for the design process.

(2) Build. For me designing and building cannot truly be separated. First of all, a truly successful building is too complex to draw. The builder has to interpret and therefore needs to truly understand and feel a part of the design. In addition, the projects I seek out always have some degree of experimentation involved, so it’s best if the designers are involved in the build as part of the learning process.

(3) Publish. My goal is to be part of positive change in our built environment and how it interfaces with just the plain ‘ol environment. My approach is to research, design, build, then share the results. I’ve done this by writing books and articles, teaching workshops and classes, and giving public talks.

Over the years, I’ve been involved in many projects, including a number of complete house designs. I chose the following three projects to outline because they most clearly illustrate the progression of research, de-sign, construction, and publication that I feel is the core process of my work.

D E S I G N

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN/BUILD2009 - 2010THE NAUHAUS PROTOTYPE

We set out to design and build a residential project that would be carbon (and therefore climate change) neutral. To accomplish this, we developed a design that married state of the art building science including Passive House energy modeling, low-embodied energy and low-tech materials (such as site made earthen materials and a hemp-based wall insulation system), and site-harvested energy, water, and food.

DESIGN

BUILD

PUBLISH

clarke snell ☼ portfolio ☼ 828.230.9857 ☼ [email protected] ☼ p. �

detailed project website

archetypal aesthetic compact interior square footage

fully functional outdoor rooms

comprehensive energy modeling

integrated systems design

extensive experimental construction detailing

high performance materials

low tech materials traditional building methods

experimental materials conventional building methods

finished building a unique hybrid

published articlespublic talksconstruction process blog

non-profit started to fund research efforts

planned publication of research results


The context for the project was climate

change. Our goal was to design and build a house in the city that had no carbon footprint.

Painstaking construction detailing was required due to the use of innovative materials.

Passive and active systems were combined to maximize energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

Aesthetically, the goal was to create a hyper efficient building that didn’t look like one

Through integrated de-sign practices and the use of a variety of technical design and energy model-ing tools, we reduced projected building energy consumption by more than 80% compared to code mandates.

NAUHAUS PROTOTYPE - DESIGN

The first step was a detailed site analysis to allow development of a site plan that would supply power, water, and food creating what we called an “urban homestead”.

Drawing NameBUSCHER RESIDENCEECO PANEL S.I.P.S @ LOFT67 TALMADGE STREET

ASHEVILLE, NC 28806

Date of Issue Scale

OCTOBER 15, 2009 1 1/2"= 1'-0"

1 1/2"

3 1/2"

7 1/2

"

TRADICAL® HEMCRETE®

1/2" VAPOR-PERMEABLE FIBREBOARD

PLASTER STOP5/8" GYPSUM

1/2" VAPOR-PERMEABLEFIBREBOARD

C.M.S. STANDING SEAM METALROOF W/ REFLECTIVE COATING

ECO PANEL® S.I.P.

PLASTER/ RENDER

SYNTHETIC LUMBER

TITANIUM® UNDERLAYMENT

1"

6 MIL POLY

CHEEK BLOCK

TOP PLATE

14" TJI

1/2" GYPSUM

RIM BOARD

FILL WITHCELLULOSE PRIORTO INSTALLATIONOF SUB-FLOOR

2 x 12 RAFTER - FILLCAVITIES W/ CELLULOSE

FINISHED FLOOR

ADVANTECH® SUB-FLOOR

BIRD'SMOUTH

By connecting indoor rooms to fully functional outdoor rooms, we were able to keep the floor plan small, therefore saving energy, materials, and money without sacrificing comfort.

roof-mounted 7KW PV system = carbon neutrality

clarke snell ☼ portfolio ☼ 828.230.9857 ☼ [email protected] ☼ p. �

NAUHAUS PROTOTYPE - BUILD

This was essentially a research project juxtaposing the most exacting building science and high performance industry products with site-made materials and low-tech methods. Therefore, the design team needed to run the build. We utilized

skilled subs, unskilled interns, and did much of the work ourselves. My experience is that innovation blurs the line between design and construction. When working out a new system or combination of materials, at some point you have to put down the pencil and pick up a hammer.

The construction process trained some 20 interns, developed and tested a num-ber of new construction details, and produced a live-in research center that will continue to produce useful data and learning opportunities for a number of years.

top: 2x4 stick-frame; wrapped in hempcrete insulationmiddle: foam on CMU; site-made earthplaster on hempcretebottom: concrete slab; site-made compressed earth block floor


The project was intended to be an educational model both producing useful research data and helping to publicize the advantages of carbon neutral building to the public, policy makers, and the building industry.

...and spoke at conferences, universities, and various public events.

We created an extensive project web site that was both an educational tool and a portal for getting involved. The site attracted numerous volunteers and tens of thousands of dollars in donations of materials and services.

We also maintained a project blog that chronicled our progress.

I published articles about the project and the broader context of carbon neutrality and the built environment...

This work led to the creation of a non-profit, the Nauhaus Institute, whose mission is to research, develop, share, and promote carbon neutral building solutions.

NAUHAUS PROTOTYPE - PUBLISH


DESIGN

BUILD

PUBLISH

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN/BUILD2004 - 2005“BUILDING GREEN” COTTAGE

The project was a small cottage designed and built specifically to be documented in a book I was writing called “Building Green”. The concept was to compare and contrast a variety of popular “natural” and “green” building materials, techniques, and design methodologies by taking readers through the entire process of conceiving, designing, and constructing a building.

book distributed world wide

pattern language passive solar indoor/outdoor rooms working together

unique construction detailing

applications for teaching

simple drawings

simple post and beam site-made materials low-tech systems5 different wall systems living roof artistic finishing

workshopsconference

presentationsupdate blog design and consultingreviews and articles


The design process was a challenge because I wanted the building to be a single small room that would serve as a fully functional, even elegant, guest house. I also needed to incorporate as many different alternative materials and design techniques as pos-

sible to fulfill the goal of the book as a primer on alternatives to conventional methodologies.

