Residential architect Steve Chambers has completed the required coursework and is committed to sustainable/ “green” design. He is dedicated to being part of the solution to the conservation of natural resources, rather than contributing to the problem of energy consumption.

Sustainable design thinking begins with an understanding that a project’s components are interdependent systems. The separate disciplines that go into the design and construction of a custom home must work together to contribute to the success of the entire project. And in a larger sense, the project’s success contributes in some way to the success of ecological, social, and economic systems. Sustainable design represents a responsibility to the client, their families, the community, and to future generations. An architect has the ideal professional strengths to integrate the myriad of concerns brought to a custom home design by the client, the builder, the landscape architect, and interior designer. Setting this goal with the client, from the beginning of the home’s design, is the focus of residential design by Steve Chambers.

Typical elements of ‘green’/sustainable architecture that we incorporate into many of the homes our firm designs:

• Preserve and respect the natural resources of the sites, eg. preserve existing trees, landscaping as much of the natural topography as possible.
• Materials and businesses are in and near the locale of the home site to reduce energy and transportation costs.
• Highly renewable and short-growth resources, eg. bamboo flooring, end grain pine block flooring.
• Manage and absorb storm water on the site to reduce runoff and limit the impact of urban/suburban flooding and allow for absorption into landscaping.
• Geo-thermal heat pumps or high-efficiency air conditioning equipment to reduce cost of utilities and dependence on fossil fuels.
• High-performance windows and doors, strategically located in order to take into account the path of the sun with solar screens provided to limit direct sunlight but to allow daylighting of the home.
• High-efficiency foam insulation to reduce infiltration and increase insulating values.
• Hot-dipped galvanizing to protect exposed structural and architectural steel and to limit future maintenance.
• Low/Zero V.O.C. paints and finishes.
• Cisterns to capture roof water for supplementary source of landscape irrigation.
• Recycled, recyclable, and reclaimed materials such as steel roofing, reclaimed timber, and engineered lumber.
• Heat-reflective exterior materials.
• Radiant barriers.
• High-efficiency appliances.
• Exterior materials that limit the need for painting and maintenance.
• Encourage our clients and others to register their home sites with the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
  Register your home here.