Ponte degli Alpini, designed by Andrea Palladio, straddles a river running through Bassano del Grappa at foot of Monte Grappa

Dallas architect, Steve Chambers, received a fellowship to study sustainable design in Verona, Italy last fall. During this trip he drove through the Veneto Region to see, firsthand, the architecture of Andrea Palladio. Bassano del Grappa lies at the foot of Monte Grappa in this region. The Brenta River separates the town in two distinct parts that are conjoined by the graceful Ponte degli Alpini,  a bridge designed in 1569 by the Venetian architect, Andrea Palladio.  Palladio was influenced by Roman and Greek architecture and is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture. Palladian style, named after him, reflects classical Roman principles that he rediscovered, applied, and explained in his work and writings. Bridges are not normally associated with Palladio, but form a distinctive category within his work. He was the first modern architect to write and publish extensively on the subject and provides us with insight into his thought processes about design in wood and stone, as well as signaling the future trend of a return to classical forms in Renaissance architecture. The return to classical ideas ushered this "age of awakening” in Italy, France, and England, eventually spreading throughout the modern world.

While a young mason, Palladio was noticed by an Italian scholar and soon began studying mathematics, music, philosophy, and the Classical authors. From 1541 he made several trips to Rome to study ancient ruins. The wooden bridge at Bassano del Grappa was reconstructed many times, but the current iteration remains essentially true to Palladio's design of 1569. The design features a covered walkway with wooden Tuscan columns and an architrave or main beam across the top of the columns. A classic touch of open spaces between the columns in the colonnade introduces a decorum traditional to Tuscan design.

The town is also synonymous with Grappa, a fiery drink and another exported ‘art form.’ It is not for the faint of heart or mild of palate. Grappa is uniquely Italian and traditionally made from pomace, the discarded grape seeds, stalks, and stems that are a by-product of the winemaking process. Grappa has been around since the Middle Ages. For generations, Italians have sipped this "firewater" after meals and even added a little to their morning espresso, to "correct" it. Once considered an acquired taste, popular only in Italy, Grappa, today, is making itself known around the world. Distilleries from Australia to Oregon, as well as Italy, are trying their hand at making Grappa, with surprisingly good results and variations on the original theme.

Bassano is well known for its majolica, decorated and glazed earthenware, much of which is on display in the Palazzo Sturm. There are many beautiful frescos on the buildings, walls, and ceilings throughout the city dating from the Renaissance, which can be seen in the photographic gallery below. Some of these paintings are still surprisingly vibrant and wear their age quite well. Grappa bottles lining the Grappa Museum wall can also be seen in the gallery of photographs below. Upon his return to Dallas following this tour of Italian architecture, Steve turned to the book, Andrea Palladio The Architect In His Time by Bruce Boucher, to discover a painting by Roberto Roberti (c. 1813) and drawings of the bridge as designed by Palladio (seen below). The design remains as modern today in its simplicity of form and functionality as it was in the 16th century.

For over 40 years, we have considered sustainability a good basic practice that should inform the entire design process. As a residential architect, I am often asked by my clients if there are exotic materials that will create features in a home different from those typically used…and express their personal lifestyles. The home construction industry has now moved to embrace green, sustainable design, at the same time that clients are seeking environmentally-friendly solutions. All of these trends add dimension to residential design and contribute to better stewardship of the global neighborhood.  Our firm supports this synergy.

A friend and client of ours in Lampasas, Texas, Herb Pierce, of Bell House Ranch Lumber, has been in the lumber business for more than 25 years. Herb has developed some of the most imaginative sustainable solutions to environmental challenges presented by homebuilding.  Herb is inspired by trees. He knows that wood has strength, vitality, and unlimited potential to be transformed into attractive and useful products for homes. At the same time, his lumber business uses processes that take his company to one of almost zero waste. One example is his use of Mesquite. “Texas Ironwood” is hard and durable. Yet, it’s hard on woodworkers and tools, even mechanized ones. Many people, especially ranchers, consider this tree a nuisance because it’s a nature bully and competes with everything else for water. In Central and West Texas, the Mesquite is often blamed for lowering the water table and is hazardous to livestock. Ranchers and farmers usually destroy it. Herb takes advantage of this fact and works with clearing companies to salvage the material.

Herb’s lumber company hauls away the logs which are normally burned by clearing crews and turns them into beautiful lumber. Bell House Ranch shreds the remnants and makes them into BBQ wood chips.  The result: Bell House provides exotic sustainable durable products for homes and furniture, and at the same time, removes a ‘thorny’ nuisance.

We used Mesquite in our design for this Texas Hill Country home, as seen in the photos below (fireplace mantle, rocking chairs). We also used Herb’s Forest Stewardship Council FSC-certified heavy fir timbers in a regional modern sustainable design, also shown below. These timbers were shipped directly from Herb’s mill to the job site, reducing costs and damage from handling.