“BUILDING GREEN” COTTAGE - DESIGN

I created a detailed pattern language in order to coax considerable nuance out of a small space.

Since this was design/build in the purest sense, the drawings were kept simple. It’s a luxury when drawings are required only to jog your memory rather than communicate legally binding instructions to professionals.

Nonetheless, the complex interplay between a variety of materials in new contexts required a lot of careful construction detailing.

Since the book was conceived as a primer, part of the process at this point was also developing materials to communicate the context and thought process behind design decisions.


“BUILDING GREEN” COTTAGE - BUILD

The cottage was sited for maximum passive solar heating, cooling, and daylighting and supplied with gravity-fed spring water. Construction features included an insu-lated aerated concrete foundation, five wall systems (cob, clay-slip straw, cord-

wood, straw bale, and modified stick-frame), a living roof, earth and lime plasters, and a number of outdoor “rooms” created by large porch overhangs. I was the primary builder, assisted by my two co-authors at pivotal points in the process.

top: the south wall was constructed of cob made with dirt from the site mixed with sand and strawmiddle: cordwood, basically firewood laid in a matrix of mortar and insulation, constituted the east wallbottom: the north wall was constructed of straw balesbottom right: the living roof; cob/cordwood walls; and straw bale walltop right: the finished cottage interior looking toward the cob wall


The book ended up being over 600 pages long with almost 1,500 color photographs. It has sold more than 60,000 copies and is distributed throughout the world...

... and has also been translated into French.

I planned the book in detail before construction began and took thousands of photos that allowed the entire design/build process to be covered in numerous “how-to” sequences...

My goal, however, wasn’t to teach how to build the cottage, but to give an introduction to the design/build process from the “green” perspective. Therefore, every act of design or construc-tion is sandwiched between contextual info and design variations that solve the same problems given different climatic variables.

I’ve used this material to good effect as a teaching tool in numerous work-shops, presentations, and classes.

above: cordwood wall built during a workshop and lecture series at Berea Collegeright: presentation slide

“BUILDING GREEN” COTTAGE - PUBLISH


DESIGN

BUILD

PUBLISH

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN/BUILD1998 - 2001MARSHALL HOUSE

In the late 1980’s, I had set out as an environmentalist back-to-the-land wanna-be on a journey to learn how to design and build my own house. After a lot of construction jobs, living in a two room log cabin for three years, and researching/experimenting feverishly, we designed and built that house near Marshall, North Carolina. I then wrote a book documenting what I had learned.

project became source of my first book

years of contextual research

“back-to-the-land” sustainability site analysis scale models

cohesive architectural concept on a budget

owner design/build partially bermed low-tech systemsenergy efficient passive solar artistic finishing

alternatives without the hype

novel presentation of basic material

I took most of the photographs

owner/builder plans

the book was well received

concepts applied to actual projects


MARSHALL HOUSE- DESIGN

The program for the house was a retelling of the old country mouse / city mouse story. Our goal was to embrace the self-sufficiency of the “back to the

land” movement while creating a space that nurtured our music-playing, theater-making city roots.

I had spent years filling notebooks with the results of my research and my ideas about creating space. These resources were the starting point for our design process.

I had looked carefully for land with the right natural resources. The lot we chose had ample winter sun for passive solar gain, plenty of fire-wood and access to gravity-fed spring water.

I used low-tech diagnostic tools such as this “solar window” chart that turned out to be very accurate.

Our budget was small, but we still managed to create some architectur-al interest with cascading roof lines, varied ceiling heights, and other cost-conscious design concepts.

We made a series of detailed scale models... okay, maybe we got carried away, the tub even had a faucet.

clarke snell ☼ portfolio ☼ 828.230.9857 ☼ [email protected] ☼ p. 1�

MARSHALL HOUSE - BUILD

Clockwise from above left: Me pouring concrete; partially bermed 1st floor foundation; windows installed; first floor framing

Clockwise from below left: Shell nearing completion; Lisa building masonry stove; finished stove flanked by murals; main passive solar space; exterior tile detail in plastered wall; panorama of house and land

I had started 10 years earlier with a simple question: “Can I build a house that will help me live more sustainably?” The path to an answer, if you want to call it that, took me through detailed theoretical research, a variety of grueling construction

jobs, self-directed study in building and systems design, and finally the agile, sometimes ridiculous dance of turning a nice concept into some sort of reality. The finished building is comfortable, costs almost nothing to run, and has been my base of operations ever since. More importantly, the project was the beginning of my jour-ney to understand the connection between the acts of design and building.


MARSHALL HOUSE - PUBLISH

We spend the vast majority of our time in the built environment, so I’ve always been amazed at how little most people know about buildings. As part of covering alternatives, then, I needed to give readers a primer on the basics of buildings and how they function.I had read a lot of design and building books and felt there

was a lack of readable but not overly simplistic resources on alternatives to conventional construction. I decided

to write a book that shared the knowledge, experience, and perspective I had gained in my own quest for a house.

Though I covered fairly technical information, I used a conversational style sup-ported by lots of photos and illustrations. Some readers have told me that I “made a boring topic interesting” which was exactly what I was shooting for.

After presenting the “primer”, I then com-pared a number of projects, showing how they applied the basics to fit their particu-lar climate and program. The final chapter, “Reality Check” presents my own process and perspective on how to actually get it done.


