Consideration of sustainability is now vital in the role of the modern architect.
We believe it should be looked upon in a holistic sense, considering how our buildings and lifestyles affect our social, cultural, environmental and economic living conditions.
When applied directly to a building, this can be through:
- Designing energy efficient buildings with correct orientation to the sun
- Use of renewable technologies and micro generation such as biomass / ground source heat pumps
- Introducing sufficient thermal mass to buildings to act as a thermal store so reducing heating requirement
- Ensure a balance of glass to solid walls for heat loss /gain
- Low maintenance, locally sourced materials that are both sustainable and durable
On a wider scale, we are also interested in creating sustainable communities with a high quality streetscape, well defined amenity space and facilities with local cultural ideals at their heart to ensure the areas are safe desirable places to live.