TruexCullins Blog

Diantha Korzun named 2012 AIA VT President

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Diantha Korzun, an architect here at TruexCullins, has recently accepted the position of President of the Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Diantha will serve as President of the Vermont AIA for a one-year term, sitting alongside her colleagues on the Board of Directors. These are all volunteer positions, and we very much appreciate the time they all give to support the architectural profession in our state!

Diantha is a key member of the TruexCullins Education Studio with a strong focus on sustainable design. She has successfully managed many educational projects throughout her career, including several international school projects with TruexCullins. She has expertise with the LEED Green Building Rating System, and has served as coordinator for the certification process on workplace and education projects. Diantha is currently managing the expansion of the King Arthur Flour campus in Norwich, and the addition to the Anglo American School of Sofia in Bulgaria, which is pursuing LEED Silver certification.

The biggest event for AIA Vermont this year will be the AIA New England conference and design awards, to be held October 17-19 at the Hilton Hotel in Burlington. This annual conference rotates among the six New England states (7 AIA components since Boston and Western Mass are separate), and 2012 is the year that it will be coming to Vermont. The conference will feature educational workshops, guest speakers, and some insightful tours of area architectural gems. The theme for this year's AIANE conference is "Design for Place," a place-oriented design response to the site, climate, culture and program. The keynote speaker will be Patricia Patkau of Patkau Architects in Vancouver, British Columbia. (see www.patkau.ca/). Likewise, the jury for the AIA New England design awards will be comprised of Vancouver architects, led by Patricia Patkau.

Check back here for more info about the AIANE conference as it gets closer to the date. In the meantime, it looks like it will be an exciting year for AIA Vermont, and we send our congratulations (and appreciation!) to Diantha for stepping up to serve!

TruexCullins awarded International Planning Project

2012-01-19T20:32:00.000-05:00

We are proud to announce that the TruexCullins Education Studio has been awarded the contract for Master Planning at the St. John's International School in Waterloo, Belgium. Competing against top firms from around the world, the TruexCullins team was selected for their expertise in sustainable solutions in school design.

Since 2006, the international practice team at TruexCullins has been working with international schools all over the world, including Russia, Ethiopia and Brazil. At the Anglo-American School of Sofia, Bulgaria, an 80,000 square foot addition designed by TruexCullins is slated to receive LEED Green Building Rating System silver certification in August 2012.

Join us at the Hotel Vermont Ice Bar

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Now that winter has arrived in full force, we are getting ready for the biggest event of the season here in our hometown: the Burlington Winter Festival, coming up on Saturday February 4th. Highlights include a snow-carving competition, the family expo at the ECHO center, and the adrenaline-pumping Penguin Plunge.

But the newest event this year at the Winter Festival is being hosted by our friends at the Hotel Vermont (one of our current projects). This would be the Hotel Vermont ICE BAR. Held outside the Courtyard Marriott at 25 Cherry Street, site of the future Hotel Vermont, the Ice Bar is a unique experience with impressive ice sculptures, great food, and Vermont crafted cocktails.

The Ice Bar will be open for two nights, February 3rd and 4th, from 6 to 9pm. Tickets are needed in advance and cost $20 per person. You know you want to go, so head over to this site and buy your tickets now.

This will be a new experience for Burlington, but there have been plenty of successful Ice Bar events in some of our neighboring cities. Last year the event was held at another TruexCullins project: the Portland Harbor Hotel in Portland, Maine. Check out the scene at the Portland Ice Bar from 2010:

Grutchfield and Nelson Rise to New Leadership Positions

2012-01-11T11:00:00.000-05:00

We are pleased to announce our newest staff promotions.

Lee Grutchfield, AIA, of Marshfield has been named the newest Principal at TruexCullins. Lee joined TruexCullins in 2000 and now leads the firm’s Home Studio. He has over 30 years of experience working on a wide range of projects in Vermont and San Francisco. After first working for 14 years as a builder, Lee has continued to pursue his passion for building design and construction as an award-winning architect. Lee’s recent projects include South Farm Homes, a development of six net-zero energy homes located in Hinesburg, Vermont, and six other net-zero and low-energy homes located throughout Vermont and New York.

Keith Nelson, LEED AP, of Underhill Center has also been named an Associate in the firm. Keith joined TruexCullins in 2002 and has over 15 years of experience in commercial and residential architecture, as well as in interior architectural design. As project manager and designer at TruexCullins, Keith’s noted work includes 4 Currier Place, a LEED Silver certified building, and the La Bella Vita Restaurant and Spa at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine. Current projects include the West Street Hotel in Bar Harbor, Maine and a new guest wing at the Topnotch Resort in Stowe, Vermont.

Lee and Keith are joining Principals Rolf Kielman, David Epstein, Richard Deane, Kim Deetjen, Robert “Sparky” Millikin and associate, Matthew Bushey, as the leadership team at TruexCullins. Congratulations to Lee and Keith!

Sarah Cullins at First Night 2012

2011-12-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

TruexCullins is proud once again to be a sponsor of First Night Burlington. This year, we aresponsoring a performance by soloist Sarah Cullins, daughter of TruexCullins PrincipalEmeritus Tom Cullins.

From the First Night program:

Burlington-native soprano Sarah Cullins is joined byColombian guitarist Daniel Gaviria and Dutch pianist Annemieke Spoelstra for aprogram of songs by Colombian composer Jaime León. León’s songs combine Broadway-stylemelodies, virtuosic accompaniment and Colombian folkloric rhythms, and in thisconcert audiences of all ages will enjoy spirited songs written for childrenand arranged for voice and guitar, as well as beautiful works for voice andpiano frequently performed in concert halls throughout Latin America.

After graduating from New England Conservatory of Music and doing post-graduate work at Mannes College of Music, Sarah Cullins moved to Bogotá, Colombia where she designed and currently heads the voice department at the Universidad Central. She is a frequent soloist with the Colombian National Symphony Orchestra as well as the Bogotá and Medellín Philharmonic Orchestras.

Daniel Gaviria is an up-an-coming classical and latin guitarist who has won several important competitions in Colombia and has participated in the Mannes Guitar Festival. He is also a member of the Vitart Guitar Trio. Pianist Annemieke Spoelstra is well-known to Vermont audiences for her many solo and chamber music concerts (more information about Annemieke can be found in her solo First Night concert listing).

Sarah will be performing at 6:00 at the First BaptistChurch, site #10 on your First Night map. Be sure to check out this and many of the other performances duringFirst Night, a festival of wonderful arts events for all ages. Happy New Year!

David Epstein Elected as VBSR Board Member

2011-12-19T07:00:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to our own DavidEpstein, AIA, who was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the VBSR,Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. A principal at TruexCullins,David is a registered architect with a special focus on sustainable workplaceand education planning and design.

The VBSR is anon-profit, statewide business trade organization with a mission to advancebusiness ethics that value multiple bottom lines: economic, social, andenvironmental. The organization has adiverse business membership that represents all sectors and geographic regionsof Vermont. Collectively VBSR members employ more than 13% of Vermont'sworkforce and generate more than 4 billion dollars in revenue annually.

TruexCullins has been a long-time member of VBSR and we have always been proud to participatein the organization’s outreach and educational events and conferences. We know David is honored to be named to the Board of Directors to servewith his fellow professionals advocating for economic, social and environmentaljustice.

Unassisted Living

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

One of our residential projects has just been published in abook on homes that support the active lifestyles of the aging Baby Boomers generation. Unassisted Living, Ageless Homes for Later Life is a collection of homes that offer analternative to traditional senior housing.

The Shelburne residence by TruexCullins is included as oneof the examples in the book, and is featured on the book’s cover.

This multi-generational residence was the recipient of the2009 Award for Excellence in Architecture by the Vermont chapter of the AIA. It is a home for three generations, with acommon entry that provides separate access to private living spaces for thegrandparents and children.

From the publisher:

Unassisted Living documents the shift away from thesenior housing that promoted disengagement toward architecture and design thatpromote active aging. The book is organized in six sections, corresponding tothe concerns and special interests of Boomers—those who intend to remain in anurban setting, those concerned with sustainability, those with complex familiesand non-traditional households, and those who seek a community based on spiritualityor shared interests.

Boomers are perhaps the largest generational cohort the United States has everseen. Numbering some 78 million people born between 1946 and 1964, Boomers arenot accepting traditional retirement or “senior housing” and are insteaddetermined to remain active and engaged professionally and socially.

The 240-page hardcover book is written by Jeffrey Rosenfeldand Wid Chapman, and published by Monacelli Press. You can purchase it online thru amazon.com orat your favorite local bookseller!

Jericho Fieldhouse

2011-12-12T13:14:00.000-05:00

On Thursday night we attended the 2011 AIA VT Design Awards ceremony andwere pleased to receive a Merit Award for one of our new residentialprojects. This is a home in Jericho thatsits on the edge of a small meadow.