OTHER DESIGN AND CONSULTING

Though it may sound trite, it’s also a truism that our home is the earth. Everything physical that we have and use starts out in the ground. The obvious first step, then, for any act of building is detailed and sensitive analysis of the site, the environ-ment that the building is joining. Every piece of land by definition has resources that can either benefit or tax the project based on how they are interfaced. Sun, water, and wind are the three examples, but there are many others.This is basic stuff, but in my experience these principals are almost always ignored in conventional construction. When I started doing design and consulting work, I was often called in to “green up” projects after building siting had been cement-ed by road and sitework. Invariably, I found myself saying, “I wish you had called me earlier” as I explained that the existing plan was fighting the on-site resources instead of using them. As a result, I started offering a variety of land analysis ser-vices, ranging from simple site visits, to detailed land analysis reports, to full project master plans.

M A S T E R P L A N S

L A N D A N A L Y S I S

G R E E N R E M O D E L C O N S U L T I N G

I’ve done most of my work in rural areas of the mountains of Western North Carolina where people often buy a piece of land based on a long range view, then build a long, destructive road to the windy peak and plunk a house down. I have found that this default approach rarely serves a client’s true goals, the land itself, or even property values since this is most often an unsightly and destructive manner of building. My goal in land analysis has been to help people find the best way of working with the land and its resources to create a built environment that works with the existing environment.

From the point of view of immediate environmental priorities such as climate change, the impact of existing buildings is vastly greater than that of new construction. Probably the majority of inquiries I’ve gotten over the years have been to help people improve the energy efficiency and “environmental footprint” of their existing houses. However, green remodeling consulting is very challenging because much of the most important and expensive upgrading can’t be seen after installation. Even the most dedicated eco-warrior can balk at spending tens of thousands of dollars on insulation, weatherization, and window replacements that leave the house looking pretty much the same. I’ve found that in order to be successful, consulting reports need to be educational and interesting while presenting proposed changes within the context of clear financial payback arguments.

I’m interested in mixed-use and community developments. To be honest, I think the single family home is almost a dead paradigm in our present social and environmental context. Stand alone houses are an inefficient use of materials, use a lot more energy per square foot than larger buildings, and in urban contexts make basic resource management such as passive solar design very difficult. One way I’ve been able to experiment outside this box has been creating master plans, whether simply for a residential project involving multiple buildings or, in one case, a full site plan for a small intentional community.


The client on this project was a group of friends who had bought 35 acres of mountain land and wanted to create a small retirement community there. We created a master plan that included siting road and systems

infrastructure, a number of homes, a commu-nity center, old age cottages, hiking trails, gar-dens, a pond, and a variety of other features.

To: Snowbird Folks

Date: 11.20.06

Concerning: Questionnaire Answers and Next Steps

Hello all,

Tim and I have read the questionnaire responses from Donna, Graeme, and Peggy.

Wow! They did a great job and supplied some very helpful information. We haven’t

heard from Daryl and Tom, so I’ve decided to move forward with basic comments

based on their answers.

In both questionnaires, the Lodge has evolved from a casual community meeting

place to a real activity hub and eventual permanent home. Personally, I think this is a

great potential development. It does, however, require that we shift our design focus a

bit. Though I agree that the Lodge should be as flexible as possible, it still needs to be

carefully designed for its present and future uses. There are at present two ideas for

the eventual assisted living spaces. One is attached “suites”, the second is detached

“cottages”. In either case, the best approach is to substantially create the design now

and then build in phases. The phases could be separated by many years, but a clear

interaction between the different spaces (whether detached or connected) needs to be

defined now. Exciting and environmentally mandated possibilities like a shared micro -

grid power system and centralized solar/propane radiant heat piped to all buildings (if

there are cottages) would only be possible if designed now. Here are some more

reasons why I think we should focus on a complete design of the Lodge complex now

and for the future:

Define community. Donna has written a beautiful description of her and Graeme’s

perspective on what Snowbird is all about. (See their questionnaire answers.) She

acknowledges that now is perhaps the time for the group to revisit the talks you had

together and in smaller groups before your community was so tangible, i.e. while you

could still talk without consequence. I believe strongly (and this comes from my

personal experience in the world of building and as a co-creator of a small community)

that the built environment will have a big effect on how well you achieve your social,

as well as personal, goals. We need to understand how you want to live together

before we can create the buildings that will support that vision.

Create community. The design of the Lodge complex will be a good next step for

your insipient community. It’ll be a unique new experience to share together. I

guarantee it will create a bond, and some bumpy moments, that should be a defining

moment for Snowbird.

Define the scope of your houses. A central advantage of creating a commons like

you are discussing is that it can reduce redundancy in individual houses. It already

seems that you are reducing the size of your houses by expecting guests to stay at

The Questionnaire – Graeme and Donna Frelick’s response

Your Lifestyle

Do you see your new house as part of a change of lifestyle? If so, how.

Our land and house at Snowbird is part of our vision of a simpler, more relaxed

lifestyle leading into an active retirement. By the time we move there, Graeme will be

working three/quarter time at his firm, our youngest daughter will be out of college and

both daughters will be on their own. We hope to have more time to pursue our

personal interests in martial arts, writing, music and so on. Donna may still need to

work part-time or we may teach martial arts part-time, but hopefully, life will be less

hectic!

Do you have any problems now that you expect your new house to solve?

Our current home dates from 1940 and is not at all energy efficient. It is large and

requires a fair amount of upkeep. Just cleaning it from top to bottom is a significant

chore. It also consists of three floors, giving us lots of stairs to negotiate.

How often are you at home? Away from home?

Donna spends the better part of the week at home, working from her home office, in

the yard and garden or running errands to support the home. Graeme currently works

most of every week away from home, though he occasionally works from a home

office. He also travels quite a bit for his job.

Your Relationships

What is your family status?

c) in committed relationship –married 30+ years with two daughters, ages 24 and 18.

We have one grandson, age 5, who has lived with us in the past, but is now

living with his father and stepmom. We would expect to have him visit in Snowbird at

least a couple of times a year, perhaps for the summer.

How often do you have visitors? How many cars can you imagine being parked at

your home? We often have family or friends staying at our home, but we’re hoping to

have the lodge to house them at Snowbird. There would have to be ample parking at

the lodge, but room for only our own vehicles (probably two for a while) at our house.

