Building with trees

I found a neat article in the New York Times about building with unmilled trees. It's another great example of building with less waste and more appreciation for the local ecology. The builder featured in the article forms structural arches with whole trees, and incorporates passive solar heating in his designs. This is a welcome alternative to a lot of what is seen in suburbia. Which is not to say that his particular designs will work everywhere, but that his design is formed by the local environment.

Designing residences based on the local environment is fairly common throughout history, but not in a lot of suburbia. I think part of the problem with a lot of suburban sprawl isn't simply the amount of land it covers, or the bland aesthetic uniformity (the "cookie-cutter" look) that it conveys, but also that the design of many of the houses doesn't vary much from Southern California to New England. The problem with that? Those are two different climatic regions, and one design of structure will not suit both of them. I realize that it is simpler (cheaper) for building firms to have one basic design of structure to build, but that isn't always going to be in the best interest of the person living in that structure in the long run. I also realize that there are local and state building codes that require certain features to be included or removed, but the designs are still often being created by architects who may never have been to the location in question. Finally, I realize that there are exceptions, and I applaud the architects who design housing with the specifics of the local environment in mind.

There is a great advantage to adapting to the local environment: less effort (a.k.a. energy, a.k.a. money) is required to keep things comfortable (or at least habitable) for the people living there. Take a look at the Passivhaus that originated in Germany for an idea of a more technology-intensive (though still energy-efficient) approach.