The house is a three-part composition of garage, studio and homeplaced about a parterre garden and edged to the south by a garden wall andlinear orchard. In the tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright, the house is a grid-formedcomposition striving to generate economy from the beautiful elegance of formedgeometry. The structures utilize modest exterior materials to shape atraditional but elemental form in the landscape.

We worked with H. Keith Wagner Partnership on the site plan and landscapedesign. The photos below are by JimWestphalen.

2011 Holiday Party

2011-11-30T08:48:00.001-05:00

We are gearing up for our annual holiday party here at the office. Please join us next Friday, December 9th from 5:30 to 8:30 at our offices on Battery Street in Burlington.

Our holiday celebration this year will include live music, cocktails by Bevo, and creative appetizers and small plates by the Nomatic Chef.

During the party we will be displaying our current and recently completed work from our five design studios, including this new residence in Jericho that was just awarded a 2011 Merit Award for Excellence in Architectural Design by the Vermont chapter of the American Institute of Architects:

So we hope you can join us next Friday to celebrate the season with good food, good friends, and good design!

A Vermont Home

2011-11-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

One of our latest residential projects has just been completed in Stowe, VT.

Designed by Lee Grutchfield, this home is sited in a picturesque wooded landscape. It has an open plan with exposed wood timbers and a double-sided indoor/outdoor fireplace. The adjacent garage is clad with reclaimed barn board siding.

A special thanks goes to the entire project team, including Grist Mill Builders, Artisan Engineering, Thomas Engineering, and interior designer Jessica Carbone. Photos below are by Steve Bronstein.

Hillside Hideaway

2011-11-12T15:24:00.001-05:00

Our work at the Spa at the Casa Madrona Hotel graces the cover of this month's American Spa magazine.

In "Hillside Hideaway", writer Heather Mikesell explains how "a charming Bay area hotel and spa reinvents itself once again to tempt guests with ocean-inspired bliss."

Click the pages below to view the 3-page spread, or go to spatrade.com to read the article online.

Collaboration in the Workplace

2011-11-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

The biggest buzzword in workplace design these days is collaboration. And for good reason: the nature of theworkplace is changing, with an increased focus on teamwork and informalinteraction.

There are many factors driving this change. Younger Gen X and Gen Y workers tend to bemore social, and more comfortable working in groups. Advancements in technology have eliminatedsome of the traditional constraints of space use, such as being tethered to adesk. And organizations everywhere aredealing with an economy that begs for a more productive use of real estate.

Collaboration is not the same thing as attending a formalmeeting. The kind of workplacecollaboration that we are talking about is the spontaneous, informalinteraction that occurs between coworkers at unplanned moments. There is an increased recognition that themost creative problem-solving does not occur by an individual behind closeddoors, but rather by a group effort of people putting their heads together.

Private space for concentrated work is still needed, but thetraditional office and meeting room are increasingly being supplemented by moreflexible, open spaces that allow for spontaneous collaboration.

Here are three examples from some recent projects of ours that we designed to facilitate collaboration in the workplace. For these examples, we will look at three different space types: an open office area; an employee cafeteria; and a pair of nontraditional meeting rooms.

AN ORGANIC PLAN

The conventional office cubicle is not very conducive to groupwork. Partitions are too high forinteracting with your neighbor in any meaningful way, and the repetitive rowsof desks and panels stifle individuality and creativity.

At the Institute for Sustainable Communities, we designed a workplaceenvironment that breaks out of the “cubicles” box and promotes collaboration throughthe creation of “in-between” spaces. (click to enlarge)

The ISC is a global non-profit organization that helpscommunities around the world address environmental, economic and socialchallenges. At their headquarters inMontpelier, we designed an office landscape using new and reused components ina seemingly random pattern. Unlike a conventionalplan, where rows of workstations mean everyone sits facing the same direction,at the ISC the desks are arranged so that each workstation is spatially unique.

This layout accomplishes a few things. By breaking the line of sight and giving eachperson a unique perspective, a certain sense of privacy is achieved, withouthaving to resort to 60” high panels.

The scattered layout also creates plenty of “in-between”spaces that welcome collaboration. Here,it is not necessary to walk into someone’s personal space to speak withthem. And conversely, the spacesin-between do not feel like a regular hallway that says “keep walking”. The in-between spaces are welcoming tosomeone who’d like to pull up a chair or simply ask a question.

The ISC is a non-profit organization, so maximizing theirspace was very important. According to conventionallogic, any plan that varies from a regular grid of cubicles will automaticallybe less efficient. This plan proves thatthis need not be the case. The“irregular” layout here actually provided more seating than what theypreviously had. This is partly due to a moreefficient use of circulation space. Byblurring the edges around the workstations, we were able to “steal” theadjoining circulation space and claim it for dedicated workspace.

I also love how organic this plan seems, a fitting attributefor a group that at its most basic level is helping communities grow.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Collaboration doesn’t have to occur at your desk or in ameeting room. In fact, the interactions that often yield the most creativeresults are those that happen unexpectedly, when two or more people exchangeideas while in a social setting such as a café or cafeteria.

It can also be most beneficial when people collaborate with othersoutside of their own working group. Comingtogether with people from different areas of a company can lead to a morecomplete and thought-out solution to a problem.(We see this also in educational institutions with the rise ofinterdisciplinary studies.)

TruexCullins recently served as the design architects forthe new company headquarters of the Sabra Dipping Company. Their new LEED Silver-certified headquartersin Colonial Heights, Virginia employs 260 people in administration, researchand development, and manufacturing. Thefacility includes office space, manufacturing and packaging, and a kitchen labwhere they test new flavors of hummus, salsa, and dips.

So where is the one place that everyone can come together,regardless of whether they work in the offices, the labs, or on the factory floor? The company cafeteria.

The Sabra cafeteria is designed to be welcoming. There is no door. The layout of the corridor and the design ofthe materials on the floor and walls naturally lead you in to the space.

In fact, the cafeteria beckons you as soon as you enter the building. When entering the front reception area,guests and employees are met with a filtered view into the café through a glassdisplay wall. These shelves are linedwith canisters of colorful ingredients that are used in Sabra products.

Once inside the cafeteria, a variety of seating optionsallow for different kinds of casual meetings. The space is flooded with natural light, and the colors and forms makethis a lively, engaging space. Thecurves inscribed into the marmoleum floor are a reference to the curves in theSabra logo, reinforcing the company’s brand.

A curved bar with seating is located at the head of theroom, which doubles as a presentation counter. This was designed to accommodate cooking demonstrations which would betelevised. Lighting, background materials,and camera angles were all considered. Overall, it is an active, engaging, multi-purpose space thatpromotes collaboration among all Sabra employees and their guests.

ROOMS WITH A VIEW

The most valuable real estate in a commercial building hastraditionally been the corner office. With views in two directions, this is a space that has status, prestige,and is usually beyond the reach of all but the top executives in a company.

The last of our three examples of workplace collaboration isfrom a tenant fit-up project for a local financial management firm. Their new offices are currently underconstruction in a downtown building on the top floor. The best real estate in this building isalong the western side, with floor-to-ceiling storefront glazing that overlooksLake Champlain. And of these spacesfacing the lake, the best of the best are at the two corners, with sweepingpanoramic views and direct access to outdoor rooftop terraces.

But instead of reserving these rooms for private offices,both corners are made available for everyone to use, consciously designed tofoster collaboration, where people can be free and unburdened to work togetherdynamically.

At the northwest corner, the Library is a room for bothprivate concentration and small group meetings. This is a casual space with comfortableseating, dimmable lighting, and a stone fireplace with built-in wood caseworkon each side for books and reference materials. It is a quiet space that offers a retreat from the main office. And with an all-glass façade and doors thatopen out to a rooftop terrace, it will surely become a destination for everyonewho works here.

Rooms like this are important for informal meetings, whereworkers may feel they can discuss things more freely than in a formal meeting. And because it is a non-scheduled space,people can come together in a relaxed environment at a moment’s notice.

The counterpoint to this space is the “team room” at thesouthwest corner of the building. In thisroom, eight people work together around a peninsula-shaped table. A large LCD display is mounted to the wall atthe head of the table. Through the useof special A/V equipment that is built into the table, each person can take thecontents of their laptop or tablet and flip it up on to the big screen to sharewith the group. There is not a singlemoderator or presenter here. Rather,everyone comes to the table with an equal voice, made possible through both thetechnology and the physical design of the room and furniture.

There are a couple good off-the-shelf options available thatprovide systems like this. For thisproject, we brought together a Vermont furniture maker – Lyndon Furniture –with a local audio/visual company – Geer Sound – to come up with a customsolution.