Do you imagine that you will ever have a relative come and live with you?

Not anticipated at this time, but again, there is the lodge!

Your Body

Are you physically active? Describe your overall health.

We are both currently in good shape for people in our mid-50’s. We do martial arts,

we walk, hike, play tackle football with our grandson and take on a new challenge

(such as whitewater rafting) on a regular basis. We do anticipate “aging in place” at

Snowbird, though, so we hope to include universal design principals in our home and

in the lodge.

To: the Snowbird gang Date: 9/10/2006

Concerning: Snowbird Property Assessment What follows are the results of our initial assessment of your property:

Road Great road, well built, good slope! There are some steep banks that have no

vegetation. We’re assuming that the road has been there a few years. If so, it might be

a good idea to do some hydroseeding (wet applied mix of grass seed, cellulose, and

minerals that is an efficient way to start grass) to help establish plants on the banks.

We don’t see this as an emergency. It may not even be necessary.

Water DOMESTIC WATER TO HOUSES Though there does seem to be a single spring on the property (north side in the

woods below site A…see topo sketch), it isn’t situated to be convenient for use to any

house sites. Therefore, a well (or wells) will have to be dug. A well is a hole drilled

through the earth to access the aquifer, basically a huge underground river. Though

many well drillers are also “dowsers” who claim to be able to find wate r, well digging is

a crap shoot. In our experience, the higher you go up a mountain, the deeper you’ll

have to dig a well. Wells require a pump and pressure tank, which means they need

electricity. If the houses are placed close enough together, then sharing a well is an

option. “WASTE” WATER The conventional approach to “waste” water in a rural setting is a septic system. This

involves a concrete tank that holds all the water and everything in it and a “leach field”

which is a trench often filled with a corrugated pipe surrounded by Styrofoam peanuts.

There are other options, but they require more work to get approved. The

conventional approach for your situation would be to create a separate septic system

for each house. If the houses were closer together, the expense and disruption of

these multiple systems could be lowered by creating a single system.

PONDS AND OTHER SURFACE WATER As already mentioned, there does seem to be a spring on the north side of the

property. As for the little pond at the first bend in the road, it is well built. It seems to

be a sediment pond for rain runoff and seems to have no spring feeding it (unless

there is one bubbling up from underneath). In any case, there isn’t enough water to

create a constant overflow that would cause the water to circulate. This means that

water will sit there stagnant most of the time. In order to more approximate a natural

habitat for animals and plants, we suggest planting selected water plants and

To: Snowbird Surf Club Date: 08/22/07 Concerning: Charrette Report

After reviewing our notes and thinking back on our two days together, it seems to us that there are three areas of work that need attention. Let’s call them legal, land, and buildings. The purpose of this report is to look at each area in terms of the following:

1. Synopsize work done at the charrette. These comments are based on our own notes and recollections. Please feel free to add your own account to ours.

2. Describe next steps. 3. Describe TGB’s role.

1. Legal. a) Synopsis. The group gave a synopsis of its current legal status and ideas for

ways to legally protect the goals of the community now and in the future as there is turnover in the group and younger generations get involved. It seems the idea presently is to have the Snowbird non-profit own the land and give members the right to build on it. The question was raised as to whether a bank would give loans for individual houses given this scenario. In addi tion, it seems that right now, if I understand this correctly, that the three founding member families own the land as tenants in common. I know from experience that there are liability issues with such a set-up.

b) Next steps. There are many ways to approach the legal set-up of communities. Though you have worked quite a bit on your vision and have the basis of a legal agreement, basic concepts of ownership seem unclear. We suggest that you hire a local lawyer familiar with NC law and draw up covenants soon. (If this is obvious, sorry, just trying to be thorough.) The biggest decision in this process will be the basic ownership structure: a typical development homeowner’s association agreement occupying one end of the spectrum and more innovative communities like Earthaven and Celo at the other end.

c) TGB’s role. The community as you describe it seems fairly complex to legally define. The idea of protecting the goals of the group by creating an alternative to “conventional” ownership is beautiful and will take some clear legal thinking. The added complexity of having a common lodge area that might eventually include permanent living quarters for members makes more of an argument for careful legal thought. Obviously, we aren’t lawyers, so there is only so much we can do

The planning stage included

detailed site analysis, a two day design charrette with the group, and a series of written reports.

We used digital surveying equipment to create a 3D map of the property.

This allowed accurate GPS placement of all site features, including building foundations, and the creation of a detailed master plan set on a contour map...

...and basic 3D renderings that gave a feel for the ter-rain, relative sitework require-ments for different proposed sites, and a sense of scale.

We were arguing against the typical view driven ridge-top construction model. Creating sections of the property really helped illustrate the extreme elevation and road length differences between different potential building sites.

MASTER PLANS


LAND ANALYSIS

I’ve done a lot of land analysis. Though it may sound trite, it’s also a tru-ism that our home is the earth. Everything physical that we have and use starts out in the ground. The obvious first step, then, for any act of

building is detailed and sensitive analysis of the site, the environment that the building is joining. Every piece of land by definition has resources that can either benefit or tax the project based on how they are engaged. Sun, water, and wind are three examples, but there are many others.

The first step is understanding the client’s goals. I typically have them answer a questionnaire, then have a detailed conversation before a site visit.

I try to visit the site in the winter. It’s the best time to study surface water patterns, find springs, and perform solar analysis.

I review GPS maps before visiting the land to identify potential house sites. Once there, I use a variety of diagnostic tools, such as the Solar Pathfinder which allows analysis of sun and shade patterns for different periods of the year on different building sites.

clockwise from top right: soil tested to determine suitability as a building material; locust trees can replace toxic treated lumber; this spring head will provide plenty of water without the need to drill a well.

I map interesting features and useful resources.

