LOCUS Architecture BLOG

I heard William McDonough speak in Minneapolis at the Governor’s Awards, if I recall correctly, years ago. His name floats through the air at cocktail party discussions about sustainability, but his nobody-is-as-green-as-I-am persona has generally rubbed me the wrong way and left me deaf to his sermons.

Reading a back issue of ARCHITECTURE magazine yesterday, editor Ned Cramer seemed to share some of my reservations. Cramer’s piece prompted me to look up “Green Guru Gone Wrong”, a recent article about McDonough in Fast Company magazine. If you haven’t read it already, might be worth a look before you recommend McDonough’s book, Cradle to Cradle, to a friend.

This past weekend, we were at the Living Green Expo at the MN State Fairgrounds. At the show, there were workshops (from How to Choose a Greener Car to Backyard Chickens & Livestock), a large exhibit floor (about 300 booths), and exhibits (cars powered by cooking oil and electricity) devoted to green topics. All in all, a wide range of great information on numerous topics.

Nevertheless, this year I was struck by some of the exhibitors, including Segway, Walmart, Chipotle, and even Whole Foods. All these companies no doubt have legitimate claims to green-ness, but I’ve always thought of the Living Green Expo as more regional; a little gritty, grassroots powered, CSA-grown, and definitely bike-powered.

This got me thinking about architecture and building. When we began designing and building homes for clients in 1995, we didn’t talk much about material reuse and energy efficiency. It wasn’t the buzz, we did it because it made sense. Now, all manner of architects and builders are embracing green as a “growth sector.” Seems like there isn’t a firm out there without an indoor-air-quality or recycled-content-materials expert.

So, in the new green marketplace, what makes LOCUS different? I think it’s our deep knowledge of construction, our length of experience in green building, and our commitment to a comprehensive approach. Green building is more than using Paperstone counters and milk paint.

Paul and I went through some past projects and wrote down a quick list of things we’ve done in our practice. Items preceded by * we’ve integrated into projects we designed AND built; items preceded by ** we’ve integrated into our own homes (which we also designed and built). I’ll admit we haven’t found all the answers, but we’ll continue to look for them through research and ingenuity.

Site
**Composting
*Design to reprogram existing building – to limit project expansion
**Infill urban houses
**Low impact landscaping, using native species or limited irrigation
*Permeable paving (parking lot/patio)
Prairie restoration
**Rainwater collection
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