A NEW WORKPLACE

All three of these examples deal with workplacecollaboration in their own way, but they are all reflections of how theworkplace today is changing. As a resultof worker demographics, advancements in technology, and ongoing economicchallenges, the office landscape is evolving to allow for more unencumbered andproductive group collaboration.

Interior Design for the Undead

2011-10-24T07:00:00.000-04:00

This Halloween, we have reason to be a little more frightenedthan normal. You see, TruexCullinsInteriors has been tasked with renovating a haunted mansion.

The property that is the focus of our attention is a hotelthat features a Victorian mansion dating to 1885. So as not to scare the tourists (and to keepthe search engines away), we won’t mention the specific name of this hotel,but if you follow our work, you can probably figure it out.

As legend has it, a young girl who lived in the house duringthe 1800s died unexpectedly from an illness. Her spirit now resides in room 317. The former owners of the hotel brought in professional ghost hunters andconfirmed the presence of supernatural spirits. (They then proceeded to offer a “spooky package” to their guests,complete with Ouija Board.)

When we were there, old photos of the original residents stillhung on the walls, showing the family before the tragic accident. If you’re a believer, don’t fret: there areplenty of other beautiful, non-haunted rooms of the hotel that you can book foryour next stay.

The former owner of the property produced the following videothat tells the story of the haunted hotel room. His account of the ghost starts at 1:38.

The program for the renovated mansion is still being workedout, but regardless of what the exact function turns out to be, you can be sureit will be a magnificently unique space, a crown jewel for the hotel with somuch history and meaning.

And we will be sure to specify a full spirit abatement programwith the renovation work.

Camp for a Day

2011-10-19T22:06:00.000-04:00

Each year, our office closes its doors for a day for astaff-wide field trip. Typically, weventure out to visit notable works of architecture around New England, or visitsome of our own recently completed projects.

This year, in response to the widespread damage from thespring flooding and later from Hurricane Irene, we decided to forgo the annualfield trip and instead spend a day volunteering our time for some of ourneighbors in need.

So on Tuesday we headed to Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a Vermont summercamp for kids with cancer. Ta-Kum-Ta isan independent, non-profit organization that completely relies on donations andvolunteer labor so they can offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences to all theirchildren tuition-free.

In 2008, the camp moved from their previous home at CampHoly Cross on Malletts Bay to their current location in South Hero. It is a wonderful place to be, with over 150acres, a cluster of new buildings, and a quintessentially Vermont viewencompassing fields, farms, mountains and lake.

While there, we worked in the gardens, the fields, and thecabins. We did our little part to help,but in the end, we probably got more out of it than they did. It’s impossible not to be affected by thepositive energy you feel from being at this place.

To learn more about the camp and how you can help, visit www.takumta.org.

In this spirit of lending a helping hand to our neighbors, weare also looking forward to more community action this weekend. Governor Shumlin has declared this Saturday,October 22nd to be Vermont Clean-Up Day. This is a statewide day of volunteering toassist communities affected by Tropical Storm Irene.

Clean-Up Day is modeled after the state’s springtimeGreen-Up Day, and is similarly planned to become an annual event. You can find additional information and learnhow to help at www.vtcleanup.org.

12th Annual Roland Batten Lecture: Line, Form, & Texture

2011-10-13T21:49:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, October 26th, please join us forthe 12th Annual Roland Batten Memorial Lecture on Architecture andDesign. Landscape architect H. KeithWagner will present “Line, Form & Texture”, a brief survey of recent worksby H. Keith Wagner Partnership.

The presented projects will show recent examples of thefirm’s design approach and collaborative strategies working with architects,engineers, artists and, other design professionals.

HKWP was founded on the belief that landscape architectureis the intersection of art, nature and mankind. They approach landscapearchitecture as an applied art form and work to craft landscape spaces forlive, work and play. Their design combines an artistic approach to material anddetailing, regional sensitivity and a refined, almost minimal contemporaryaesthetic.

The firm’s reputation comes from designing innovative andsensitive environments in a wide variety of campus, corporate, residential,resort and urban design projects. Geographically, these projects range from NewEngland, New York, Pennsylvania and the Eastern seaboard.

The Roland BattenLecture series was created in memory of our friend and colleague architectRoland Batten. This event is sponsored by the Roland Batten Memorial Fund,TruexCullins Architecture & Interior Design, and the University of Vermont's Visiting Artists, Art Critics and ArtHistorians Lecture Series.

The lecture is onWednesday, October 26th at 6pm at 301 Williams Hall on theUniversity of Vermont campus. The eventis free and open to the public.

In Memoriam: the Vermont Law School Gazebo

2011-10-05T07:00:00.000-04:00

Consider this the first obituary we have had to write forthe TruexCullins blog.

The gazebo on the edge of the Oakes Hall parking lot at the VermontLaw School campus was a humble, intimate structure designed for individuals to peacefullyreflect and quietly ponder their place in the natural environment. It was an expression of material, craft andassembly, executed as a simple shelter from the elements.

On the morning of August 29th, the White River racedthrough South Royalton, overflowing its banks from the forces of HurricaneIrene. The town of South Royaltonsuffered $10 million in damages from the storm, with bridges and roads washedout and people’s homes ravaged by the rising floodwaters. The Vermont Law School thankfully avoided majordamage to their campus, but one unfortunate casualty of the storm was ourlittle Gazebo.

The demise of the wood structure was caught on camera inthis dramatic video. The gazebo is shown hereeerily floating down the river, posted to YouTube by someone obviously aware ofthe irony in the situation, as they titled the piece: “Symbolic Bridge toNature returning to its natural habitat”

The Gazebo at the Vermont Law School was designed by RolfKielman, who also led the historic renovation and addition to the nearby DebevoiseHall. In 2006, the VLS Gazebo wasawarded the AIAVermontExcellencein Architecture Design Award for a Small Project. The jury thought the project had “charm,pure, simple elegance” and was “very inviting”.

Luckily we had the project documented atthe time by our friend Jim Westphalen. Hereare some more photos of the Gazebo that until recently lived at Vermont LawSchool:

Solar Decathlon Review, day 3: Our Favorites

2011-09-30T00:36:00.000-04:00

This Sunday, October 2nd is the final day for publicviewing of the 19 student-built solar-powered homes of the Solar Decathlon onthe National Mall. The excitement isbuilding as the points are adding up and a winner is coming into focus. Tomorrow, Saturday Oct 1st, thewinner will be announced, the team that has accrued the most points across the10 categories in fields such as architecture, engineering, energy andaffordability.

Many of the houses incorporate some of the technologies andgreen design strategies that I described in yesterday’s post, but the besthouses are the ones that bring it all together beautifully. Here are 3 of our favorites:

LIVING LIGHT by the University of Tennessee

This house is based on the cantilever barns of SouthernAppalachia, with an open plan anchored by a dense core at each end. But the real intelligence is in the envelope.

The all-glass north and south elevations consist of a 16”thick double-façade system, with a fixed plane of glass on the exterior,alternating fixed glass and full-height casement windows on the interior, andinternal blinds. In the winter, the airspace within the south-facing façade collects heat that is directed to an ERV,supplying the home with preheated air. In the summer months, the system works in reverse, drawing fresh airfrom the north façade by the ERV and pre-cooling it before it hits the ductlessmini-split units. Exhaust air isdirected through the south façade to cool the cavity and reduce heat gain.

Energy is generated from a 10.9 kW rooftop array ofcylindrical PV panels. Look closely: those are cylindrical tubes that make up thecanopy over the south façade. Thin-filmPVs are wrapped around these tubes, collecting sunlight from any angle. There is no need to worry about the correctangle of the panels here, since the cylinders absorb sunlight from alldirections.

You can get more info on the University of Tennessee solarhouse from the project website, livinglightutk.com, including some greatdetailed descriptions and explanations of the smart façade, roof top array, andmore, at: livinglightutk.com/smartsystems/

WATERSHED by the University of Maryland

This house is all about the conservation and management ofour water resources. Coming from theChesapeake Bay area, the students of the University of Maryland drewinspiration from the 64,000 square mile Chesapeake Bay watershed and havedesigned a house that addresses the storm water issues that threaten thisfragile ecosystem.

The form of the house is defined by two rectangular moduleswith a split-butterfly roof. A 9.2 kW solarPV array covers one side, and a green roof tops the other. Rainwater is captured from the roof anddirected to a series of captured wetlands, where the water is naturallyfiltered by plants until it can be pumped out for reuse as irrigationwater. Greywater from the shower is alsodirected to the constructed wetlands for reuse.

Finishes include thermo-treated exterior wood siding ofpoplar and ash, and recycled concrete countertops.

This is the 4thtime the University of Maryland has competed in the Solar Decathlon, and theirexperience is paying off: as of this writing, they are currently in 1stplace.

More information on WaterShed can be found at the Universityof Maryland project website, 2011.solarteam.org.