Finished reports provide background info on sustainability principles, detailed analysis of the water, wind, sun, and building materials on the property, and identify the best building sites.

t h i n k g r e e n b u i l d i n g 244 barnet m tn dr marsha l l , nc 28753 ph : 828. 230. 9857 web: www. t h inkgreenbui ld ing.com

20

40 foot rectangle on the site as both an illustration of the space a house that size occupies and to give a very approximate potential siting for the house. We looked at the possibility of moving the house on a north-south axis to another location on the ridge. Based on the premise that the house construction will be slab-on-grade with a smooth transition to outside patios, there is little difference in the amount of cut-and-fill (moving of dirt to create a flat area) that would be required at either point on the aforementioned axis. 1. Solar The house site has excellent solar exposure with good passive and active potential. The site is the apex of the main hill on your lots. The hill widens a bit in the middle, and we placed our staked rectangle at approximately the widest section of the hill apex and faced it directly south. The house could be moved south or north a bit without affecting the basic solar outlook. We based the following analysis on the distant ridge to the east, west, and south. The line of this ridge fundamentally determines when the sun will rise and set at the staked site throughout the year. There are a number of trees on your property to the east, west, and especially the south of the staked site that will block some winter and a lot of summer sun.

Passive solar The distant ridge is very low in the sky and will create no meaningful blockage of the sun’s path at any time during the year. Between October and March, the sun will always clear the eastern ridge before 9:00 and will set behind the western ridge well after 3:30. (These are “clock times”. See the background information above for an explanation.) This is excellent passive solar exposure. During this time of year, existing trees to the east, west, and especially the south will block some of the potential sunlight (and therefore heating potential), though without leaves this blockage will be much reduced. The present tree cover will substantially shade the site May through September. Your final passive solar design, then, will include a balance between cutting trees to optimize the winter solar gain and leaving trees to maximize summer shading. One option would be to initially clear any trees directly to the south of the site that could be useful in the construction of the house, leaving the rest while you live in the house for a full year. If substantial sun is being blocked in the winter, you’ll be able to identify very clearly which

distant ridge determines sunrise and sunset trees on site

with block some sun, may need to selectively cleared based on final design

view toward southeast from house site

view towards northwest from house site

green tape between two stakes points south


3

Background: The Basic Elements of Your Land A piece of land can be looked at as the sum of four natural elements coming together: sun, water, wind (air), and earth (soil, stone, plants, animals). Let’s look at these elements as they manifest in our climate, and examine how they might interact with your building project. 1. Sun (Solar Energy) The Path of the Sun For our purposes here, we can safely say that the sun is responsible for all temperature on the planet. Since solar energy is also the basic engine for precipitation and wind, the climatic difference between one place on earth and another is mostly the result of differing relationships to the sun. Therefore, in order to understand how people and buildings might best interface with a given piece of land, we have to analyze how the sun interacts with that piece of land. Luckily, the sun is the most predictable natural element. It’s path through the sky changes in a regular pattern throughout the year. In fact, though it may be obscured by clouds, we can say exactly where the sun will be in the sky at any moment of the day, any day of the year, in relation to a specific place on the planet. This is true for two reasons: 1. the earth moves in a repeated, yearly orbit around the sun and 2. the earth spins on its access daily. In the Northern Hemisphere, the sun rises in the east, climbs in the sky to the south until noon, and then falls to set in the west. Based on your latitude (distance from the equator), this basic path changes in a slow, steady, completely predictable pattern throughout the year. At the winter solstice (December 21st), the sun is at it’s lowest noon peak in the southern sky for the year. It also rises the farthest to the southeast and sets the farthest to the southwest that it will all year. From this day on, the sun rises a little farther to the east, peaks to the south a little higher at noon, and sets a little farther to the west. This pattern continues until the summer solstice (June 21st) when the sun is the highest in the sky at noon, rises the farthest to the east, and sets the farthest to the west for the year. At this point, the pattern reverses itself day by day until the sun reaches its winter solstice position and the whole process begins again. Heating and Cooling with the Sun This immutable natural cycle can either be a benevolent partner or powerful adversary based simply on how we design and orient our buildings. The most basic partnership with the sun is called passive solar design: the conscious manipulation of the sun’s direct energy to affect the temperature inside a building. Though the details of passive solar design are subtle and intricate, the concept for our climate is simple:

the arc of the sun’s path is lower in winter than in summer

low winter sun streams into this room, heating the tiled floor; roof overhangs

will block the higher summer sun, preventing it from entering


22

go over the chart on the “Solar Site Analysis Report”, so you can get something out this information, too. Column 1 (Actual Solar Radiation without Shading) represents the maximum amount of sun you could get at your site without any obstructions, such as trees or ridges. Column 2 (Actual Solar Radiation with Shading) represents the amount of sun that will hit the site including any existing obstructions. We took out trees for this measurement, so the only obstruction registering is the distant ridge. The average number of hours that the sun will shine per day on your site given these conditions is 4.69 hours. You can see that this is almost 96% of the potential sunlight that could hit the site. Column 3 (Actual A/C Power with Shading) represents the estimated amount of power that a 1KW PV system would generate at your site with sufficient trees cleared to prevent shading of south-facing roof-mounted panels. Column 4 (Actual Solar Savings) is an estimate of the amount of money you’d save per year by using the electricity from a 1 KW system. The estimate is the PV electricity offsetting grid electricity priced at 9 cents per KWH. 2. Water Surface water The small stream at the east border of the property is a nice little feature. There’s a cool spot for a little gazebo or a picnic table next to the stream. A path from the house site to the stream would be very enjoyable. Gravel from road culverts is silting up the stream. Every culvert should have a silt-basin dug on its uphill side. This allows a known place for silt and debris to collect and allows for easy clean-out and maintenance. You should periodically clean the stream of any overflow debris if you want it to maintain its present course. Water in There is a strong spring head on the eastern boarder of your property near the road. It hadn’t rained recently the day we visited, so the amount of water we observed was encouraging. Still, springs can be seasonal, so we can’t say for sure how the spring will be manifested year round. If you wanted to use this spring water, it could be pumped to a reservoir above your house site and then gravity fed to the house. A reservoir placed at an elevation close to the road to the north of the house site would create approximately 33 psi of water pressure at the house site. This water could be

spring head

close-up of spring head

spring head

water shed

spring head with hill to north

gravel run-off from road culvert

the small stream at the east boarder of the property

© © Think Green Building, LLC. Material in this report is intended for the use of the client on the project in question. All text and images are the property of Think Green Building, LLC and cannot be reprinted or otherwise transferred without written permission.

