RMC_DG Homepage News

RMC_DG Voted Best Architect! (runner-up)

R. Michael Cross — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:09:00 +0000

Thanks to all those who voted for us in Washington City Paper's Best of DC poll this year. We are very excited to report that we are a runner up for:

Best Architect

We congratulate the winners Wiebenson & Dorman Architects PC (aka 410 Good Buddy?) and are flattered to share the runner up position with Fox Architects who are just slightly above our weight class.

This award is very special to us because while we have been fortunate to have had several of Washington City Paper's "Best of DC" businesses as clients over the last few years and have worked closely with Allenbuilt Inc who has been consistently ranked as DC's Best Contractor, we have never had a category in which to compete for a title of our own.

We will keep doing what we are doing and will look for your support again next year when we hope to be crowned Winner!

Vote us Best Architect in Best of DC 2013 Poll!

R. Michael Cross — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:35:00 +0000

We have been fortunate to have had several of Washington City Paper's "Best of DC" businesses as clients over the last few years, including Cakelove, Komi, Kim Weeks, and the owner of Tryst, The Diner, and Open City. Furthermore, we have been proud to do so while working on multiple design/build projects with AllenBuilt, Inc., who has been consistently ranked as DC's Best Contractor or a close runner-up for many years. This list has become a DC institution and while we have taken pride in being part of our clients success, we ourselves have not been been able to participate until this year when they introduced the category of

Best Architect.

We feel we have made a possitive impact on DC through our work with all our clients, including those who have previously been recognized as the Best of DC over the past 6 years. Our accessibility, tools, and talents set us apart and we feel this make us a strong candidate for the title of 2013's Best Architect in DC.

Vote for us and all your favorite venues and services today and encourage your friends and family to do so as well. Use the following link for quick & easy voting: http://goo.gl/JAIKB

Thanks!

DC Home Renovation Images

evan — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:13:00 +0000

Embassy Row Kitchen Reno

evan — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:52:00 +0000

The Documentary

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:49:00 +0000

Did you miss the broadcast last week? Well as luck would have it, the internet exists! Now you can watch it over and over again. Many thanks to the fine folks at Adcraft, Resort Media and Virginia Currents for making this whole documentary happen!

The Augusta Project Documentary from Adcraft Marketing on Vimeo.

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Virginia Currents

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:28:00 +0000

Get out your calendars, limber up your fingers and get ready to program those new fangled digital tivo machines: the Augusta Project: The Documentary (very unofficial title) airs on this Thursday, April 8 @ 8:00 PM! And other days too! Check these listings per the Hollyport Ventures press release:

A 30-minute documentary chronicling The Augusta Project will air on Virginia Currents on the following PBS stations:

Virginia:

WCVE Richmond and WHTJ Charlottesville: Thu. 4/8 @ 8:00 PM

WHRO Hampton Roads/Norfolk: Tue. 4/13 @ 5:00 PM and Thu. 4/15 @ 5:30 PM

WBRA Roanoke: Sun. 4/11 @ 1:00pm; double check local listings

Mhz1 (WNVC-DT) Northern Virginia: Sat. 4/10 or maybe Sat. 4/17 @ 7:30 am ; double check local listings

WVPT Harrisonburg: check local listings

DC & Suburban MD:

check local listings

West Virginia:

West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Sunday, 4/11 @ 12:00 PM

-ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

The Future's So Bright...

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:00:00 +0000

"Things are going great, and they're only getting better"

Richmond is great, and there might be no better time of year to live in old Fist City than sweet sweltering Summer - so long as you can handle the suffocatingly warm embrace of Humidity. In preparation the Augusta Project has recently donned a pair of shades, and while my suggestion of a tasteful tortoise-shell finish was unwisely disregarded for a more trendy louvered shade (Kanye wears those, right? Yes. So zeitgeisty, this house.), the shades should do a decent job of keeping the summer sun off of those big kitchen windows while still allowing plenty of light through.

Specifically, we designed the louvered overhangs to provide shade across the entire window assembly at noon for the 15 days on either side of the summer solstice on June 21. The shades also get some help in the mornings from fairly large and leafy neighborhood trees. By designing to these constraints we allow the winter sun (which tracks at a lower angle) to provide some passive heat gains at the kitchen and master bath.

-ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Green Drinks!