SELF RELIANCE by Middlebury College

This is the first year that a Vermont school is competing inthe Solar Decathlon, and as a Vermont architect, I’m happy to say thatMiddlebury College has put up an impressive first showing.

The Middlebury house, dubbed Self Reliance, is a modern takeon the traditional Vermont farmhouse. Ithits so many of the themes we all associate with the Vermont lifestyle: naturalmaterials, sustainable food production, and family-friendly spaces.

Wood floors were harvested from Sugar Maple trees on theMiddlebury campus. The kitchen floorand island countertop is made of local Vermont slate. And the children’s bedroom furniture is madeby our friend Lincoln Brown of Modern Vermont.

While most of the other houses on the Mall covered everypossible surface with spray foam insulation, Middlebury came out firmly againstthe stuff and instead went with a completely cellulose-insulated envelope. They explained their approach this way: “Conventional insulations such as fiberglassor spray-in foam contain particles hazardous to all forms of life. They arealso non-biodegradable and require tremendous amounts of oil and energy toprocess. On the other hand … Celluloseinsulation is safe, low-energy, cheap, and – most importantly – natural.”

Self Reliance is focused on personal, sustainable foodproduction. A greenhouse wall in thekitchen is not much more than a system of shelves for growing potted vegetablesand herbs, but it is centrally located and promotes home-grown healthy eating. By making this such a prominent feature ofthe house, the students are trying to highlight the connection between localfood production and energy use.

This is a very family-friendly house, designed for a familyof four, with a division of public and private spaces. Most of the other schools seem to strugglewith the space constraints of the competition, designing homes under 1,000square feet with murphy beds, movable walls, and multi-purpose spaces. Many don’t even have real bedrooms. The Middlebury house actually has TWObedrooms, and a play loft accessible by a metal ladder.

Middlebury is doing very well for this being their firsttime in the Solar Decathlon. They scored 4th in the prominent Architecture category, and came in 1stplace for “Home Entertainment”. This isone of those categories that aims to show that these are real, livable homes,so the students had to throw a movie night and 2 dinner parties. They probably won due to the delicious localvore mealthey prepared, which their guests praised as being very “Vermonty”.

On Wednesday, Metropolis Magazine called Self-Reliance one of“the two most striking projects at the Decathlon”. They described it as “a warm andstraightforward modern version of a traditional New England home thatbeautifully uses native Vermont materials.”

You can read more about Self Reliance on the MiddleburyCollege project website, solardecathlon.middlebury.edu

Congratulations to the Middlebury team and to all the teamsat the Solar Decathlon, and good luck tomorrow as the grand prize winner isannounced!

Solar Decathlon Review, day 2: Products and Process

2011-09-29T00:24:00.000-04:00

There are a wide range of projects at the Solar Decathlon,where schools from 13 U.S. States and 5 countries are each building their ownversion of the ideal net-zero energy solar powered home.

The houses are built for different climates, cultures, anduser groups, depending on the location and type of school competing. But one thing is common for all the teams: they have spent a lot of their own energyresearching the best products and developing new design strategies for solarpowered buildings. I go to the SolarDecathlon to discover what the future holds, and I found plenty of new green productsand design features. Here are my TopTen:

1. Bi-facialsolar panels: These solar panels collectenergy from both sides, collecting direct sunlight from above as well asreflected light from below. It is one ofthe newest types of solar panels to hit the market, generating up to 30% morepower.

The Solar Homestead by Appalachian State University made the most of thistechnology, with a huge outdoor space covered with a canopy of bi-facial solarpanels set within a beautiful wood structure. Every team distributed “take-aways” or brochures to those people waitingin line to tour the houses, and Appalachian State had a real clever way of tyingtheir marketing materials into the design of the solar array. Their brochure folded up into an origami hat,with a reflective silver exterior. Ascrowds of people walked beneath the bi-facial solar canopy, light was reflectedoff their silver heads back up to the panels above, generating more energy, potentiallypushing Appalachian State over the finish line.

2. Smarthome controls: It became apparentpretty quickly what really set this competition apart from previous years: the iPad. Home automation systems were all the rage this year, with iPads, smartphones, HDTVs, and even a hacked Xbox Kinect providing a greater level ofcontrol of all the home’s systems. Manyof the teams wrote their own apps, controlling everything from the lights tothe heating and cooling systems. TheSciArc/CalTech team developed a system that provided real-time energy use and controlledthe shades. The University of Illinois hada very impressive high-density display that even told you which windows wereopen.

3. ERVs: When you live in a very tight super-insulatedhome, mechanical ventilation becomes necessary to provide enough fresh air toall the habitable spaces. EnergyRecovery Ventilators take the heat energy from the exhaust air (in the winter)and transfers it to the incoming fresh air. (or the reverse in summer) Most homes in the Solar Decathlon utilized anERV, instead of the alternative: an HRV, or Heat Recovery Ventilator. An HRV also exchanges heat energy betweenincoming and outgoing air streams, but an ERV has the added benefit of transferringmoisture in the air. By reducing thehumidity level of the incoming air on this hot and humid September week inWashington, less demand was placed on the air conditioning systems, saving moreenergy.

4. Liquiddessicant dehumidification: A coupleof the houses sported decorative indoor water fountains that were more thanjust pretty pieces of art. The Universityof Maryland developed an innovative Liquid Dessicant Waterfall system (patentpending) that uses a high-saline solution to absorb humidity from the air,reducing the load on the mini-split air conditioners. The transfer of moisture happens vertically withinthis glass box and is displayed prominently as a design feature in the room.

5. Home-grownfood: Many of the schools exploredthe true meaning of sustainability by providing a way for their occupants togrow and harvest their own food. Normally this wouldn’t play into the energy-focused categories of theSolar Decathlon, but this year’s competition included a Home Entertainmentcategory, in which each team had to throw 2 dinner parties for theirneighbors. This was a chance for theteams to show off their home-grown foods.

The New York team oriented its kitchen directly opposite large glassdoors that open onto the outdoor roof garden, for easy picking at mealtime. Thegarden produces about 190 pounds of vegetables, about half of the resident’sannual consumption.

The Middlebury College house features a green wall in the kitchen andoutdoor planters for growing vegetables and herbs. In lieu of a brochure, visitors to the housereceived a packet of seeds.

The University of Maryland used composted waste as nutrients for foodproduction in their vegetable and vertical gardens.

6. Phasechange materials: In order tominimize unwanted solar gain, phase change materials [PCMs] are used to storeheat energy and slowly release it at night. At the Solar Homestead byAppalachian State University, a modern Trombe wall consists of a plant oilmixture contained in a series of vertical fins. In the evening, energy stored in these PCMs is released as the waxresolidifies and transfers its heat to the house.

In the mechanical room, phase change materials are also used to captureand store energy from a solar thermal skylight. The hot water-glycol mix from the solar thermal system runs through tanksof paraffin wax, which stores about 50,000 BTUs of energy. This setup replaces a traditional waterheater.

7. Adaptablefurniture: By the nature of thecompetition, smaller houses have an advantage because they contain less cubicspace to heat and cool. But each househas to include the required spaces and amenities. As a result, the students tend to come upwith some clever space-saving solutions. We saw sliding walls, pivoting panels,and adaptable furniture.

SciArc and CalTech designed a family of upholstered lounge seating thatnests like a puzzle into the wall when not in use. The University of Tennessee house featured aretractable bed that disappeared up into the living room wall cabinet. And the University of Maryland house had adining table that folded open into a bed.

8. Micro-inverters: With a solar PV array, an inverter is neededto convert the DC-current that is produced by the solar panels into thestandard AC-current that is used in the home. Typically, a single inverter is used with awhole array of panels, but if one of the panels is shaded or dirty, its limitedoutput will be reflected in the whole system. Micro inverters are used so that each panel can operate at its maximumcapacity. Many of the schools used microinverters, with one connected to every individual panel. In this setup, each panel operates at its ownpeak level.

9. WaterReuse: The collection, treatment,and reuse of rainwater and greywater is an important aspect of many of thehouses.

The outdoor planters of the SciArc / CalTech house are connected to thegreywater system and are automatically watered based on weather forecastdata. WaterShed by the University ofMaryland is designed with two sloping roofs that direct rainwater to aconstructed wetland, where it is stored and filtered for reuse for irrigation.

10. PV solarshading: Rather than being contentto apply their solar panels to their roof, some of the teams elected to holdthem off the house, creating secondary structures. The University of Tennessee and Team Massachusetts both created solar canopies in front oftheir buildings, which provided a shaded area outside, and cut down on direct solargain hitting the windows of the front façade. By removing the PV panels from direct contact with the roof, this also allowsfor ventilation on all sides. This keepsthe panels cooler and lets them operate more efficiently.

The best houses in the Solar Decathlon incorporated many ofthese products and features, and did so with consistency, harmony, and beauty.

There are only 2 days left until the final winner isannounced. To learn more about all theteams and follow the current rankings, go to solardecathlon.gov.

Tomorrow I’ll wrap up my review of the Solar Decathlon with ashorter list of my overall favorites.

Solar Decathlon Review, day 1: Market Appeal

2011-09-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

I just returned from the Solar Decathlon in Washington DC,where 19 teams of college and university students are competing to design andbuild the best energy-efficient house powered by the sun. Each school has constructed their home on themall, a net-zero building between 600 and 1,000 square feet.

This is the fifth US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon,and there are a few noticeable differences since it first started in 2002. The biggest change is the location. Previously located on the main stretch of theNational Mall, under the shadow of the Washington Monument, the event this yearwas relocated to a slightly more remote location, on the edge of the Tidal Basinnear the FDR Memorial. (The Park Serviceclaimed the construction vehicles were destroying the grass. Jeesh!) But being off the beaten path didn’t seem to do anything to keep the crowdsaway, as long lines began forming by early afternoon on this overcast Saturday.

The other major changes to this year’s Solar Decathlon haveto do with the structure of the competition itself. Each house is measured or judged in thefollowing 10 categories:

Architecture
Market Appeal
Engineering
Communications
Affordability
Comfort Zone
Hot Water
Appliances
Home Entertainment
Energy Balance

It seems the Department of Energy has an agenda this year tospread the message that going ‘green’ is affordable and within reach, sothey’ve tweaked the rules a bit to appeal to the skeptical American homeowner.

One of the students on site explained to me that at the 2009 Solar Decathlon, the winning German team spent $1.2 million on their house,covering every possible surface with PVs to maximize their energyproduction. Up until now, students were rewarded forproducing surplus energy beyond net-zero. Each team was given an electric car to drive around town on the surplusenergy they produced, racking up miles and points.

In response to the excessive spending, a few changes weremade that alter the focus of the event. First off, a new category was added this year: Affordability.

Each house is assessed by a construction estimator, and ifthe total cost comes in below $250,000, the team is awarded the full 100 pointsin that category. As the cost goes up,the number of points are reduced, down to zero points awarded for a cost ofover $600,000.

In addition, there are no longer any rewards for producingsurplus energy beyond that which the houses consume. At previous Decathlons, the houses wereoff-the-grid, so each home relied on a large bank of batteries to store extraenergy. This year, there were no batteriesin sight. A miniature utility grid wasconstructed on site, and no additional points were awarded for energy producedbeyond net-zero.

Closely related to affordability is “Market Appeal”. In this category, each team determines whotheir target market is, and their house is judged on its livability,constructability, and “curb appeal”.

One of the most often asked questions is where the housewill be when the competition ends. Oneof the teams chose to leverage the affordability aspect and design their housefor a family in need through Habitat for Humanity. The Empowerhouse is a joint venture of Parsonsthe New School for Design and Stevens Institute of Technology.

Another school, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,has designed their house as a rapid-response emergency solution for areasaffected by natural disasters. The Re-homecan be deployed quickly as an affordable, self-powered source ofshelter for those left homeless.

The most unique approach I found to market appeal wasfrom the City College of New York. TheirSolar Roofpod is designed to be placed atop an existing mid-rise urbanbuilding, taking advantage of underutilized roof space and feeding energy toits host building below.

But enough about affordability and market appeal. Let’s talk about what we really look for inthe Solar Decathlon: technological innovation,creative solutions, and new products that have been exhaustively researched andfully vetted by passionate students out to change the world. Big solutions to the big problem of globalclimate change.

Tomorrow I will share some of these new products and creativestrategies that I found at the Solar Decathlon for making a better net-zerosolar powered home.

Announcing Hotel Vermont

2011-09-22T00:20:00.000-04:00

Last night we were thrilled to join Governor Peter Shumlin, Commerce Secretary Lawrence Miller, and local developers JayCanning and Chuck DesLauriers as they announced thestart of construction for the new 126-room Hotel Vermont.

Kim Deetjen and the TruexCullins Interiors studio has teamedup with Israel Smith of Smith Buckley Architects to design the new hotel, namedafter the original Hotel Vermont that first opened its doors to guests on thecorner of Main Street and St. Paul Street.

The new Hotel Vermont is located on Cherry Street, halfwaybetween the Church Street Marketplace and the Burlington waterfront. The hotel is being built with the goal ofLEED Silver certification, and will be Burlington’s first LEED certifiedhotel.

The hotel lobbyfeatures a wood-burning fireplace, a granite-clad central core, and natural materialssuch as reclaimed antique red oak flooring. From here, you can step up to Juniper Lounge, which will serve coffee,cocktails, and small plates throughout the day. The bar opens to an outdoor terrace with an open hearth, overlooking theBurlington waterfront and a green roof garden.

The ground floor will also include a new Hen of the WoodRestaurant, featuring the farm-to-table cuisine of chef Eric Warnstedt. Chef Warnstedt is the executive chef and co-ownerof the current Hen of the Wood Restaurant in Waterbury, widely regarded as oneof the best restaurants in the state.

Calling last night’s event a groundbreaking ceremony wouldbe a little inaccurate, as not a shovel was in sight. We do things a littledifferently in Vermont, so instead of tossing a small mound of dirt for thecameras, the Governor performed a ritual watering of a Cherry tree to signifythe commercial growth that the hotel will bring to Cherry Street.

The stars that really stole the evening, however, wereMortimer and Mauve, the 2 pigs who go by the title of “Senior Global BrandAmbassadors”. Mortimer and Mauve are thecompany mascots of WhistlePig Farm Distillery, makers of 100 proof WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey. WhistlePig Whiskeyis bottled by hand at WhistlePig Farm right here in Vermont’s Champlain Valleyand available in select markets in New York, Illinois, and California. At last night’s event it was served up in “carbonnegative” cocktails with ingredients that balance our carbon footprint.

The pigs milling among the crowd were a great reminder ofwhat can be expected from Hotel Vermont whenit opens for business in April 2013: employing world-renowned Vermont companies and artisans; using made-in-Vermont materials and products; and serving locally grown and produced food and beverages to tell the Hotel Vermont story. Itwill be a place for travelers that provides a truly unique and authentic “Vermont”experience, exuding comfort and casual warmth.

Stay tuned for more details as the project develops over the coming year!

Lead-up to the Solar Decathlon, Part 2

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

At the Solar Decathlon, which opens this Friday on thenational mall, 19 teams of college and university students will be competing in 10 categories tosee who can design, build and operate the most energy-efficient and beautifully designed solar-powered home.

What makes the Solar Decathlon so successful is that it is acompetition between teams of college and university students. The fact that it is a competition is a great motivator to maintain the level of energyneeded for a project that takes about 2 years to develop and hundreds ofthousands of dollars in fundraising. Once on site, the competition aspect adds alevel of excitement that unfolds a little bit each day as points are awardedand a winner emerges.

That these houses are designedand built by college students is key to the role of the Solar Decathlon as aforward-looking research project on emerging green design and construction methods. (It's also a great way to engage the public to be able to connect with your alma mater, or to the school in yourcommunity.)

The Solar Decathlon is more than a showcase of current technologies... it is more than a home show. After a long process of research, design, development,funding and construction, the competing teams often discover new solutionsand develop new building methods for creating better, more comfortable and energyefficient homes.

Past Solar Decathlons have led to patents on new buildingproducts, and past Solar Decathlon teams have gone on to create architecturefirms to continue their work that they started here.

This year, Middlebury College is competing as the firstVermont school to enter the Solar Decathlon and the first ever liberal artscollege to enter the competition alone. From the looks of things, they are going to face some stiff competition.

There are a few teams that I will be especially interestedin when I’m on the Mall this weekend. One of these is the University of Tennessee, which has designed a housethey call “Living Light”. As you can seein their video walkthrough, the Living Light has a double-glazed façadewith an inner air space that is used to help heat and cool the interior. The house’s PV modules are cylindrical,something I haven’t seen before, designed to absorb more of the sun’s rays.

What makes the event so interesting is the range of very different approaches that each team takes. Some schools opt to fitup a conventional home with solar panels to show that these technologies arewithin reach for the average homeowner. Other teams choose to push the envelope and think totallyout-of-the-box, disregarding cost or “market appeal”, in favor of innovationand invention.

One team in this latter category this year is the jointeffort of SciArc and CalTech. Their house –CHIP – is forward-leaning, futuristic and puffy. (yes, puffy.) In this house, you use an iPad app tocontrol the home’s systems and an Xbox Kinect to turn off the lights.

Other schools competing this year include Purdue, the CityCollege of New York, UMass Lowell, Ohio State, and Team Florida. International teams are coming from NewZealand, Canada, Belgium, and China.