Green Building Land Analysis For Glenn and Judy Denny

Denny Property Cross Creek Estates Caney Fork Township Jackson County, NC


t h i n k g r e e n b u i l d i n g

2 4 4 b a r n e t mt n d r ma r s h a l l , n c 2 8 75 3 p h : 8 2 8 . 2 3 0 .9 8 5 7 w eb : w w w . t h ink g ree n b u i ld i n g . com

18

Tilt Angles to Optimize Annual Solar Gain

Derating Factors for Suboptimal Tilt and Orientation

hawaiirdp.org

Tilt

The old rule of thumb is that tilt should equal latitude for maximum annual output. However,

recent testing has shown that to be incorrect. 30 degrees from horizontal is the optimal tilt

angle for your area. Like orientation, variations in tilt are fairly forgiving. Facing due south,

90% of the optimal energy is available with a tilt between 10 and 60 degrees from horizontal.

An array mounted vertically on a south wall will capture about 65% of the energy captured at

optimal tilt.

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SOUTH ELEVATION

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EAST ELEVATION

NOTE:

ZONE 1-

1ST FLOOR

1331 S.F.CONDITIONED

SPACE

UNIFORM 9 FT. CEILING

HEIGHT

ZONE 2-

2ND FLOOR

661 S.F. CONDITIONED

SPACE

UNIFORM 8 FT. CEILING

HEIGHT

ZONE 3-

-273 S.F. CONDITIONED

SPACE "BONUS ROOM"

CONDITIONED SPACE

VOLUME = 2518 C.F.

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1

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SCALE: 1/4" = 1'-0"

11st FLOOR PLAN


244 barnet m tn dr marsha l l , nc 28753 ph : 828.230.9857 web: www. th i nkgreenbui l d ing.com

2

t

Proposed Project Components and Design Chronology

1. Heating and Cooling system. If we had to pick a focal point for the project, it would be

cooling. In your area cooling loads are enormous. Combine that fact with the notorious

energy input required for air conditioning, and you end up with the lion’s share of your

carbon footprint and environmental impact bound up with cooling your house. Though

heating is less of an issue in your situation, cooling and heating strategies and systems

are intertwined so they need to be considered together. The steps I suggest toward

creating the most efficient cooling/heating strategy for your situation are as follows:

a. Reduce the cooling load. The house was built as if someone wanted to prove that

they could ignore the sun. It’s long on the north-south axis with big picture windows to

the west and only one small high window on the south side even though there is fairly

open solar exposure in that direction. i. Passive solar design: (1) Dealing with western solar gain. At the minimum this would mean adding awnings over most of the windows on that side of the house. This will substantially reduce summer heat gain, and will allow you to pull back the shades on the living room windows and

open them to get some natural ventilation when that’s appropriate. A more comprehensive course would be to replace the picture windows in the “dining room” (now an exercise room) with a smaller

square footage of glass and make those windows operable also (the existing

glass in that room isn’t operable if I remember correctly).

ii. Alter lifestyle (1) Redefine comfort zone. You seem to

already have this covered with actions

like defining your target summer interior

temperature as 78degF or even higher. (2) Rely on simpler technologies. If I’m

correct, you rarely open your windows

presently. This cuts you off from natural

ventilation and passive air exchange forcing you to rely solely on machinery to create temperature and

these western windows need to be protected

from solar heat gain

installed whole house attic fan with insulated doors closed


244 barnet m tn dr marsha l l , nc 28753 ph : 828.230.9857 web: www. th inkg reenbui l d ing.com

6

Stove Type Em (g/hr) Eff BTU s.f.

Price clearance

Woodstock -

Palladian mass 1.9

72% 45,000 1,300 $2,400 including

shipping

15” with

heat shield

Vermont

castings -

Intrepid

no mass

2.1 72% 8,000 -

27,000 1,200 ??

16” with

heat shield

Vermont

castings -

Defiant

no mass

0.8 72% 55,000 2,400 ??

17” with

heat shield

Hearthstone

- Homestead mass 1.9

63% 50,000 1,800 $2,200 -

2,400 7” with heat shield

Hearthstone

- Tribute

mass 3.0 63% 36,000 1,300 $1,500 -

1,750 8” with heat shield

Em = particulate emissions in grams/hr

Eff = thermal efficiency

BTU = maximum heat output

Clearance = minimum clearance from back of stove to wall (all of these are with optional heat

shield Check out these websites to view the stoves and see the different aesthetic options:

Woodstock is a direct order business and they are currently

having a sale with reduced prices and $100 shipping

anywhere in the 48 states.

http://www.woodstocksoapstone.com/index.html

http://www.vermontcastings.com

To: Lois Simbach Date: 05.08.07

erning: “Green” Options for Your Building in Marshall

g

d that’s what you do. My job, though, isn’t about unique. It’s about applying basic strategies to make your

ts. Here’s what I’m seeing:

or other approaches. The cool result would be thicker walls with any kind of aesthetic you uild the structure and insulate it.

g

rately), that has a lot of glass in front of it on the south, creating a winter sun space.

