When I invited Christine to have a conversation about sustainability, I thought the issue turned on climate change. I was wrong. It is about so much more than that.
Christine is a residential architect based in Shaker Heights, OH. Architecture has been her passion since she was 10 years old (no, that’s not a typo) and as she says in our discussion,
Architecture is my profession, it’s my passion, it’s my entire career, it’s my first, middle, and last career. And sustainability is a huge part of that.
When I asked Christine to explain sustainability, specifically as it relates to architecture, she referenced a book she read early in her career, a book first published in 2010 titled, “The Story of Stuff.” As she explained in our discussion, “the [amount of] resources that we are using on planet earth are not what the planet is regenerating every year. The earth is producing X every year . . . and yet we as humans are consuming a multiple factor of this every year. That is not sustainable. We cannot continue to do this.”
So I asked her: how does this relate to residential architecture? Her response was both detailed and fascinating.
Sustainable Residential Architecture
Christine took me through the design, engineering, and construction process for a sustainable residence. She began with a discussion of site selection and then described those sustainable design distinctive you could see . . . materials, native plants, the positioning of the residence on the lot.
Then she moved to a discussion of how a residence should be heated and cooled. Have you heard of passive designs? I hadn’t. How about strictly controlling not just air flow through the home but air flow into the home? Or the choice of appliances: Christine explained the environmental benefit of using electric appliances as opposed to those that use natural gas.
Of course, at this point in the discussion, I thought, “Okay, she’s done. She’s explained the design, engineering, and construction process.” Again, I was mistaken.
Christine pointed out that following the discipline of sustainability doesn’t stop here; in the case of home remodeling, one has to think about this:
Can the appliances that we’re removing be repurposed and used by someone else? How do we keep these usable appliances from simply being thrown into a landfill?
As she stated several times throughout our conversation, “we are stewards of this earth. It’s the only place we can live. We need to take care of it.” Indeed.
Interested in how Christine became an architect? Listen to this episode!
A Residential Architect Discusses Sustainability | Christine Medvedev | Ep. 2