Green Building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use, recycle and harvest energy, materials and water.  This philosophy reduces the impact of construction and human and vehicular activities on human health and upon the health of the environment in which we live.

We accomplish this through selection of recycled materials, use of more energy-efficient systems, locating buildings and their walls, windows, roofs and other surfaces in such a way as to minimize their energy consumption.  This is accomplished with attention to the initial, or capital cost, life-cycle cost (cost to operate over the life of the building), required energy to maintain and eventually remove and recycle into future facilities.

Green Building is also referred to as Sustainable Design (or environmental construction), although sustainable facilities have a keener focus on the use of materials that can be sustained by our culture indefinitely, without depleting our natural resources.  Green Building is one aspect of Sustainable Design.  We approach improved Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and reduced environmental impact as a subset of Green Architectural principles.  We seek to attain aesthetic and ecological harmony between our buildings and adjoining environment.  Our desire is to create architecture that appears to have naturally grown from the rocks, trees, bushes and mountains of their setting.  There seems to be a growing realization that what humans, as a species, build, operate and move, affects the micro and macro climate of our world.

Rand Soellner Architect has been creating, using and designing with these concepts since the 1970’s.  Rand created the master site plan and concept design for the new Florida Solar Energy Center in Cocoa Beach, Florida in the late 1980’s, for the University of Central Florida.  Mr. Soellner also helped Orange County, Florida to cleanse and renovate 4 “sick buildings” in the 1990’s (which were not created by him or his company).

RECYCLED MATERIALS, REDUCED TRASH: Since then, Rand Soellner has been creating wonderful homes and other buildings in naturalistic settings, using recycled materials (like the slate-look Eco-Star roof shingles on his Falcon Cliff Lodge, 2006, Cashiers, NC which are actually recycled rubber and plastic).  Designs like this reduce landfill trash and make use of products that incorporate reuse of irreplaceable resources.  Rand Soellner Architect also makes use of historic recycled timbers and boards into his Mountain Homes, for a timeless quality that also makes reuse of wood with character.

PROTECTION OF MAJOR GLASS AREAS: Rand also uses major glass and window areas toward the view, which is an inescapable requirement for mountain view homes.  He incorporates large roof overhangs over these areas, to shield them from direct sun, thereby aiding the comfort of the home’s interior spaces while reducing the air-conditioning requirements.

REDUCED MAINTENANCE: Soellner homes also receive a special waterproof roofing underlayment (warranted by the material provider) that protects the sub-surface portions of your roof better than traditional asphaltic felt, for only pennies more per square foot, thereby extending the life of your roof system and structure.  This modest upgrade in cost reaps tremendous benefits years later, when most people would be replacing their roofs, not to mention saved inconvenience.  Rand Soellner has always sought to reduce maintenance of his projects for the owners.

Rand Soellner Architect “Green Architecture” project starting in Cashiers, NC near the Horse Pasture River on private lakes at 100 year-old estate.

This photo illustrates how the Client-Contractor-Architect cooperate together on Green Architecture principles.  The 64” diameter oak tree on the right side has sacred status.  Note the red construction fencing protecting the tree and its roots for a distance nearly equal to its canopy.  This is but one of the ways that Green Architecture principles are at work in our projects every day, preserving our heritage for generations yet to come to enjoy.  This area is part of a large acreage estate that has been in the client’s family for about a century.

Client call from Eagle Mountain Aerie, 4/2007: “I just wanted to thank you for creating this home for me and my family.  I have a very busy and hectic life in Florida, and coming here to North Carolina and being in this home overlooking the trees and lake is wonderfully relaxing and rejuvenating.  Thank you for designing my home.”

Client call from Adirondack Dream, 2006: “My wife and I are finishing moving in furniture and we are, for the first time, sitting where you imagined us to be, months earlier. . . We are seeing the views you framed for us and now understand how you have captured the best of what this site had to offer.  Thank you!”

YOUR REQUIRED FINANCIAL COMMITMENT TO BEING “GREEN”

What are some things you can do in your next house or even in your existing home to save energy and help us all deal with rising fuel costs?  Here are a few ideas:

Healthy Buildings

Ecological  & Healthier Lifestyle

1. BRING YOUR OWN REUSABLE FABRIC GROCERY BAGS: Instead of having your grocer bag your purchases in plastic or even paper bags, bring your own reusable canvas bags.  Some stores (like Ingles in the Western North Carolina, USAarea) sell these for about a dollar each.  Yes, it means you have to spend a little money for something you otherwise would have for free.  There are some benefits.  For one, the canvas bags are larger and you can carry in 2 of them, in what used to be bagged into about 8 plastic bags.  Keep these bags in the back of your vehicle after unpacking your groceries, so they will be there when you need them.  You may find them useful for other items as well, such when buying clothes, office supplies and the like.  Merry and I estimated that we now save about 400 to 600 plastic bags from being manufactured and wasted each year.  Plastic is a petrochemical product, so we figure that our dependence on OPEC has just been reduced a little.  If every American family did what we are doing, this might mean 600 million or more plastic bags a year that will no longer need to be made.  How much oil and energy reserves and demand will that eliminate?  How much pollution from their manufacture?  How much bulk in landfills across our nation?  Hopefully this will catch on with folks around the world.
2. USE A MORE NATURAL DEODORANT: Aluminum-bearing items may affect your tendency to contract Alzheimer’s disease.  It seems that aluminum can collect in our brains and evidently scientists have discovered this in patients contracting the dreaded disease.  Avoid cooking with aluminum pots and pans.  Also, discontinue using underarm deodorants containing aluminum.  This may sound funny, but read the ingredients on your deodorant.  Surprised?  Most contain some form of aluminum derivative.  Lymph nodes are in your armpit area.  Not a good place to be spreading what amounts to liquid aluminum for absorption into your body. 
3. STAY AWAY FROM “PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED” ANYTHING: Merry says that she has seen medical reports that these ingredients combine with things in our bodies that can damage them.  Read labels.  You will find that “Partially Hydrogenated…” (oils typically) are in just about everything.  The reason food manufacturers use so much of it is that it helps foods retain their shape and blending in their packing.  That’s nice for them, bad for you.  Instead of buying peanut butter with this ingredient, select the nuts themselves and run them through the grinder (many stores now offer this option) and make your own organic spread, free of unnecessary additives.  You will find that it is difficult locating foods you like without Partially Hydrogenated…”  It is worth your while to find them or make your own.
4. STAY AWAY FROM FRIED FOODS: fast way to clogged arteries and a heart attack.  It is unfortunate that they taste so good.