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:08:00 +0000

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://cults.bandcamp.com/album/cults-7">Go Outside by Cults</a>

Hey everybody! It's nice outside!
If you have any interest in seeing the Augusta Project and/or meeting other area individuals interested in sustainability issues over a drink or two, we'll be hosting this month's Greendrinks at 4600 Augusta Ave on Thursday, March 18. Come on by! The home is in its final phases of construction allowing an opportunity to get a glimpse of what the finished product will be while still being able to discuss all the cool green building techniques and products that have been incorporated into the structure itself.

We'll also be hosting a month of informative open houses once construction is complete (per LEED AE1, natch) to promote local interest and awareness of green design. So there should be loads of warm and sunny opportunities to check out the house.

Throughout the project I've had to periodically remind myself of the larger goal of this project, and I think now is as good a time as any to really attempt to re-articulate it on paper- or, in this case, liquid crystal.

The Augusta Project is not a home for a private client; it will be sold on a supersaturated housing market. While not entirely absent, sustainably designed and built construction remains somewhat inaccessible in the region for a variety of reasons that I won't get into right now. To oversimplify a bit, our goal throughout has been to illustrate that good sustainable design is accessible. 'Accessible' is a pretty generic word, but we're essentially trying to remove as many obstacles as possible- real or perceived- from between home owners and sustainable design. We adopted a contextual aesthetic approach. Economically, the house has to compete with houses across the city. We continue our educational efforts through this blog, a VCA lecture, Greendrinks (next week!), future open houses and tours, a sort of home owner's "user manual," and an ongoing documentary.

Ultimately, for green design to be accessible, green designers and green builders have to be accessible. You'll find both at Greendrinks, Thurs. March 18, 5:30 - 7:30. Hope to see you there!

ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Augusta Project Featured in Richmond Mag

R. Michael Cross — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:40:00 +0000

While of course we see ourselves as an essential component of the city in which we live, we were none the less very excited to find ourselves listed in the 2010 Sourcebook issue of Richmond Magazine.

The R. Michael Cross | Design Group was founded with a passion for sustainable design and has been working for the last year to show its accessibility to the average home owner via basic best building practices through the design of Richmond's First LEED Registered Home: the Augusta Project. To chronicle the process and reach out to the like minded and/or curious within the local community and beyond, we launched a blog dedicated to the Augusta Project. As it turns out, it was the blog that caught the attention of the folks at Richmond Magazine, as it has so many in Richmond who share our excitement about all things green.

Stuffin' the Walls

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:06:00 +0000

Between holidays, deathblizzards and work, winter 2010 has been a busy but beautiful one here at R Michael Cross Design Group. Much has happened at Augusta Ave. since our last post in... November?!? Oh man.... Well, I think I'd like to break it down into a few not-so-chronological parts.

The main developments in the construction process have been:

the installation of plumbing work
the installation of electrical work
roofing & siding
insulation

Big strong men are slinging up sheets of drywall and bellowing epic Soviet marches AS I TYPE THESE VERY WORDS. Fact.

Okay, let's get down to brass tacks:

Electrical

While very important, addressing sustainability within the electrical scope of the house is fairly straightforward. You want to specify efficient fixtures and appliances, and you want to develop methods of switching, storage, and organization that prevent unnecessary electricity usage- "vampire power" or "phantom load" if you will. Tribble Electric and Ferguson were integral in helping design, develop and specify an electrical system. At the end of the day, your efficient fixtures won't help much if your actual lighting layout is inefficient. This is the sort of value that professional designers provide moreso than in-depth technical expertise.

Plumbing

Efficient plumbing has a little more method to it. Again, you want to select efficient fixtures and water related appliances. Kohler and Ferguson were very helpful to that end. In an earlier post we discussed the collection of rainwater for good old fashioned all natural American toilet flushin', but we haven't discussed the "structured plumbing" method for conserving potable tap water.

As you probably know, almost everyone who isn't a wartime sailor turns on the faucet or shower and waits for the water to warm up before washing. This is inefficient. In a structured plumbing system the goal is to reduce the distance between the faucet and hot water supply to less than 10'-0" by using a hot water loop with a remote activated recirculating pump. It's simpler than it sounds. The end result is that- instead of opening up the faucet and pouring half a gallon of water into the sewer- you press a button to activate the pump, then open the faucet to near-instant hot water. Waste is reduced to under 2 cups max.

Roofing & Siding
It's great to finally see the house with most of its clothes on. The roof is constructed primarily of recycled rubber shingles, with one flat section of high albedo TPO adhered to half an inch or so of insulation, and a sloped high albedo metal roof at the sunroom. We chose unfinished Nichiha fibercement siding as an affordable high quality alternative to Hardie siding. John Gray at Peak 3 Construction gave us our mitered corners. All is well.