wall would either have much less glass and the right overhangs to

ach old piece

thing and (I know you love your fireplace) no fireplace. The reason is that the ) ratings.

sive solar because the liquid in the tubes can also help move the heat around

oncC

Lois,

Let’s start out by defining my role. One thing you said to me when I visited the buildinsite the other day is that you wanted to do something unique. No matter what happens, I’m sure it will be unique because you’re involved an

building better on a variety of fron

Building Construction There is no reason you’d have to stick frame the building. We could make it a post and beam structure and then fill it with any kind of insulation we wanted. Things like we did in our cottage

wanted, and the use of more local, renewable resources to b

Space Heatin

Passive Solar The incredible thing about the sun is that it is low to the south in the winter and much higher inthe summer. All you’ll need to do to take advantage of this situation for heating is to place an area of south-facing glass in front of a concrete floor that is properly insulated. If we did this across the whole south side of the building, we’d create too much heat and also a lot of glare. I suggest choosing an area, maybe about 1/3 of the floor space (I can calculate this accuif we go furtherThe rest of the south prevent glare.

Economy Plan Any way you slice it, you really want to do the passive solar heat. The lowest budget approwould be passive solar with wood heat. But that means a new wood stove, not someof shit metal newer metal wood stoves have excellent efficiency and emission (pollution

UpgradeProbably the most comfy way to heat the space, especially thinking about our impending old age, is hydronic (radiant) floor heating. If you don’t know, that means running tubes in a slabor under a wood floor that carry heated liquid. The cool thing about this system is that it can be connected to solar collectors on the roof that can supply a lot of the winter heat and can heat water all year long for domestic use, all with the same system. It’s also an excellent combo with pas

“GREEN” REMODEL CONSULTING

To: Wayne Date: 08.23.07

Concerning: Initial Report on “Green” Retrofit of Your Existing House

Intro This is a follow up report to the site visit and meeting we had on July 14 th. The purpose of this little report is to outline project possibilities with the goal of moving toward a “design program” which is essentially a list of everything that we want in the design. We’ve talked about a lot of this, but I wanted to lay it out clearly so that we can both see the potential scope. You could just say, “Create the coolest design you can come up with and we’ll then look at costs and decide what will stay” or you can define clearly what interests you and what doesn’t at this point. For example, you may just say, “Forget the greywater” or “No structural changes to the bedroom” or make some other clear demarcations. In any case, the idea is to create a clear program list before we dive in to really trying to organize the project.

Project Overview You’re interested in designing and implementing a non-invasive remodel (i.e. no major structural changes to the building) that provides a substantial reduction in the building’s energy and other resource consumption. After my recent site visit and our discussion, I feel confident that additional side benefits will be improved indoor air quality and enhanced enjoyment of the property through the creation of additional comfortable “outdoor rooms”. You want to try innovative approaches and newer technologies, but want the building to maintain its resale value on the mainstream market. Though you aren’t thinking in terms of traditional direct payback of investment through resale or short-term reductions in utility bills, you want all design components to be sensible and defensible from at least a triple bottom line pe rspective (economy, environment, social responsibility). Your stated maximum budget for the project is $100,000.

You are considering retiring at the end of 2007, so your desired schedule is to develop the plan through the remainder of 2007, and implement it in 2008.

Green remodeling consulting projects have come in many forms for me. They can entail everything from a single site visit tied to a client discussion all the way up to complex and detailed analysis that borders on full remodel design.

Complex. The client on this project wanted a serious energy upgrade to his house. As part of a detailed site study, we accurately measured the building to allow the creation of full plans including adjusted floor plans, 3D sun study renderings, construction detailing, and an extensive energy model.

Simple. This client was remodeling an old building with a large attached courtyard. We supplied materials and systems recommendations and a simple site plan.

Problem solving. This client had water leaking into the living room of his “earthship” (partially buried rammed earth tire walls). We diagnosed the problem and generated remodel detailing. Since the client was doing the work himself and had a very limited budget, we kept the drawings very simple.


OTHER CREATIVE ENDEAVORS

P H O T O G R A P H Y

W R I T I N G

M U S I C

Writing for me has rarely been a creative outlet. I write to express practical ideas and to present useful information. Still, It baffles me that technical topics are so often presented dryly. I write to readers, not robots, and I suppose that makes me a writer. My conceptual metric is simple: if I’m bored writing it, then surely a reader will be bored reading it. I’ve written thousands of pages on topics related to environmentally conscious design and construction. I just can’t seem to shut up about it!

I’ve always played music. Though I studied it formally for a number of years and have done a lot of performing, music functions for me mainly as a touchstone for the here and now. Whenever I stop whatever I’m doing and play, music is waiting right where I left it. For many years, I’ve been a stereotypical workaholic, so I include music in my portfolio partly to remind myself that I’m not just a building geek. Let’s play some music!

I started doing photography in high school but really didn’t find an outlet for the skill until I began publishing in the “green building” field. As the de facto documentarian for projects on which I work, I’ve gotten pretty good at construction photography. I’ve taken thousands of photos and had hundreds of those published.


PHOTOGRAPHYclockwise from top: living roof sedum and retaining wall on the “Building Green” cottage; sanding the compressed earth block floor at the Nauhaus; roof framing shot from “The Good House Book”


In addition to my books, and articles in national magazines, I wrote a monthly column for three years in the regional publication, The New Life Journal. Here’s one of my columns:

Outdoor Rooms: Save the World With a Smile on Your Face

Given a choice, most of us would rather be outside. I mean, most people imagine vacations on the beach or walking through the woods, not sitting in a room with a TV on, an air conditioner humming, and the shades drawn. That’s not surprising because if you get down to basics, our home is the earth. Sure, you live in a house, but everything inside originated outside. Air, water, food, fuel, fabrics, even all of that plastic crap and junk mail. Origin: outside.