At past Solar Decathlons, students have built houses with soy-based SIPs, reclaimed shipping containers, and polycarbonate facades filledwith translucent aerogel. Homes reduced their energy consumption with radiantcooling panels, phase-change materials, and ERVs with silica-gel rotary wheels. Landscapes were irrigated with greywatersystems, facades were clad with copper sheets, and electric cars zipped around townon the surplus energy that was harvested from the sun.

In fact, the houses contained so many innovative featuresand materials that they were often criticized for being too expensive for theaverage homeowner. So this year, the listof 10 categories that comprise the Decathlon was modified slightly to include anew one: affordability.

In addition to displaying financial solvency, the studentsare judged on architectural design, engineering, and energy balance. They have to boil water, run the dishwasher,and throw a movie night on the wide-screen TV.

It’s all an effort to show that these are real houses ready for widespreadconsumption.

Lead-up to the Solar Decathlon, Part 1

2011-09-19T08:40:00.000-04:00

Posted by Matthew Bushey

This week marks the much-anticipated kickoff of the fifth U.S.Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition, held on the National Mall inWashington D.C. The event pits 20 teamsof college students against each other to see who can design, build and operatethe most energy-efficient, comfortable, healthy, affordable and beautiful solar-poweredhome.

From Sept 23^rd until Oct 2^nd, 19 homeswill be built on the Mall and opened to the public for tours (the University ofHawaii dropped out). These are realhomes, typically 800 to 1,000 square feet, that draw all of their energy fromthe sun.

I attended the first Solar Decathlon in 2002, and went againto the second one in 2005, to see firsthand the innovative designs and newtechnologies that these kids had come up with.This year, I will be returning to D.C. once again to see the SolarDecathlon, with a renewed sense of urgency, interest, and excitement.

Three weeks ago, Vermont was rocked by massive floods thatcaused widespread damage and attracted national attention. It seemed we had just recovered from thespring floods and were taken by surprise by Tropical Storm Irene. Elsewhere in the country, droughts arelasting for months on end and wildfires are burning at an unprecedented rate. They say this is the ‘new normal’. Warmer oceans are feeding stronger hurricanes,and the changing climate is leading to destructive weather patterns thatthreaten all of us. With each passingyear it becomes more evident that we need to speed up our efforts to power ourbuildings from renewable energy sources that decrease our greenhouse gas emissions.

The Solar Decathlon is showing the way. For a quick description of the event, checkout this Welcome and Overview video by the DOE:

This year, a Vermont school is participating in the SolarDecathlon for the first time. Middlebury College is on the Mall right now, assembling their first Solar Decathlon house,a 2-bedroom, 1,000 square foot home they call “Self-Reliance”. Unlikemany of their competitors, Middlebury College does not have an accreditedarchitecture program. In fact,Middlebury is the first ever liberal arts college to enter the Solar Decathlonalone. Its team consists of over 85students from a variety of disciplines, working on the design, construction,and communication of Self Reliance.

I am really looking forward to seeing this house firsthand duringthe competition on the National Mall. Check it out here:

For more information on the Solar Decathlon, visit theofficial website at www.solardecathlon.gov.You can also follow the events onthe solar decathlon facebook page, or on this here TruexCullins blog for morereports from a Vermonter’s perspective.

Stowe Home Tour 2011

2011-09-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

We are happy to be a sponsor again this year of the Stowe Home Tour, a great event that occurs each fall, scheduled to coincide with the peak of the foliage season in Vermont.

This year, the tour features 4 homes, including the 2011 HGTV Dream Home. The other homes on the tour include an Adirondack-style Great Camp, an historic 1840s Farm House, and a Ski Getaway.

The event is Saturday, October 1st, 2011, from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm and is a fundraiser for the Helen Day Art Center, a community arts and education non-profit organization in Stowe, VT.

For more info and to purchase tickets for the home tour, visit www.helenday.com/hometour2011

4 Currier Place grabs LEED Silver

2011-09-13T08:12:00.000-04:00

AnotherTruexCullins project has achieved LEED status! This time, it is 4 Currier Place, a 35,000 square foot mixed-usecommercial building in Hanover, New Hampshire. This project, built for Dartmouth College Real Estate, has achieved LEEDSilver certification for Core & Shell construction by the USGBC.

4 Currier Place is a three-story core & shelldevelopment that was built as the first phase of the Sargent Block redevelopmentmasterplan in downtown Hanover. Sustainabledesign goalswere established early in the design process so that sensible and costeffective green strategies could be employed. The project is now a model for resource efficient, high performancecommercial buildings in the region.

From the very beginning of the project, green goalswere identified by the owner as a priority for this commercial development. LEED certification was pursued because thisrating system provides a comprehensive checklist for green objectives as wellas third party verification that the design is being implemented correctly.

4 Currier Place achieves a high level of energyefficiency through a number of methods:

The building features ahigh-performance exterior envelope to minimize heat transfer and therefore reduceelectrical and fuel demand.

Daylighting and views are maximizedwhile sun control devices are used to control solar gain and glare. Lightfixtures are dimmable in response to daylight conditions, and occupancy sensorsare used that turn off the lights when the spaces are not in use.

Innovative mechanical systemsare used to minimize energy consumption, including heating, cooling, and ventilationsystems.

Water conservation strategiesare employed throughout the building and the surrounding site. Plumbingfixtures are highly efficient to conserve water, and the landscaping incorporatesnative species that require little or no irrigation.

Other aspects of the design also contributed toits LEED Silver certification:

The project provides for thehealth and comfort of its occupants through the use of non-toxic materials andfinishes, excellent ventilation, appropriate daylighting and views, and properacoustical separation of spaces. Indoor climate control provides a comfortable workingenvironment in all seasons, although extreme cooling in summer is not required.

The project utilizes resource-efficientmaterials. Not only were durable materials employed, but also materials thatrequire minimal energy to produce and maintain. Many materials were producedlocally or regionally, and many have a high-recycled content.

And what may be the simplestbut most important green aspect of 4 Currier Place: the project is attractive and durable so thatit will be around for many generations to come. A well-designed building is agood neighbor to the existing buildings around it and makes a positive contributionto the downtown fabric of Hanover, New Hampshire.

Westphalen Photography at the Art Hop

2011-09-05T04:00:00.000-04:00

Join us this Friday, Sept 9th, at Vermont's largest visual arts event ... the South End Art Hop!

We are excited to be participating in the Art Hop again this year with an exhibit of architectural and landscape photography by our good friend Jim Westphalen. If you're out Hopping on Friday night, please do stop by our offices at 209 Battery Street - Art Hop site # 52 - and check out the show during the opening reception. Our office will be open again on Saturday, and the photos will remain up for public viewing throughout the month of September.

Jim is a Vermont-based professional photographer who specializes in interiors, architecture and photography for the hospitality industry. His images appear regularly in fine shelter and garden publications such as Design New England, Fine Homebuilding, Better Homes and Gardens, and many more. You can see samples of his work at www.jimwestphalen.com.

After you check out Jim's show at our office on Friday night, head down Pine Street for the rest of the Art Hop action. The Art Hop is a product of SEABA, the South End Arts and Business Association. During this two-day event, more than 500 artists will be showing their work in the studios, galleries and businesses along and around the Pine Street corridor ... including Rolf Kielman, who will be exhibiting his "slot" furniture at Select Design at 208 Flynn Avenue.

Brunelleschi’s Dome

2011-08-31T21:42:00.000-04:00

Posted by Matthew Bushey

Before the summer completely winds down, I want to offer arecommendation for one of the books from my summer reading list. It was in part by chance that I picked up acopy of Ross King’s 2000 national bestseller Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture. But it was also from a desire to expand my understanding of this pivotalstructure after having studied it firsthand in Florence with the SyracuseUniversity study abroad program, some 15 years ago.

If there was ever one place to be, at one moment in time, towitness the biggest technological and aesthetic breakthroughs in architecture,it has got to be Florence, Italy in the Renaissance years of the 15^thcentury. The home of the greatestrevolution in art and architecture, the Florentine Renaissance produced worksby Michelangelo, Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Dante. And towering above them all stood the SantaMaria Del Fiore, Florence’s central cathedral that was built to rival allothers. The dome that sits atop thecathedral was the widest ever built at the time, with a diameter of 143 feet,and the highest, topping out at 350 feet above street level. It remained the largest such structure foralmost 500 years and today remains as the largest brick-and-mortar dome in the world.

The Opera del Duomo,the guild of wealthy Wool Merchants who were responsible for building andfunding the cathedral, had selected a design for the cupola by Neri diFioravanti. Most gothic cathedrals ofthe time relied on flying buttresses – external structural supports that bracedthe outside of the basilica. But Neri’sdesign did away with this external bracing that many in Italy considered uglyand burdensome. Instead, the proposeddesign relied on a series of stone and iron chains embedded inside thedouble-skinned dome to prevent it from collapsing upon itself. The result was a structure that seemed torise majestically without any visible means of support. This single aesthetic decision ushered in theRenaissance and marked the end to the Gothic age.

A concept model was in hand, but no one actually knew how tobuild it. So a structural designcompetition was held in August 1418, and by the following month the project wasgranted to a goldsmith and clockmaker, Filippo Brunelleschi. Soon named the Capomaestro of the project, or architect-in-chief, Brunelleschisolved the biggest technological challenges to the dome’s construction.

An ingenious designer, engineer, and inventor, Brunelleschicame up with a number of supporting devices and concepts that were instrumentalin the dome’s construction. Facing the primarychallenge of transporting 70 million tons of building materials and liftingthem several hundred feet above the ground, he invented an ox-hoist that wasassembled on the cathedral floor. Withhis machine, one ox could raise a load of 1,000 pounds to a height of 200 feetin approximately thirteen minutes.

Brunelleschi also solved the problem of how to build thedome without wooden centering supports. He is credited with inventing linear perspective, and he holds the first-everpatent for invention for a ship used to transport building materials up theriver Arno, a precursor to today’s paddleboats.

Repeatedly subjected to public scrutiny, doubt, and evenjailed by his enemies at one point, his career was marked by breakthroughs andsetbacks. He was engaged in a bitterrivalry with his lifelong competitor, Lorenzo Ghiberti, and was constantly enteringcompetitions to prove his worth. Hisfinal competition reward was for the lantern that tops the dome. The cathedral was finally completed with the placing of the copper ball atop the lantern in 1496, over 80 years after the competition for the dome was called in 1413, and 200 years after construction had started on the main basilica.

Ross King’s book goes into intricate detail of thestructural and engineering feats by Brunelleschi, but is nonetheless acompelling story of human dedication, political posturing, and rival competitionduring a time of plague and war. Thebook instills a real appreciation for the Duomo - just as much an artisticachievement as it was a structural one – and for the Master Architect who madeit all happen.

Hot off the Presses

2011-08-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

The website over at truexcullins.com continues to evolve as we discover better ways to bring you information about our projects and people.

Recently we overhauled the Publications page to include article descriptions and links to each project. The page includes publications that TruexCullins has been featured in over the years, including magazines, newpapers, books, and websites.

The new format makes it easier for you to find an article on a specific project, or to simply browse the magazine topics before reading the articles. From each listing, you can open a PDF of the article or link to the website containing the online story. For articles on specific projects, the project name is listed and you can link to the project page on the TruexCullins site.

We’ll continue to make tweaks to the website to improve navigation and make it easier for you to find the information you’re looking for. If you have any suggestions, you can always drop us a line with your comments!

Roadside Architecture and Fried Seafood

2011-08-22T07:00:00.007-04:00

Right now, we are all enjoying our summer in Vermont, otherwise known as “August”. For these last few weeks of the season, we may find ourselves spending our days on the lake, or heading to the New England coast, boating, swimming, or simply sitting in the sand, watching the horizon. Summer is the time for road trips, campgrounds, and country fairs. It is casual and light-hearted.

Through all of this, I’ve been wondering: Is there an architectural structure that best epitomizes this summer state of mind? Something that speaks to us on the more base level that we put ourselves in when the mercury rises, but is still consciously working to influence our built environment?

And then it hit me: while driving along Massachusetts route 133, through the town of Ipswich on our way to Crane Beach, we passed this local landmark and popular tourist spot:

The Clam Box is known to serve up the best fried clams this side of the North Shore. There is always a long line out the door, as there was when we drove by. (No doubt, I figured, these people are drawn to the architecture.)

The sides of the building fold back at the top, forming an open box that looks just like the to-go container you use to carry out your clams. But this architectural folly is rendered in the same wood shingles that face every other beachfront structure on the coast, so it’s actually sympathetic to the local vernacular.

The Clam Box is a duck.

A duck is a building that does not adorn itself with applied symbols, but rather distorts itself to become the symbol.

Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour coined the term in their 1972 landmark book Learning from Las Vegas, updated in 1977 with “Part II: Ugly and Ordinary Architecture, or the Decorated Shed”.

By studying the buildings along the 1970s Las Vegas Strip, they described the two predominant ways of incorporating signage and iconography in buildings: the duck and the decorated shed. The ‘duck’ label was a literal reference to the Long Island Duckling, but it was in more general terms applied to any structure that was a symbol of itself (or something else).

Venturi and company actually wrote of ducks with a fair amount of disdain, and threw the term around in a rather derogatory way. (No surprise, in their architectural practice, their designs fell more into the ‘decorated shed’ category.) Spoiler Alert: the conclusion of Learning from Las Vegas is a pretty clear criticism of this approach:

When Modern architects righteously abandoned ornament on buildings, they unconsciously designed buildings that were ornament. In promoting Space and Articulation over symbolism and ornament, they distorted the whole building into a duck. They substituted for the innocent and inexpensive practice of applied decoration on a conventional shed the rather cynical and expensive distortion of program and structure to promote a duck; minimegastructures are mostly ducks. It is now time to reevaluate the once-horrifying statement of John Ruskin that architecture is the decoration of construction, but we should append the warning of Pugin: It is all right to decorate construction but never construct decoration.

Las Vegas has come a long way in the 35+ years since we were first Learning. There have been countless reinventions and seemingly endless growth spurts. Last summer, I picked out the Aria hotel in Las Vegas as one of my Top Five and said this about its character:

Aria’s most notable feature is the fact that it represents a radical departure from the themed approach of Las Vegas’ recent past. Instead of reconstructed Italian piazzas or Egyptian tombs, the architecture of Aria is firmly based on unadorned modernism. This is its strategy for achieving authenticity: it is not trying to be anything that it’s not.

The Clam Box is doing the same thing. It is not representing something outside of itself. It is representing itself. The building is the sign and the sign is the product: the box of clams.

Next time I’m back, I’ll order the special.

Heritage Flight in 360 Degrees

2011-08-16T21:57:00.000-04:00

As beautiful as a photo can be, it can only capture one view. To fully experience an architectural space, you have to BE there.

Until now.

New Spin 360 is a young start-up company with Vermont roots that has quickly grown to serve clients nationwide. They produce interactive 360 degree photos of interior and exterior spaces that are the closest thing to being there. These are actually more than 360 degree photos, because the view extends in all directions: not only can you pan from left to right, but you can look completely up and down, and … well ... all around. The effect is that you can see everything possible as if you were standing in the space.

The concept is simple, and the interface is simple, but it opens up a whole new way to show off the spaces we design. So we were very excited to see that Heritage Aviation was recently photographed by the folks at New Spin 360.

Heritage Aviation is, of course, the recently completed LEED-Gold private aviation facility at Burlington International Airport. If you haven’t been there in person, you can now see what it is like to stand in the middle of the hangar, with a fleet of private jets surrounding you. Be sure to look up to see all the skylights that flood the space with natural light, sitting above the open steel webs of the original structure, all painted white to maximize reflectance and minimize the need for electric lighting.

Other views are available as well. You can take a look from out on the runway, looking back toward the hangar doors. Or step up to the rooftop patio and look out across the runway. Pan to the right and you’ll see the green roof with its colorful vegetation. Now look up over the top of the hangar and you’ll see the white roof used for maximum solar reflectance, with the top of the wind turbine visible from the other side of the site.

Another one of our projects that has been captured by New Spin 360 is the Tram Haus Lodge at Jay Peak. Jay commissioned a big photo shoot that included all of their new buildings, including these guestrooms that we had the pleasure of working on last year. To step inside, go to this site and click on “Lodging & Spa”.

Want to see more? Check out InsideChurchStMarketplace.com for a New Spin on the summer action at the Church Street Marketplace in downtown Burlington.

The Best LED Bulb

2011-08-11T07:00:00.009-04:00

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy opened a competition for the best LED replacement light bulb. It had to be super-efficient, using less than 10 watts, last for over 25,000 hours (that’s 17 years of using it 4 hours a day) and produce a warm, high quality light that is comparable to incandescent sources (less than 3000K and greater than 90 CRI, for those of you keeping score.)

The winner walks away with a $10 million cash prize.

The competition is known as the L-Prize, and its intent is to encourage the lighting industry to develop high-quality, low-energy LED bulbs to replace the common incandescent, scheduled to be phased-out starting next year. For the past 18 months, the DOE has been conducting vigorous product testing (on its sole applicant), and last week they announced the big winner: Philips Lighting.

The winning bulb has a very cool form factor. Dark yellow when off, the bulb glows a bright white when turned on. The metal grooves along the shaft serve as a heat sink, keeping this cool-looking bulb running cool as well.