Insulation
Honestly, the change from uninsulated to insulated house was possibly the biggest experiential change so far, besides the change from pile of sticks to framed house. I mean I walked into the house (empty that day) and immediately thought "I sure could take a nice mid-afternoon nap here right about now." Kind of weird, I know, and probably correlative to other things beyond my immediate environment, but if you know me really well, you know it isn't really something I'm good at, this napping. It's not that I dislike it- quite the contrary actually- I'm just no good at it. A useless napper.

We used Weatherseal to develop an insulation solution that fit both our insulation needs and our budget. We ended up with this pretty intricate solution involving three different types of insulation:

2x6 wall cavities filled with spray cellulose
Existing exterior brick walls sprayed with 1 1/2" of soy based closed cell spray foam (Demilec HEATLOK Soy)
Roof rafters filled with soy based open cell spray foam (Demilec SEALECTION Agribalance)

Using cellulose in the new exterior walls took advantage of our use of Dow SIS panels and allowed us to focus our resources on providing some sort insulation and sealing on the brick walls, and just insulating the living daylights out of the roof (couldn't be helped). The cellulose has the added benefit of being made of old papers and absorbing sound like crazy. Additionally we've also sealed all of the doors, windows, sill plates, king plates, etc. with low expansion spray foam or silicon caulk as appropriate.

On the design end we've been feverishly selecting, deselecting, and reselecting sustainable finishes and working out relevant details. This should all come to fruition rather quickly in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned for updates (I promise!)

For now, here's a gallery of the latest.

-ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Solar Panels vs HOA

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Be sure to check out our post on Solar Panels vs Home Owners Associations over at the R. Michael Cross | Design Group blog. While not an issue that came up with the Augusta Project, it definitely speaks to some of the thornier issues that can impede sustainable practices.

R. Michael Cross | Design Group Blog

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Study: Vented vs Unvented Roofs

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:23:00 +0000

Things are moving along at 4600 Augusta Ave: all of the windows and doors are in, and we’re quickly approaching the time to insulate. Pinning down the best method for insulation has been a surprisingly difficult process… while building science reports have increasingly advocated tight full-home conditioned envelopes using unvented roofs and conditioned attics, we’ve found contractors to be generally skeptical of the spray-foam technique, citing the lack of ventilation along the sheathing as cause for concern about shingle temperature and degradation. Shingle manufacturers themselves have expressed confidence in their products in the assembly; however, given the degree/prevalence of contractor pushback we decided to throw this one over to the R&D department here at R. Michael Cross | Design Group, and enlisted the invaluable help of Guy DuBois of Commonwealth Building Sciences for a sort of case study to examine the effect of underside ventilation (or lack thereof) on roof surface temperature.

To break this down a little, I should explain that vented attics were mandated by code for years as a means of preventing roof damage resulting from trapped moisture. In this method, insulation gets put down between the second floor ceiling joists, vents are installed in the eaves and gable ends, and the attic is left essentially unconditioned. There are a few main thoughts behind the original mandate: preventing the buildup of moisture during the colder months by allowing it to escape, and preventing ice damming at the eaves in the winter by keeping the entire roof cold. Dominion Power further explains:

At some point, the original purpose for attic ventilation was forgotten and/or replaced, in cooling climates, with the belief that it was to reduce roof and attic temperatures, thus lowering cooling expenses and increasing shingle life. This was further compounded by the leap of faith that increased or powered ventilation would be even better. While sounding logical, there is simply no research to validate it. In fact, scientific testing has shown that attic ventilation has almost no effect on roof surface/ shingle temperatures and very little effect on attic temperatures.

While Dominion’s research would seem to answer our question… we decided to move forward anyway. Because we’re scientists, dammit, and we need some of that good empirical stuff.

The key to unvented roof assemblies and conditioned attics is managing the temperature of the first condensing surface either with rigid insulation on top of the sheathing, or with an impermeable barrier of spray foam insulation adhered directly to the underside of the sheathing. In the case of rigid insulation, this keeps the condensing surface at the roof sheathing sufficiently warm (45°F) to minimize or prevent condensation. In the case of applied spray-foam, this moves the condensing surface from outside of the insulation (the roof sheathing) to the inside of the spray-foam, which is essentially self-insulated by the rest of the foam behind it.

This method of keeping the condensing surface below significant insulation also allows the exterior roof surface to remain relatively cool, preventing ice dams. Furthermore, the absence of direct attic ventilation helps minimize uplift pressure in high wind events.

