A collaboration with David Van Hoy, Architect.

We do, and have done, lots of sustainable design work.  We really enjoy this, and see the goals of using sound materials and less energy as no different than goals of having a project be structurally sound, functional and visually pleasing – it is simply part of what is required for good design.

Often we look for opportunities to have the technologies of the home do more than just fulfill their functional role.  One example is with photovoltaic panels.  Usually these are placed on the roof and operate from then on in obscurity.  Integrating the PV’s into the design to reap additional benefits can expand their role and even help educate about their importance in improving energy performance and lessening reliance on fossil fuels.

To this end, we are big fans of new and emerging products like bifacial photovoltaic panels, which sandwich the active PV modules between two layers of tempered glass.

The result is a PV panel that is clearly identifiable from the underside, and uses both sides of the panel to collect up to 30% additional sunlight/electricity per square foot than conventional single-sided systems.

On the LEED Platinum  Coyote House, the design incorporated these type of PV’s into a rooftop mirador trellis, where it provides dappled light and shade to make a comfortable place to take in the ocean view. From trellises to carports to facade systems, these types of new technologies can be integrated into design to help make functional and dynamic places to be.

We think it is a tremendous compendium of information and a well documented owner’s side account of the process and decisions on one project from start to finish.  The time-lapse video is cool as well.

While most published articles on custom homes aren’t very forthcoming about actual costs, problems/challenges, and all the other hard learned lessons that occur, the blog is complete with info and details in nearly all areas of the process, including a full accounting (with spreadsheets) of every purchase that was made and when.  Interesting stuff and a great resource.

Though song references like the Beatles “Blackbird” are a common guess, Blackbird is a reference to the poem “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens. The poem is listed below for all to form their own impressions. To us, the thirteen stanzas speak toward a way of looking at life thoughtfully, and to the act of seeking and creating meaning both through our surrounding environment and in our relationships.

We feel that the practice of architecture is by nature a collaborative effort, and always larger than a single person. When principal and founder Ken Radtkey started the firm, he intentionally steered away from more conventional surname-based titles for these reasons. We’ve used our name as one means to inform our efforts and allow everyone within our practice to endeavor toward the creation of inspired, sensitive design.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

Wallace Stevens

I
Among twenty snowy mountains,
The only moving thing
Was the eye of the blackbird.

II
I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

III
The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.
It was a small part of the pantomime.

IV
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.

V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

VI
Icicles filled the long window
With barbaric glass.
The shadow of the blackbird
Crossed it, to and fro.
The mood
Traced in the shadow
An indecipherable cause.

VII
O thin men of Haddam,
Why do you imagine golden birds?
Do you not see how the blackbird
Walks around the feet
Of the women about you?

VIII
I know noble accents
And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
But I know, too,
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.

IX
When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

X
At the sight of blackbirds
Flying in a green light,
Even the bawds of euphony
Would cry out sharply.

XI
He rode over Connecticut
In a glass coach.
Once, a fear pierced him,
In that he mistook
The shadow of his equipage
For blackbirds.

XII
The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

XIII
It was evening all afternoon.
It was snowing
And it was going to snow.
The blackbird sat
In the cedar-limbs.