Among the cleared Mesquite, Bell House Ranch also comes across rare Texas ebony, a wood that is hard and very dense (it will not float). The colors of Texas Ebony heartwood range from a dark chocolate brown (almost coal black) to a dark brown integrated with thin striping of lighter brown.

Also available through Bell House are antique timbers, recycled from older structures. Use of the “embodied energy” of historical timbers, saves existing forests, energy, and space in landfills. The timbers lend a rustic character, as well as a narrative, to the home’s design. Another way to amplify ambiance is by the means and methods of putting materials together, their jointery. Examples of this are shown below in the 1856 Dog Trot Log Home (pictured below right) and the Sustainable Regional Modern Home (pictured below left) and in mortice and tenon long leaf pine trusses (pictured above left). 

Herb Pierce's Bell House Ranch Lumber is the quintessential model of American ingenuity: entrepreneurial, proactive in the protection of the environment, and provides elegant building products for clients.

Hiking into the canyon of Bandelier National MonumentThe Bandelier National Monument, besides an inspiring place to travel, reminds Steve Chambers, Dallas architect, of four of the 'Seven Rs' of sustainable living. The early inhabitants of this mountainous area in Northern New Mexico, who lived here for a thousand years, set a stellar standard for sustainable design: respect and gentle use of resources near the site, reduce rooms by using them for multiple purposes, design to encourage future use, and remember and pass on what is learned to future generations. Frijoles Canyon, where the monument is located, is in an ecotone, a transition zone where plants and animals from several biological communities mingle.  In an ecotone, the variety of plants and animals is greater than in any one community alone. Because of this biological diversity, the Anazasi native people found more possibilities to hunt and gather for food and medicinal herbs.

Interior of one of the cliff dwellingsSelf-taught anthropologist and historian, Adolph Bandelier, came to Frijoles Canyon in 1880 with the ambitious goal to trace the social organization, customs, and movements of the southwestern and Mexican peoples. The sheer cliffs, year-round stream, and distinctive cave-room architecture captured his imagination, as depicted in his novel, The Delight Makers. Vivid reminders of the ancestral Pueblo people--their homes, kivas, their petroglyphs--still remain (1300-1400 AD). The "Anasazi" grew maize, beans and squash, supplementing this with deer, rabbit, and birds. Winter blankets were woven from yucca-fiber string, twisted with turkey feathers or strips of rabbit skin. Bone, wood, obsidian, and basalt were fashioned into tools and cooking implements.  Their respect for the enviroment, reduction of space needed for living, the reuse and re-purposing of the living quarters for other activities, and the remembrance of their techniques, which they passed on to many generations, are all models of a sustainable life. If we all take but one small step today, we can make a huge difference in the preservation of our precious resources.

For more on sustainable design in residential architecture, refer to other posts on sustainability by Stephen B. Chambers, AIA, Dallas architect.

The complete recipe for Indian Fry Bread is below. Also called Sopaipillas, they are easy and fun to make, either the sweet or savory variety:

Recipe for Indian Fry Bread (Sopaipillas)

1-cup all-purpose flour (coarse, unbleached or whole wheat flour gives a different, but nice, texture and flavor)
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar (if making a savory bread to fill with meat and vegetables, omit this)
2 Tablespoons vegetable shortening
½ cup buttermilk
Vegetable oil for frying

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar (omit for savory bread) in bowl. Cut in shortening until a coarse meal results. Stir in buttermilk with a fork until soft dough is formed. Form into ball, knead several times, cover, and let rest for at least 30 minutes. Heat oil in deep saucepan to at least 375 degrees. Roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into squares, circles, or triangles. Drop cut pieces, one by one, into hot oil and fry until golden, taking care to roll over on all sides. Drain on paper towels and serve with warm honey or powdered sugar. When making the savory variety of this recipe, prepare recipe above, then cut open and stuff with grilled or cooked meats and vegetables, as you might fill flour tortillas.

Rear entrance to 5207 McKinney, oriented to Katy Trail

If you walk, don’t run, along The Katy Trail in Dallas near the northernmost section, almost to McCommas Street, a sleek modern building with an exterior steel staircase and second-floor deck captures your imagination. “Didn’t a 70s-style recycled brick and wood two-story office building used to be here?” you ask yourself.  The tone of the new building is vastly different from what used to be there.  This newly remodeled building at 5207 McKinney Avenue orients to the Katy Trail and looks as though it’s someone’s residence…and it is. It’s the new home of Thackeray Partners, a company formed in January 2005 by Mary Hager and Tony Dona to acquire and invest in a diversified portfolio of real estate investments.  Mary and Tony spent 16 and 20 years respectively in the real estate industry prior to Thackeray's formation and were instrumental in the management of a large real estate private equity business.  Today, Thackeray has 20 employees. Because this building is their home office as well as an investment property, they have made the commitment to create a sustainable design.Tona Dona, Thackeray Partners

 Tony Dona says it best, “we wanted to make the remodeled building as ‘green’ as possible because we plan to be the long-term owners of this space, we live in the Park Cities, love the Knox-Henderson area, and well, it’s just the right thing to do.” Tony goes on to say, “we now have a quieter, more serene and healthy environment in which most of us spend the larger part of our days and some evenings.” They worked diligently to keep all of the trees, even the giant Sycamore around which a second-story balcony had to be positioned, put roofs and sunscreens up to reduce the heat load on the west wall, and placed a shower and an exercise space in the building for their employees who are also encouraged to use the Katy Trail for daily exercise.