To study the surface temperature performance of unvented roof assemblies compared to unvented roof assemblies, we constructed two 2’-0” x 4’-0” mockup sections of roof, one with two inches of spray-foam applied directly to the sheathing, one without.

From there we set the roof panels up at a 12:12 slope and set up matching heat lamps (250 watts). Guy spent some time calibrating the whole set-up, making certain both panels received equal heat exposure. After heating both panels for about 15 minutes, the heating lamps were turned off and initial surface temperature readings were taken.

We found that both panels had a surface temperature within 1°F of 181°F. We chose to continue measuring at intervals over the next half hour to see if the panels rejected surface heat at the same rate.

Ultimately, the panels performed almost identically, with the unvented panel cooling slightly slower, presumably because of the foam’s thermal mass. Measurements taken behind the panel showed an expected but marked difference in hot spots, with the insulated panel performing significantly better.

We admit that this investigation could have been more controlled, and that the panels may not exactly reflect the performance of an actual enclosed roof assembly; however this was a helpful exercise in essentially pointing towards a confirmation that unvented roofs won’t melt your shingles off. At the end of the day, we believe the positives of an unvented spray-foam assembly present a better solution for residential roofs in most situations.

We wish we had somewhat more conclusive results, and may still pursue further tests on these panels. In fact, we’d love to hear any of your suggestions and ideas for testing methods, or even general questions that you don’t think we have addressed. You can also email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com.

| ETM

The Augusta Project @ VCA

noreply@blogger.com (R. Michael Cross) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:32:00 +0000

Quick news
The Virginia Center for Architecture has invited the R Michael Cross | Design Group to speak about the Augusta Project: Richmond's First LEED Registered Home as part of their program series supporting their current exhibition The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design. We're flattered by the invitation and very excited to participate in this series.

The presentation is scheduled as a lunchtime lecture on November 24th from noon until 1pm and it is our great pleasure to announce that lunch will be provided by the fine people at Ferguson. Mark your calendars!

RMC

DC Kitchen Reno Images

R. Michael Cross — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:26:00 +0000

CLICK TO VIEW GALLERY

It is not common for us to have images of a private residential job upon completion (that don't have the painters elbow in the frame or cardboard on the floor) so we are very excited to have received this set from the contractor, AllenBuilt, Inc.

You can learn more about this project by visiting our website and clicking on CNS_KT under the Residential section of the Work gallery.

Ducts

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:40:00 +0000

CLICK IMAGE FOR GALLERY

A quick post on ducts: they are in. Be sure to check out Michael's images, which some describe as "happier" or "more vibrant" or "less Jersey" than mine. Well... so be it.

Deltatemp came back today to install the ducts. We designed a large utility chase into the house to allow the various systems to efficiently serve the two floors, and Deltatemp has installed an open system which will treat the chase as a return plenum instead of ducting return air from specific locations. If you look through the pictures you'll also notice the- uh- triple sealed duct joints - tape, then two coats of mastic- to pretty much eliminate air leakage. Also please note the particular care we've taken to make the ducts too small for spies, ninjas, most aliens, and/or Tom Cruise. Dennis Quaid a la Innerspace would have a go of it though- sans Martin Short, natch- until the MERV 13 filters... then he'd be stuck.

|ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Make It Rain!

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:30:00 +0000

CLICK IMAGE FOR GALLERY

The job site has come back to life in recent days, with windows and cisterns and actual magic, so I suppose it's well past time to fire up the ol' blog engine!

Jeremy installed the JELD-WEN double-hung windows in the new half of the house last weekend, and we're looking at two more weeks until the big units come in. All of the windows will qualify for the "Exceptional Windows" LEED-H Credit, which means that in the EPA North Central Region- which Virginia occupies (sorry secessionists!)- all windows must have a U-value of ≤ 0.32 and a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient of ≤ 0.40.

After yet another bout of massive hole digging, our 1,400 gallon cistern went in yesterday. Initially the thought was really just to catch rainwater from the roof and use it for drip irrigation; however, Richard @ Hollyport Ventures really pushed everyone to maximize our usage of this rainwater. Working with the very helpful Rainwater Management Solutions out of Charlottesville, the team developed a cistern design that will allow us to primarily flush the dual-flush toilets with rainwater instead of treated potable municipal water, and provides drip irrigation as a secondary cistern function. This should significantly lower homeowner utility bills as well as help reduce strain on the municipal storm water and waste water treatment systems. Look for future water efficiency posts as we install a structured plumbing system and low-flow fixtures.

