Home Remodeling

Remodeling, despite its famous pitfalls, can be a joyful experience.  In this process the client has literally dozens of people making their dream home into a reality.  California has led the nation with its Title 24 energy codes, and fostered a community of professionals and craftsmen committed to sustainable construction.  We're particularly fortunate in the Bay Area to have tremendous community resources in the form of consultants, suppliers, and contractors committed to sustainable design.

Every building has issues that need to be addressed.  Taking responsibility for a property and resolving its issues gives a tremendous sense of satisfaction.  We've all had the experience of seeing a dilapidated house feeling the urge to redeem it.  If that redemption is made with an eye toward sustainability then that satisfaction is elevated and amplified.  We're doing custom projects which can be experimental.  Where we succeed we are developing the insights and skills of everyone in the process to take what we've learned about design, construction and sustainability and apply these findings to other projects.

We find the concept for sustainable building through the design process.  As we explore unraveling and knitting-up the design of the building we grow our concept for its relationship to weather and to the site.  At first we may have 2 or 3 layers of ideas about who the client is, and how a building for them would look and feel.  As the design evolves we look at where storms hit, where the sun rises in the winter, and how the distribution of spaces within the home relates to the open space around it.  In the course of every project there are periods of searching and moment of finding.  These finding moments feel like stumbling into enlightenment... finding a perspective where the way the client lives is truly integrated with the site.

Often our clients come to us after having already lived in their homes for years, having made do with uncomfortable spaces.  When our projects are complete they find their homes are quiet, comfortable and functional.  Our work gives them a new sort of freedom to live in their homes, not fighting unwanted constraints.  This sense of freedom doesn't need to come from adding square footage, but can be created sustainably, while maintaining ambient temperatures.  Often simply super-insulating a home, designing for sun and wind paths, and providing efficient radiant heating can take us a long way there.  We can sustainably create the freedom of truly functional custom spaces, even open-plan living, within an existing building envelope.