Episode 6: CarbonShack Design: Building in an Age of Climate Change
Is it enough to build sustainably or do we need to adopt a regenerative approach? Where sustainability focuses on reducing negative impacts, a regenerative approach broadens the paradigm to include repair.
Clearly thoughtful design that reduces environmental impact when we build is critical but can we also, must we also, include repairs to the harm to the natural world that has already been incurred? Is this possible? Yes. Repair is not only possible but is important to restore the health of the planet and our own family’s health as well.
Consider the common hemp plant. First spun into a usable product at least 50,000 years ago, 40,000 years before the Mesopotamian or Egyptian civilizations. Hemp is an immensely versatile plant that has been used in everything from clothing, rope and paper to food and biofuel. It is one of the fastest growing plants. Needs less land to grow, uses less water than cotton, and requires no pesticides. Not only that, but hemp also rehabilitates the soil where it grows, draws out toxins, and has been used for environmental cleanup.
Hemp is not only easy to grow, takes less resources, is environmentally friendly, but it also improves the lives of the farmers through reduced chemical and pesticide use, leading to healthier communities and a healthier environment. Hemp products, clothing, textiles, food, are not only non-toxic, but when hemp enters the waste stream it biodegrades naturally, returning nutrients to the soil.
When talking hemp it’s important to differentiate between industrial hemp and medicinal hemp. They are the same plant, but they are farmed in completely different ways. Hemp produced for fabric and other industrial products uses the stalk. Hemp for medicinal purposes uses the flowers. Industrial hemp grows like a weed, uses very little water and is very disease resistant. Industrial hemp can have 800,000 plants per acre whereas for medicinal it can be as low as 1600 plants per acre. Further medicinal hemp consumes a lot of water and is fed a high chemical diet in hydroponic situations.
Industrial hemp is not only extremely productive and environmentally safe but it repairs the environment at the same time.
So, what if we designed and built using the hemp plant as a model? What if we built by prioritizing natural materials which were more environmentally friendly to produce, which reduced toxicity in our homes, created a healthier environment to live in as well as repairing the natural world around us? What would those homes look like?
CarbonShack’s recently completed, Paraiso De Rocas Antiguas, employes these features of regenerative design. The structure first and foremost works with the found landscape and natural features rather than altering them. The home was partially built into the hillside to take advantage of the passive cooling qualities of the earth. It was oriented to the North to take advantage of consistent natural light and was situated under an existing Live Oak tree in order to benefit from the shade the canopy offers. This well-insulated structure was designed to reduce the need for energy and when energy is needed, this all-electric structure is powered by a solar array and battery to produce its own energy while removing the use of climate destructive fossil fuels.
The building was designed and outfitted with natural materials to reduce indoor air pollution as well as the pollution that is a result of manufactured products. Wood cabinets and furniture, hemp drapery and textiles, natural plaster which eliminated the need for off-gassing paints. Water use was reduced by using low flow water fixtures. Gray water allowed wastewater from shower and laundry to be distributed back into the landscape, recycling the water, reducing the need for municipal wastewater processing, and allowing the water to percolate naturally into the ground where it would refresh ground water and aquifers. Composting is another regenerative strategy to reduce municipal waste processing and landfills while restoring nutrients to the landscape. The site has raised vegetable beds powered by compost, and is planted with natives, a critical approach to restoring natural environments by providing seeds and nectar for native species who cannot survive on invasive plantings.
Can we design and build homes that are comfortable and beautiful while regenerating and repairing the environment and our family’s health? Yes, we can and we are doing that at CarbonShack.
The Mt. Washington Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) is contemporary and luxurious, while remaining at the same time sensitive both to the historic architectural fabric of its setting, as well as to its environmental impact. Our belief is that no structure, no furnishing, can be created without understanding the impact of its design on both the experience of the user, and its impact on the natural world. The process of design must be holistic. We are thoughtful about every step - from the building’s foundation to the furniture’s fabric, integrating functionality and beauty with the goal of bringing the natural world into the home.
Adding an ADU (essentially an additional home) to any property zoned for a single-family dwelling necessitates sensitivity to issues of privacy. and density. Integrating this new structure, even if intended as a home office, means grappling with the challenge of balancing a sense of separation within an integrated whole. This property, bounded at both top upper and lower ends by street frontage, lent itself perfectly to the creation of an ADU, since the upper street allows for a separate private entrance. The yard between the two units is steeply sloped, so creating terraces landscaped with fruit trees provides a leafy privacy screen, and privacy, between the upper and lower houses.
One of the defining architectural features of this historic neighborhood is the use of river rocks from the nearby arroyo. River rocks are found throughout the area in landscape walls, property walls, foundations, porches, and fireplaces. To tie the new unit’s design both to the historic fabric of the community as well as to the front house, the ADU sits atop two newly constructed arroyo stone-clad walls, set in a descending arc at the lot’s upper extreme. These foundational architectural elements emerge from the hillside, as if remnants, provocative ruins, from a long-neglected historic structure. Positioned on top of and between these stone walls, contemporary wood-clad boxes contain a bedroom, bath, kitchen, indoor and outdoor living spaces. By linking the building’s materiality to the adjacent community, the ADU fits seamlessly within the historicity of the neighborhood and its natural features, while at the same time making a thoroughly contemporary statement.
This well-insulated solar-powered ADU/all-electric house is the embodiment of a low carbon footprint. Since it is partially built into the hillside, the building takes advantage of the cooling effects of Mother Earth. Further, being situated under a historic 100-year-old Live Oak tree, heat gain is naturally reduced through the cooling effects of the spreading leaf canopy. Highly efficient electric heat pumps heat and cool the interior and provide hot water, and combined with LED lighting throughout, bring energy consumption down even more. Moreover, an induction cooktop and electric ovens in the kitchen eliminate the need for fossil fuel consumption. Thoughtfully and strategically reducing the overall energy needs allows for fewer solar panels to be deployed, which truncates the time-frame for both the ROI on the solar panel system, as well as true energy independence.
Our design/build firm consists of both designers and craftspeople, which enables us to seamlessly transform design concepts into reality. We guide our clients to help visualize their dreams, but we also widen the conversation by highlighting possibilities that may otherwise not have been considered – such as wellness, sustainability, environmental stewardship, and biophilia. We believe that true design is not just a concept, but a collaborative process that leads to a tangible reality - which is why what we design, we build.