This cistern system required Richmond City approval of a code modification request to allow use of non-potable rainwater inside the house for flushing toilets. Local government takes a lot of knocks, but the city was very receptive and responded quickly to our request, and we're really excited to see this degree of flexibility and decisive leadership downtown.

The water issue is particularly important in Richmond: the city has a combined sewer and storm water overflow. From the city's website:

"During dry weather, combined sewer systems carry all the sanitary flow to wastewater treatment plants. During times of rainfall, however, the amount of rainfall adds to the amount of flow going to the treatment plant. This heavier flow is greater than the capacity of the combined sewer system. When the flow exceeds, the capacity, the excess flow is discharged directly to the river at various overflow points in the sewer system. In Richmond, the major overflow points are found on the banks of the James River and Gillies Creek."

What's that? Are these overflow points near where you swim and fish and go on dates or take your in-laws when they visit?
Probably.

Along these lines, the city has a recent history of both smaller and more significant floods that stem from an inability of the existing stormwater system to deal with major rainfall events. We're still seeing and feeling the fallout five years after the Hurricane Gaston flood in 2004. While the city attempts to do its part, Richmond businesses and developers have an imperative to minimize demand from new buildings on an already overwhelmed system, and furthermore have the opportunity to actively reduce demand by incorporating strategies like green roofs and rainwater collection systems into existing structures.

|ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Geek Time

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:19:00 +0000

First, R. Michael Cross Design Group now has a website! Check it out using the link in the PROJECT TEAM section. Not on your iPhone though. Because it's Flash, and your iPhone hates Flash.

As you may have noticed, surmised or divined, onsite progress has slowed. This was of course inevitable. Fortunately that doesn't mean the project is at a standstill, but most of the progress right now is office progress while we wait for windows. This has given us an opportunity to get our plumbing situation in order, and we are very excited to be working with Kohler and Foster Plumbing and Heating as partners.

What has been pretty refreshing is how (a.) knowledgeable and (b.) psyched the partners have been so far. Jeff Foster @ Foster Plumbing & Heating has not only opened our eyes to even more plumbing efficiencies, but also took the effort to offset the carbon from his site visits:

It's encouraging to see local family businesses ready and eager for more sustainable practices, and I have to repeat that the local support in general for this project has been tremendous.

I think it should also be noted that the entire state of Virginia has only completed 9 LEED-H certified projects since the first pilot program in 2005, but has 29 in-progress registered projects as of today. While 29 isn't a particularly impressive number compared to the actual number of houses built in a normal year- although surely this is not a normal year- it does show exponential growth in Virginians' interest in sustainable housing.

You know what, I'm just going to geek out on more statistics here, largely because someone else has done the hard work for me. I stumbled across this blog recently and took a lot of interest in this map charting home prices against income (by Razib @ Gene Expression):

Now I'm certainly no economist, but it would seem to indicate a couple of things to me. During the period from 2005-2007:

One: The Richmond area appears highly affordable relative to, well, everywhere else in the country.

Two: The Richmond area seems primed for growth.

Who knows how all of this will look when the next set of census data comes out, but Richmond changes slowly, so I can't imagine a big change in the relative affordability of the area. I think many of us have some tales, probably some horror stories, to tell about recent rapid growth in the counties. If you're a Richmonder, you probably also have some frustrations to voice about the slow pace of desirable growth in the city. All of it really emphasizes the need for smarter growth, smarter design, and smarter everyday practices, and fortunately it looks like from residents to businesses to students, Richmond is ready for some leadership.

Alright. That's it for my proselytizing. I promise I'll be funnier next week.
Take care!

|ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

R. Michael Cross Design Group Website Launch

R. Michael Cross — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:33:00 +0000

R. Michael Cross Design Group has launched its official website. The launch of the website celebrates 2 years in business and over 40 projects completed. The website features some of their most recently projects, both residential and commercial, all which have been completed using the state-of-the-art Building Information Modeling software called REVIT. The website will be updated frequently, so be sure to check back in with us! R. Michael Cross Design Group is an architecture firm founded by principal architect R. Michael Cross. With licenses in Virginia, DC, and Maryland as well as LEED Professional Accreditation, R. Michael Cross looks to serve the region with sustainable design in both the residential and commercial sectors.

Check it out @ http://www.rmichaelcross.com

In The Trenches

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:34:00 +0000

So when we drew up the site plans for this house we sketched out a 150 foot line around the property for the geothermal trench. On the computer screen it's this nice tidy straight dashed line that pretty much just goes around the perimeter. Well - as it turns out - trenching 150 feet of dirt 5' wide by 5' deep is a substantially more, uh, brutal process than previously acknowledged on this side of the keyboard.