In fact, the whole concept of a place called “inside” is really an abstraction. We are a part of the outdoors, of the self-sustaining ecosystem of the earth, and as such we need a constant and intimate connection to the outside in order to survive and flourish. The only question is how we go about making that connection. The trend over the last 50 years or so has been to focus on creating indoor environments that can dial in specific variables (air temperature, water temperature, light intensities, etc.) with fine levels of control. A building with a mechanical heating and cooling system and electric lights, for example, can theoretically create a consistent indoor environment regardless of what is going on outside. That can be a good thing. However, if applied mindlessly, this paradigm leads to exorbitant energy consumption with its consequent pollution and pillaging of finite natural resources. (Since about 40% of the energy we use as a country is consumed by our buildings, that’s quite a bit of pillaging.) This approach also sets the stage for the cubicle, bad air fresheners masking poor indoor air quality, the video-game/TV-addict-couch-potato-geek and a variety of other side effects of extreme separation from the outdoors.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting a return to the cave. Campfires are an extremely inefficient and polluting technology. A couple billion of them would be an environmental nightmare. All I’m proffering is that we expand the concept of where it is that we live. For example, we need to stop thinking of our houses as ending at the front door. For me, a house has three basic parts: indoor rooms, outdoor rooms, and the transitions between them. Outdoor rooms can be designed to be just as functional as indoor rooms. In fact, generally they mirror the uses of indoor rooms, allowing us to choose the best locale for a particular activity based on the weather. This layout can take a load off interior space while adding inexpensive outdoor space.

For example, a home office that combines an interior room with a private covered patio can allow the indoor portion to be much smaller. The same is true of kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, even bathrooms in the right situation. The end result can be a smaller house with lower upfront cost, lower utility bills, and happier inhabitants who are spending more time outdoors while still going about their busy modern lives. Smaller buildings using less electricity and fuels also mean less pollution, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and less dependence on foreign oil. As for existing buildings, adding outdoor rooms won’t make them smaller, but they’ll still benefit from considerably lower utility bills…you don’t need to heat or cool a building or run lighting when you’re outside.

Some of the hardships you might have to endure to reach these frugal and lofty goals are (1) enjoying evening breezes while sleeping outside under a ceiling fan on a screened porch off your bedroom; (2) cooking outdoors (five feet from your herb and greens garden) whenever you feel like it rather than waiting for that elusive “cookout”; (3) taking a private solar shower outdoors under an open sky (note to reader: don’t die without experiencing this!); and (4) typing those emails with the smell of flowers as a backdrop… It’s a hard job, but I say someone has to do it and it might as well be you.

Though many of us have experienced outdoor spaces that have elements of what I’m describing, most don’t. The reason usually is that they are being short-changed. Successful indoor rooms share basic components. They all have a floor, walls, and a roof, for example. They also all have a clear intended use that has been served through thoughtful design and careful follow-through in construction. Outdoor rooms are no different. The floor could be stones, the walls may include a bush, and the roof may prominently feature the sky, but the idea is the same: a collection of elements brought together to create a mood and support an activity. Outdoor rooms can be private, grandiose, playful, or solemn. They can be designed to maximize work productivity, encourage social interaction, or be a room of one’s own. In short, they can do anything an indoor room can do…just not in a blizzard.

Okay, so here’s my radical suggestion. Let’s enjoy ourselves immensely by spending more time outside; slash construction, maintenance and energy bills while doing it; AND cut pollution, carbon emissions, and consequently “save the world” in the bargain. All that’s standing in our way is the powerful aerosol air freshener lobby and some crazed X-Box geeks. Fight the power!


In addition to my two books on alternatives to conventional design and construction methodologies, I wrote a book on simple

furniture design and construction.

The concept was to take beginners through the basics, starting with tool usage and fundamental carpentry techniques, then lead them through the construction of 20 projects.

The organizing principle was the box. The first project was simply boxes with feet.

By combining the simple box in different ways, the projects became successively more complicated.

The final project was a large, elegant wardrobe....still just a series of boxes. WRITING


MUSIC

I’ve studied music and played in bands my entire adult life. My musical interests are, let’s say, varied.

Living in Baltimore in the 80’s, I was a sound designer for a theater company and played in a musical theater troupe called “Laughing Tree”.

The Laughing Tree back story was that after all humans were killed in a nuclear war, giant mutant insects found themselves inhabiting the

abandoned human built environment. Thinking it was their own, the insects created a new mythology.

We played on the street, in theaters and in large clubs. In 1989 we went on a national tour. The photos at left are all me in different Laughing Tree incarnations playing the “insektar”, an instrument I built.

I also studied sound recording, ethnomusicology composition, and classical guitar performance as an undergraduate music major for two years.

In addition to guitar, I’ve played drums and bass in a variety of bands and have taught drums to kids.

clarke snell ☼ portfolio ☼ 828.230.9857 ☼ [email protected] ☼ p. 25east wall framing, the Nauhaus Prototype

The Nauhaus carbon neutral homestead: • Review concepts, floor plans, systems descriptions, and other details here:

www.thenauhaus.com• See construction photos here:

www.thenauhaus.com/blog/index.php/category/nauhaus-prototype/My books:

• Read reviews here: www.amazon.com/Clarke-Snell/e/B001JRUTJA • View digital update for “Building Green” here: www.bgupdate.com

My articles: • Read a selection of my articles here:

www.thenauhaus.com/blog/index.php/category/publications/articles/

CONTACT INFO AND LINKS OF INTEREST

CONTACTclarke snell244 barnet mountain drivemarshall, nc [email protected]

http://www.thenauhaus.com

www.thenauhaus.com/blog/index.php/category/nauhaus-prototype/

www.amazon.com/Clarke-Snell/e/B001JRUTJA

www.amazon.com/Clarke-Snell/e/B001JRUTJA

http://thenauhaus.com/blog/index.php/category/publications/articles/

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