The expansive arched skylight (see photos below) on the roof illuminates an interior court that also holds a water feature and natural decorative elements.  The building changes moods as the weather and angle of the sun add or diminish the daylighting. As good stewards of their community, Thackeray Partners donates pro bono space to the non-profit organization, The Friends of Katy Trail.

Dr. ChristensenMargaret Christensen, M. D., a board-certified Obstetrician Gynecologist and new building tenant, founded The Christensen Center for Whole Life Health. She describes why she chose 5207 McKinney for her office space, “I closed my practice at a large Dallas hospital because of its ‘sick building syndrome.’  It was a leaky old building with mold growing under the floorboards. My next office was a remodeled building with synthetic carpet and wallpaper that gave off formaldehyde fumes that were toxic to some of the people who worked there. I was determined,” she states firmly, “to establish a new practice with women’s health foremost in my mind. This building is light, open, and airy. There is a Zen garden feel to it with great circulation, hard surface flooring that doesn’t capture dust and mold, and the windows open to the outdoors, orientating to a wellness feature, The Katy Trail.” The McKinney Avenue building helps her achieve her mission to provide impeccable medical care within a safe haven that supports the whole woman physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Office of Stephen B. Chambers Architects, Inc.Steve Chambers, AIA, is a Dallas architect who is also at home at 5207 McKinney Avenue.  “Any architect who believes in sustainable design should do their best to support building owners/developers who go the expense and effort to build or remodel “green” by leasing in their buildings. Instead of demolishing the structure and starting over, Thackeray Partners utilized the embodied energy of a building with a solid structure and created this inviting space, which contributes to the quality of life of all of their tenants.” Steve continues, “The Seven R’s of sustainable design are all here:

Respect--for what came before them;
Receive—they properly borrowed the best of what was already there;
Reduce—and used the smallest amount of resources possible in the new construction;
Reuse—the building structure, exterior and interior spaces, and natural features that existed on the site;
Recycle—the brick (on its third iteration: Chicago Antique; Plano LaSalle dealership and 5207 McKinney) and basic form of the older building;
Restore---removed hazardous materials and oriented the building to The Katy Trail, thereby returning it to a better state than the one in which they found it;
Remember---Tony Dona and Thackeray Partners shared with us how they used the best of what they found and improved on what they could. We all benefit from their efforts on this building: the owners, the tenants, and the community.”

Architect: Architecture Demarest, David Demarest, AIA; Contractor: Gordon Highlander

5207 McKinney Avenue features seasonal landscaping, access to The Katy Trail, and uses the 'embodied energy' of the building's original form.

Recycled Antique Chicago brick (with oil still visible on some bricks) from original LaSalle dealership, in interior of SBC Architects' offices

Interior court, lower level of 5207 McKinney

Entrance to The Katy Trail, from parking lot, at rear of 5207 McKinney

Interior court from second level, looking down on rock formations and water feature in lower court

View of arched roof skylight from lower steel staircase

Softly falling rain and the distinctive fragrance of rain-soaked air is a delightful experience, appreciated by all cultures.  Our enjoyment of rain has increased with our growing awareness of the limited nature of freshwater as a resource.  This awareness has led Steve Chambers, Texas architect, to an interest in an ancient Japanese architectural feature, the kusari-doi, or the “rain chain,” in his modern architectural designs.

The chain functions as a downspout, allowing the water to run down the outside, as opposed to running on the inside of typical pipe.  Functional as well as aesthetic, these devices provide an alternative to closed systems typical used with gutters and are more like water features.  Given their decorative nature, rain chains are often placed where they can be observed and heard during rain events. The chain-gutter increases the enjoyment of seeing and hearing water rhythmically cascade from the rooftop into a barrel, cistern, or decorative splash-block. 

In their simplest, most traditional form, a rain chain is just that – a chain commonly constructed of copper, brass, or steel. The styles range from simple links to elaborate, multiple interlocking links, funnels, and cups. 

In the strictest Japanese tradition, a kusari-doi is considered a “kinetic sculpture” and provides water music which promotes peace and tranquility, as do all of the other Zen arts.  For this reason, rain chains were often used in Buddhist Temple design. 

For more information about sustainable design, please go to our contact page and write or call us with your questions.