There is dirt everywhere- or at least, there was dirt everywhere. It's all back in the trenches now. Here's the process:

1. Dig this hole.
2. Lay tubing.
3. Fill hole.

Marty and his crew from Deltatemp did a great job explaining the process (in much more detail than I) and science behind geothermal heating/cooling. Everyone on the crew was ready to help explain, and after a little while I could see why: people driving, walking, biking by all seemed to have a specific curiosity about the geothermal system. Sure, they see the house, it looks neat, and they come in for a closer view, but what they really want to know about is this sign in the front yard that says "this house is cooled by the earth". Even our framer has been fielding geothermal questions for a week or so now. Again, it really speaks to this issue of the common building lexicon: most people don't question a condenser in the back yard, because that's just the way it is. Well, geothermal turns the back yard into a big condenser I guess.

Essentially, during the summer a heatpump absorbs the heat from your house and expels it to the outside air outside through a heatsink (generally a fan blowing through some metal fins). Just like this friendly DINOSAUR:

This is pretty inefficient, mainly because the outside air is already hot, otherwise you wouldn't have the air conditioning on. Also, note that dinosaurs died of bad design.

A geothermal heatpump absorbs the heat from your house and transfers it into the ground via a water loop running about 5' below the surface. The ground temperature at this level is fairly steady between 50-60 degrees. Waterfurnace has some diagrams here. NONE of these diagrams have dinosaurs.

I tried to get some shots of the process of laying and splicing all of the geothermal tubing, check them out in the gallery. We also had some more filming going down- I'll give more details on this when there's more to tell. And someone found a shirt sleeve. And a road.

Actually, I'll go ahead and talk about that a little, because I always hear about these ancient cities found beneath other cities, and my response is typically "did they not notice the other city there or something? How is this possible? Gigantic dirtblizzards?" But right here in the not sooo ancient Near West End of Richmond, Virginia, the big yellow machine is just cold digging up yard, and a couple of feet down hits... a road? The old roads are already a couple feet down.... I guess the term for this would be palimpsest. Now that's a real $0.20 word.

Update: The Augusta Project: The Blog! is in the Richmond Green Drinks newsletter this week! Per the google group site:

"Green Drinks is a simple and unstructured event where people interested in sustainability can get together to network, talk shop, learn something new, share something innovative or maybe even find a job! It's a great time to chat with folks you know or to meet new ones."

The next meeting is August 20th at The Camel, and is a great resource for Richmond. Mark your calendars.

Have a great weekend everyone!

|ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Inside Augusta

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:07:00 +0000

Well after another week Jeremy has almost all of the interior partitions up, minus drywall (natch). The house is entering the slower, more awkward middle-school years of construction, where we'll probably worry about whether it needs braces or is hanging out with the right kids....

This morning the DOW rep brought a whole crew of builders out to see the SIS panels in action, as it is a fairly new product and builders tend to approach new products with a fair degree of caution. While some described this sort of open house open-house as nervewracking, there was a lot of positive feedback. Although relatively basic, a lot of the framing efficiencies used so far just aren't part of common practice. And in the end that's really the goal of programs like LEED and EarthCraft: to try to make effecient, sustainable design part of common practice, or at least the common lexicon. The more that people ask about this sort of construction, the more builders and architects alike will start to look into it.

We're getting a lot of great feedback from/on the blog here too, which we really appreciate. Be sure to check out the Near West End News blog's quick write up here. I was having some difficulty deciding whether the project was in the Near West End or Across Boulevard, but fortunately Jonah over at NWEN found us!

Also for anyone with any interest in the process of becoming an architect, be sure to check out NCARB's piece on our own R. Michael Cross. His is the first in a series of interviews aimed at helping students and young architects- er, interns- navigate the once lonely labyrinthine hellscape known as licensure.

We're hoping to have a website online AND a big fat sign on site soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

| ETM

Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

R. Michael Cross Featured Architect on NCARB.org

R. Michael Cross — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:26:00 +0000

We are excited that principal architect R. Michael Cross has been chosen as the first in a series of architects to be profiled on the National Council of Architectural Registration Board website. As a young, board certified architect practicing in a tri-state region, R. Michael Cross is profiled for aspiring and emerging architects to better understand the path toward licensure and the benefits that board certification holds.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards is committed to protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public through effective regulation and exemplary service.When people think about the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards—or NCARB, as they are better known, they often think about the programs that they administer. Programs like the Architect Registration Examination® (ARE®) and the Intern Development Program (IDP) are a big part of what they do.

http://ncarb.org/Becoming-an-Architect/What-Its-Like/Cross-VA-Full.aspx

Framing Progress

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:58:00 +0000

CLICK!

