The Spirit of Vermont in Norwich

What qualifies as the best examples of excellent new architecture in Vermont? That was the question addressed by Donald Kreis on yesterday’s episode of the popular Commentary Series on Vermont Public Radio.

Kreis is an attorney with Vermont Law School and a regular contributor to VPR.  In this episode, Kreis praises two of this year’s recipients of the AIA VT Excellence in Architecture Design Awards, including the King Arthur Flour campus expansion in Norwich, Vermont.

TruexCullins was pleased to learn recently that the King Arthur Flour project received a Merit Award from the Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.  The jury was impressed with the arrival sequence and the creation of a communal courtyard that connects the various program elements.  Also noted was the use of materials and forms that are harmonious with the site and effective daylighting strategies.  According to the jury, “This building captures the spirit of Vermont without being too referential.”
 

We owe much credit to ORW Landscape Architects and Planners for working with us to develop this overall site and building experience.

In his Commentary on VPR, Kreis expands on this concept of place-making with a comparison to another New England town anchored by a growing retail empire: Freeport, Maine.  Unlike this and other towns that have succumbed to a mall-ification of outlets and souvenir shops, Norwich has managed to retain its classic Vermont heritage while permitting – in fact, promoting – the growth of companies like King Arthur Flour.

The new building at King Arthur is based on the concept of the classic Vermont monitor barn, but with contemporary and artful detailing.  As Kreis states, “Whenever we fail to turn a piece of Vermont into another Freeport, and build something new and graceful instead, I say it's time to break out the plaques and trophies.”

You can read (or listen to) the full Commentary at vpr.net:

http://www.vpr.net/episode/55299/kreis-aia-vermont/
 

A Refined Vermont Office Interior

We recently completed this office fitup for a local asset management firm in Burlington, and we're happy to share these new photos of the completed space. We spent all day with Jim Westphalen, our go-to photographer, who captured these beautiful images of the space as the sunlight streamed in over the lake.

The space looks out over the Burlington waterfront, with views of the horizon over Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks beyond. Our design was therefore inspired by the surrounding landscape of the Lake Champlain basin and is a celebration of our Vermont culture and local community. Natural, local materials were used to give the space a true Vermont flavor, local craftspeople were engaged in the production of furnishings and casegoods, and the workplace was designed to support one of Vermont's strongest values: teamwork.

The reception area features hardwood Butternut flooring by Vermont Wildwoods which was salvaged from the Vermont forest floor and re-milled into an engineered product. The custom casework and reception desk flanking the reception area are faced with panels of Champlain Marble, quarried from the Lake Champlain Basin. A billowing ceiling of cloth panels provides a contrasting softness to the space and alludes to the gentle sailboats on Lake Champlain.

Much of the custom furniture and casegoods were made by Lyndon Furniture, a Vermont company that we have worked with on other projects of ours. The reception desk and lobby shelves are made from FSC-certified Red Birch which matches the beams above. Other tables and case pieces in the adjoining spaces are made of solid Walnut.

The space is also a good example of a design that promotes collaboration in the workplace, with open work areas and shared meeting and lounge spaces located in prime locations for adhoc team work. The library provides a quiet area for focused, concentrated work or small group meetings, and the War Room supports teams of 8 to 10 with interactive technology that fosters group discussion and out-of-the-box problem solving.

This project is on track to receive LEED certification under the LEED for Commercial Interiors program.

Solar Decathlon Review, day 3: Our Favorites

This Sunday, October 2nd is the final day for public viewing of the 19 student-built solar-powered homes of the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall.  The excitement is building as the points are adding up and a winner is coming into focus.  Tomorrow, Saturday Oct 1st, the winner will be announced, the team that has accrued the most points across the 10 categories in fields such as architecture, engineering, energy and affordability.

Many of the houses incorporate some of the technologies and green design strategies that I described in yesterday’s post, but the best houses 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 Southern Appalachia, 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, and internal blinds.  In the winter, the air space 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 air from the north façade by the ERV and pre-cooling it before it hits the ductless mini-split units.  Exhaust air is directed through the south façade to cool the cavity and reduce heat gain.

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

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

WATERSHED by the University of Maryland

This house is all about the conservation and management of our water resources.  Coming from the Chesapeake Bay area, the students of the University of Maryland drew inspiration from the 64,000 square mile Chesapeake Bay watershed and have designed a house that addresses the storm water issues that threaten this fragile ecosystem.

The form of the house is defined by two rectangular modules with a split-butterfly roof.  A 9.2 kW solar PV array covers one side, and a green roof tops the other.  Rainwater is captured from the roof and directed to a series of captured wetlands, where the water is naturally filtered by plants until it can be pumped out for reuse as irrigation water.  Greywater from the shower is also directed to the constructed wetlands for reuse.

 

 

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

This is the 4th time the University of Maryland has competed in the Solar Decathlon, and their experience is paying off: as of this writing, they are currently in 1st place.

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










 

SELF RELIANCE by Middlebury College

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

The Middlebury house, dubbed Self Reliance, is a modern take on the traditional Vermont farmhouse.  It hits so many of the themes we all associate with the Vermont lifestyle: natural materials, sustainable food production, and family-friendly spaces.

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

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

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

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

Middlebury is doing very well for this being their first time in the Solar Decathlon.  They scored 4th in the prominent Architecture category, and came in 1st place for “Home Entertainment”.  This is one 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 meal they 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 and straightforward modern version of a traditional New England home that beautifully uses native Vermont materials.”

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

Congratulations to the Middlebury team and to all the teams at the Solar Decathlon, and good luck tomorrow as the grand prize winner is announced!

Lead-up to the Solar Decathlon, Part 1

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 in Washington D.C.  The event pits 20 teams of college students against each other to see who can design, build and operate the most energy-efficient, comfortable, healthy, affordable and beautiful solar-powered home.

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

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

Three weeks ago, Vermont was rocked by massive floods that caused widespread damage and attracted national attention.  It seemed we had just recovered from the spring floods and were taken by surprise by Tropical Storm Irene.  Elsewhere in the country, droughts are lasting 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 that threaten all of us.  With each passing year it becomes more evident that we need to speed up our efforts to power our buildings from renewable energy sources that decrease our greenhouse gas emissions.

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

This year, a Vermont school is participating in the Solar Decathlon 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”. Unlike many of their competitors, Middlebury College does not have an accredited architecture program. In fact, Middlebury is the first ever liberal arts college to enter the Solar Decathlon alone. Its team consists of over 85 students 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 during the competition on the National Mall.  Check it out here: 

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

Heritage Flight in 360 Degrees

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.

Anglo American School of Sofia Breaks Ground

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: