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Jim Logan Architects
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Jim Logan Architects
www.jlogan.com"There are a lot of people beating up on issues that are rendered effectively passé by climate change – there are people working on native species, or saving wetlands ... but if the climate changes, and it doesn't rain there anymore, there aren't going to be any wetlands, or any native species. It's almost like it's too late for some of those niceties. The ecology of the world is going to shift dramatically, and we're already there. Raise the temperature of the state of Colorado by 4 degrees on the average, and it's a different place. We don't have skiing anymore." – Jim Logan
"Modernism and postmodernism were all just ideas, but now we have this really important driving force determining what the architecture of this century needs to be about … sustainability is the driving force for a new architecture." – Jim Logan
Climate change is the most serious threat humanity has ever faced, because it will exacerbate the effects of all the other challenges which currently occupy us. It has the power to submerge cities, spread disease, drought and famine, and bring nations into desperate conflict – all within our children's lifetimes. The complex feedbacks of our climate system are delaying the effects of our reckless waste and carbon emission, so that we are being set up for an ambush of environmental fallout. Rapid climate change will cause immense suffering, especially among the poor. We in the first world, who have the leisure and privilege of design, also have a responsibility to develop and disseminate the methods necessary to slow this trend as much as possible. And we need to do it before we no longer have time to respond.
The built environment is responsible for 36% of the energy use and 35% of the carbon emissions in the U.S. And its impact has been growing – 48% of the increase in carbon emissions is due to the building sector. The residential sector alone generates 20% of the total emissions. As architects, we have great potential to reverse this trend. We need to invest talent and money now towards the evolution of an architecture which does not destroy us.
The best return on our investment comes through conservation. The first step in reducing carbon emissions is to reduce energy loads. To start, we need to refresh our expectations of how much building we need. Smaller houses use fewer resources, and generate less waste. For buildings of any size, there are time-honored techniques for reducing energy use, including solar orientation, glazing design, thermal mass, insulation, shading and daylighting. Fortunately, most of these techniques are both simple and aesthetically rewarding.
A building's components are another reservoir of energy. By making buildings durable, and their finishes rapidly renewable and recyclable, we can conserve building materials as well as fuels. With computer modeling, we can use materials with maximum efficiency, and emphasize those which are lowest in embodied energy throughout their life cycle. We also look to local materials and manufacturers as another way of saving energy from transportation. Currently, housing stock in this country turns over every 30 years, but entire buildings need not be scrapped at once. Foundations and structure form the core of our buildings, while finishes are designed to age gracefully, and to be easily replaced when the time comes. Windows and mechanical systems are integrated so that they are easy to repair and upgrade as technology evolves.
Local energy-harvesting technologies allow us to eliminate our reliance on nonrenewable fuels. Passive solar design, alternative cooling, and ventilation strategies serve the interests of load reduction while harnessing local sun and wind resources. Solar thermal panels are very effective in water and space heating, especially in combination with radiant floor transmission systems. Renewable electric sources, including photovoltaics, are becoming ever more available and affordable. Where clients and budgets allow, our office pioneers new technologies, but always builds on a foundation of simple and affordable green practices which we use in every building.
Green building needs drive building form. Orientation and shape are determined in part by solar access, but many solutions are possible. In this puzzle, a building becomes a many-variable equation with environmental constants. The solutions vary regionally, depending on latitude, cloud cover, seasonality, humidity, and topography. Our office has specialized in the cold, sunny climate of the Rocky Mountains, where our designs often naturally reflect the vernacular insights of old local buildings from times before cheap oil. Using computer modeling, we can evaluate our designs on the basis of energy use and carbon emissions, in order to find the total life-cycle costs of the building.
We have been part of the green building movement from its inception . As a builder during the late 1960's and the energy crisis of the 1970's, Jim Logan experimented with a range of pioneering green building projects – failures as well as precedents. Jim won an award for a solar house design in 1974 from HUD. In the late 80's he was the construction manager on the Rocky Mountain Institute headquarters in Snowmass, Colorado – still a popular destination of green building devotees. When Jim trained as an architect in the late 80's he studied issues of day-lighting buildings and bringing beautiful form to evolving energy and green technologies.
We view each project as a precedent – a demonstration of design and technique which forms a foundation for the next step in the evolution of green building. There is significant adaptive radiation from even a single project to the next generation of projects – in our office, in other offices, and across the country. This forward-looking approach is key to every effort to balance the immediate needs of the human community with the needs of future generations.