Apologies for the delay in posting; it's been a busy week. As you can see in the photo, the second floor and the roof are already up with the blue SIS (Structural Insulated Sheathing) panels. Look through the gallery for more progress photos; while we didn't get any posts up, we still manged to get out and take pictures a few times this week.

This week has really illustrated that a huge part of designing "green" is really just designing accurately and economically. More on this later. Everyone enjoy your weekend!

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Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Wall Action!

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:47:00 +0000

CLICK!

Today was pretty exciting; we got to see Jeremy's progress and had a teevee camera out, just cold filmin' & framin'. Jeremy has made short work the first floor exterior walls; you can see a couple of the "advanced framing techniques" we've tried to incorporate to save materials and energy.

Also- as you may know- today was Friday, which here at rmcDG means Ronnie's feeds us. Fridays are good days.

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Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

First Floor Framing

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:40:00 +0000

CLICK IMAGE FOR GALLERY

Just a quick post to update and get some more photos up. Jeremy has framed out the first floor plate. Jeremy is a one man show, and I'm looking forward to getting some action photos up here soon: things are going to move fast over the next couple of weeks. We used open web wood joists for the spans (see gallery), which provide a lot of strength with a minimal amount of depth and material.

Everyone on this end is pretty keyed in on the prize, but for anyone else reading I thought it might be helpful to post an image of where we're heading:

This view is from Westmoreland heading towards Monument. Check the Google street view below for reference.

View Larger Map

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Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

THE FOUNDATION

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:55:00 +0000

CLICK IMAGE FOR FOUNDATION GALLERY

Friday the foundation was poured. The whole schedule was surprisingly precise; I mean you see these guys in these big trucks, looking pretty sloppy, like a Hardee's commercial somehow, but what you don't know is that they're usually right where they're supposed to be. It's all part of this giant lumbering beast that is the construction process where the guy in the boom truck needs to get there exactly a few minutes before the concrete mixer, who is usually at some other job until precisely 3:00, and has to get this job done by 4:00 to go to another job.... So this boom truck, with its extend-o-trunk concrete hose shows up and - no joke - has 'schwing' painted all over it. Who along the management chain gave this the green light?

Anyway... Glenn Turner & Johnny from Thermacrete poured the concrete into the ICF forms to make the foundation walls. If you haven't heard of it before, ICF is pretty much the love child of a beer cooler and a concrete masonry unit (see gallery), so naturally we like it. The foam formwork stacks up like legos, then stays in place to provide a pretty high insulation value. The concrete we used is a 30% fly ash mixture which is apparently crazy kinds of sustainable for reasons I will let the fly ash industry explain, but alas is NOT made out of the ashes of flies.

A minor blowout in one of the ICF forms provided the drama for the day, but everyone* stayed cool and collected. For my part, I reacted by attempting to fall into (perhaps through?) the foundation and surrounding deathmoat, but only managed to drop a couple of Michael's lenses into the footing (oops!). Michael's grandfather Dick on the other hand made several impressive leaps across the footing/foundation.

After the pour Dick, Richard (Hollyport Ventures), and Michael (rmichaelcross | Design Group) - heretofore known as 'Los Tres Cruces' - scurried around with tape measures and old 2x4s and helped the Thermacrete gentlemen shim some of the forms into place. Finally we put Glenn Turner's pocket change into the wet concrete, because Italians in Long Island do this. Take THAT Freemasons!

As of today, the first floor engineered lumber has been ordered and the mason is onsite laying the face brick around the foundation. We're hoping to get a couple of renderings up to show what this thing is supposed to turn into, so stay tuned.

*not everyone

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Thanks for reading. We'd love to hear comments, questions or suggestions either in the comments section or you can email us at blog@rmichaelcross.com

Groundbroken! (but not housebroken)

noreply@blogger.com (evan) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:56:00 +0000

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A GALLERY OF FOOTING EXCAVATION PHOTOS

After about a year of planning, designing, drawing, rigorous & varied ritual sacrifices, puppy acquisition, and precious final minutes seconds of triple checking, ground officially broke on The Augusta Project the morning of Wednesday, July 8th. Six days later, so has The Augusta Project: The Blog!

This is where we'll be posting updates, images, anecdotes - heck, maybe even some video!- docementing the renovation/construction process as well as the certification processes for LEED-H, EarthCraft, and God knows however many other merit badges our intrepid owner/builder over at Hollyport Ventures has his eyes on. We hope you're half as excited as we are... which is pretty excited.