A year ago, we named the Philips EnduraLED light bulb as one of our top five green products. At the time, the EnduraLED used 7 watts and was a replacement for a 25 watt incandescent, with a CRI of 80. Now, a year later, the L-prize winner is better and brighter, providing enough light to replace a standard 60 watt incandescent while using only 9.7 watts of electricity. Best of all, the quality of light is much improved, with a Color Rendering Index (CRI) value of 93. That means it will look and feel like the standard incandescent bulb we all know and love.

The new Philips LED is expected to be on store shelves in early 2012. Start saving your pennies, because the price is reportedly going to be $39.95.

Anglo American School of Sofia Breaks Ground

2011-08-08T07:00:00.014-04:00

Our international work remains strong these days, with a variety of projects around the globe. This week, David is travelling to India for a new international schools project. Meanwhile, crews are busy at work pouring foundations in Sofia, Bulgaria, on a new 80,000 square foot middle and high school addition to an existing school. Designed by TruexCullins to meet LEED Silver Certification, the new addition boasts a new atrium, library, classrooms and gymnasium, all clustered around an exterior stone amphitheater.

Environmental features include solar hot water, green roofs, daylighting, regional materials and innovative stormwater management. Classrooms are clustered around common areas designed for small group instruction and as social space.

Great care was taken to create a design that could be implemented with minimum disruption to existing operations. Summer holiday periods will be used for crucial tie-in projects. The project was also designed to accommodate a theater at a later date.

The project is being managed by Gardiner and Theobold (Sofia office) and built by INOS Construction with Ivo Petrov Architects as design partners. A big thanks goes to the Sofia team for an outstanding job so far!

Here are some photos of the project, currently under construction:

Casa Madrona Cottages Now Open

2011-07-26T23:12:00.001-04:00

TruexCullins Interiors has been working with the Terra Resort Group on the complete interior renovation of this historic resort in Sausalito, California. This winter, the Casa Madrona opened their new street-level lobby, expanded and reconfigured to better welcome guests and introduce them to all the rich flavors of the property. (See photos of the Lobby in our January blog post)

Now, the Casa Madrona is celebrating their next major milestone with the grand opening of the 22 renovated cottage rooms and suites, situated along the hillside overlooking San Francisco Bay.

Previously, each of the individual cottages had been decorated in wildly divergent themes: an impressive array of styles including the “Renoir Room”, “Lilac and Lace”, “Bridgeway to Hollywood”, and “Kathmandu” (complete with Indian elephants and tribal patterns). While there was certainly never an argument for lack of character, our charge with the renovations was to provide a more consistent overall experience for the guest, no matter what part of the property they were staying in. At the same time, the design allows for the celebration of the individual moments that occur within each of the uniquely positioned cottages.

We wanted to refocus attention on the things that really make this resort special: the amazing hillside location with panoramic views of San Francisco Bay; the creative and independent spirit of the community of Sausalito, with its rich nautical history; and the historic significance of the resort itself, anchored by a grand Victorian mansion dating to 1885.

And now we have new photos to share of the completed cottages, thanks to photographer Cameron Neilson:

The beds are a prime feature in the rooms, with mahogany posts and decorative glass inlays. Each suite also typically includes a casual seating area, a work desk, a fireplace, and an exterior terrace. Unique elements from the cottages’ previous life such as stained glass windows were retained and integrated into the new design.

The guest bathrooms in each of the 22 cottages are all unique in their size and configuration, but they are each finished with the same palette of materials and finishes. A glass shelf continues from behind the vanity into the shower, with alternating bands of matte and polished porcelain tile. The vanities pick up on the seaside influence with nautical pull and rod details, and they are uniquely scaled to fit into each bathroom, maximizing the space available.

All of the guestroom furniture pieces and bathroom vanities are custom designed by TruexCullins Interiors and built by Sorrentino Marriani. The beds, tables, desks and vanities establish a consistent, coordinated palette that includes mahogany wood with English dove tails, contrasting painted crème surfaces, and clear glass knobs. It is a classic urban look with a distinctively nautical influence. You can see the entire “Sausalito Collection” at smfurniture.com

The full-service spa was also completely overhauled with new finishes, furnishings, and lighting. In this view, one of the showers is visible on the left, and the steam room is on the right, with porcelain tile and LED lighting:

The new Casa Madrona is beginning to attract some good attention. The popular Bay Area blog 7x7.com was so impressed with the makeover that they recently implored its readers to “Take a Staycation at the Revamped Casa Madrona in Sausalito”.

TruexCullins continues to work with the Terra Resort Group on the remaining Upper Cottages, with construction planned imminently. And then, we look forward to the grand finale of the renovation project: the 125-year-old Victorian mansion which will be refreshed and renewed as a fitting focal point to the resort.

Bariatrix Nutrition: Before and After

2011-07-21T21:28:00.000-04:00

We just completed this workplace renovation project for the offices of Bariatrix Nutrition in Georgia, Vermont. We started with an empty warehouse building and created a whole new space that is active, crisp and bright. The project includes a new corporate office suite, product production and development areas, and a large warehousing area for the Bariatrix products.

Bariatrix Nutrition is a family business working to address the rising obesity epidemic in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The company produces premium quality food products for professionally managed weight control programs, built on a platform of scientific innovation, research and development. As the obesity epidemic has grown over the past 30 years, Bartiatrix has expanded their menu of food products and built a program of support to professional weight loss practitioners. They work with physicians, dieticians, nutritionists and bariatricians to battle this heath issue.

We are always honored to work for clients who are making a positive mark on our world, and we hope their new space facilitates their operations. The design was led by David Epstein, Matt Wheaton, and Rebekah Bose, and the general contractor for the project was Wright & Morrissey, Inc.

As these before-and-after shots show, it was a quite a dramatic transformation:

BEFORE...
<< entry space

... and AFTER:

reception area >>

BEFORE...
<< warehouse space

... and AFTER:

office area >>

Salvage Secrets On Sale Now

2011-07-19T22:30:00.003-04:00

Salvage Secrets: Transforming Reclaimed Materials into Design Concepts is the new book by our friend and colleague Joanne Palmisano, with photography by Susan Teare. The book beautifully showcases vintage, antique, or simply discarded items that are rediscovered and brought back to life in creative and unexpected ways. It is a wonderful treasure hunt of unique, salvaged materials, and a practical resource for getting you started on your own design project.

We are always happy to work with Joanne, who frequently acts as a designer and marketing consultant for our Interiors department, and Susan Teare, who we often have photograph our own projects.

Here’s a blurb from the new book, published by W.W.Norton & Company, in advance of its release:

Today we all want to build and renovate our homes with sustainability in mind, so it’s no surprise that “salvage”—reusing old building materials and other recycled goods—is an increasingly popular technique, both for its environmentally friendly functionality and its unique design aesthetic...

Salvage Secrets is a resource you won’t want to be without on your search. Here, veteran salvager and designer Joanne Palmisano equips you with a practical guide and conducts you on a stunning visual tour of the interior design possibilities using a range of rescued materials...

With over 150 color photographs and sketches, as well as a comprehensive listing of architects, designers, and other specialty salvage resources for your hunt, you’ll be ready to visit warehouses, recycling centers, antique shops, and some unique locations in search of the perfect salvaged treasure for your home design.

Joanne Palmisano is an award-winning designer and marketing consultant for Peregrine Design/Build and TruexCullins Architecture and Interior Design in Burlington, Vermont. She is a freelance writer and scouts homes and gardens for stylists of national magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens, Country Gardens, Renovation Style, and Country Living.

Susan Teare is an architectural photographer and has contributed to publications such as Ski Magazine, Fine Homebuilding, Better Homes and Gardens, Custom Home Magazine, Vermont Magazine, and Timber Home Living.

And our own Kim Deetjen makes a cameo appearance on the back cover to offer her endorsement:

“Drawing on her personal experience as well as advice from a posse of experts, Joanne Palmisano shows us that being sensitive to the environment does not mean sacrificing style or good design. Recycled, reclaimed, and salvaged materials and furnishings can be chic, beautiful, and sustainable. Salvage Secrets is a must—an innovative design resource filled with unique and affordable ideas.” —Kim Deetjen, ASID, principal, TruexCullins Interiors

The book will be released on September 12th, but you can reserve your copy now at Amazon.com and other online retailers. You can also keep up with Joanne and all her salvaging adventures on her Salvage Secrets blog.

A New Home on Lake Champlain

2011-07-07T07:00:00.000-04:00

We just posted another new project to the website: this new residence that we recently completed in South Hero, Vermont:

This is a lakeshore residence that sits on the edge of a small bluff facing west toward the Adirondack Mountains. The house is modest in size and material and is scaled to fit alongside a series of lake camps in this area. The western sun highlights the traditional camp form.

The interior is predominately a large open living space that spills west to the lake. More contemporary materials were chosen for the interior such as a polished concrete floor and simply detailed wood and stone.