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First project blog launched

R. Michael Cross — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:22:00 +0000

With the overwhelming support and interest surrounding Richmond’s First LEED Registered Home, R. Michael Cross Design Group has launched a blog and twitter feed that will chronicle the project as it progresses. The blog is largely narrated by project designer Evan Mackenzie, who brings energy and clarity to construction processes that may otherwise be uninteresting to the average reader. To follow the Augusta Project Blog, click here: augustablog.rmichaelcross.com

R. Michael Cross commissioned to design Richmond’s First LEED Registered Home

R. Michael Cross — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Under the direction of architect R. Michael Cross, LEED AP, Hollyport Ventures LLC is rehabilitating a home at 4600 Augusta Ave. in the City if Richmond. On March 30, 2009, the “Augusta Project” became the first application for residential certification of a Richmond property under the LEED® for Homes program sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) program is an initiative to promote the transformation of the mainstream homebuilding industry toward more sustainable practices. The Augusta Project, a 1938 structure, was built many years before most of the practices promoted by the LEED for Homes program were created, therefore posing many challenges. The goal of the Augusta Project is to renovate this home to meet the Gold certification level of the LEED for Homes program. By doing so, it will demonstrate that high levels of sustainable design are achievable in simple home additions and are accessible to the average homeowner. Key features of this project will include use of a geothermal heating, cooling and hot water system, passive solar elements, superior insulation, improved water management, efficient lighting fixtures, and other innovative design elements. To qualify for certification, a home must be built following the guidelines set forth by the LEED for Homes program and meet stringent performance and design criteria in eight specific categories. Michael Cross commented, “Even in the current real estate climate, we need to design for the future to ensure our homes are as energy efficient and environmentally responsible as possible. The history of this particular house makes it an outstanding showcase for the way current technologies can be used to upgrade the existing housing stock to the highest levels of performance.” Construction is expected to be complete by Fall 2009. In addition to architect R. Michael Cross, LEED AP, the design team will include Marty Felps, president, Delta Temp, providers of geothermal heating and cooling, John Gray, president Peak 3 Construction and Keith Whipple, waterstreetstudio, landscape architecture. Sean Shanley of EarthCraft Virginia will oversee compliance with the requirements of the LEED for Homes program. In addition to planning to meet the LEED for Homes certification, Augusta aims to be an EarthCraft House and meet the EPA sponsored Energy Star, Indoor airPlus and WaterSense requirements.

New Office in the Superior Production Exchange Building

R. Michael Cross — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:09:00 +0000

R. Michael Cross Design Group has emerged from the basement of the principal architects own home to occupy a small space in the Superior Production Exchange building. The space, not much larger than that which they had previously, exhibits the firms ability to design efficiently and economically.

Based in The Superior Building, a 36,000 square foot warehouse in Richmond's historic Shockoe Bottom, the Superior Production Exchange represents a unique coalition of 18 individual businesses in the city's media production industry. Joining forces, they hope to attract, maintain, and capitalize on energy and creative ambitions from where we live - in the greater Richmond region.
The assembled companies of the Superior Production Exchange boast national level creative and technical talents putting their skills to work right here.

Potomac Orthodontics Office Renovation Complete

R. Michael Cross — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:04:00 +0000

Already having helped orthodontist Dr. Mehdy Rad, DMD when he encountered a permit issue with his College Park, MD office, he called us to help with a larger project, a gut renovation of his Potomac, MD office. He had acquired the practice from an orthodontist who had been in the space for some time and while it had all the latest equipment when Dr. Rad took it over, the space itself needed a facelift. We performed an extensive analysis of his current work flow at both locations and as well as studied the ideal workflow of a stereotypical orthodontics office. The result was a diagram which we worked to fit into slightly awkward "T" shaped space. Dr. Rad sees dozens of patients a day, so our goal was to produce a space design generated directly by the workflow in order to maximize his team’s efficiency. The result is a dramatically different space, which allows him to be just a few steps away from every area of the office. We also achieved his request of opening up the office both to show its size and to provide transparency for the adults and their children. We maintained privacy only at the required areas and rethought traditional equipment placement in order to showcase his cutting edge technology. Dr. Rad is a specialist in Orthodontics, specifically for Adult and Child braces, Invisalign, and iBraces. Dr. Rad has many years of experience with state of the art technology to provide beautiful, precision orthodontics for Adults and Children. His practice is one of the very first Orthodontic practices in Potomac and in College Park.