Vermont Architect – Robert Swinburne

I’m Back from Cape Breton Nova Scotia and feeling slightly tired. The scenery was amazing and I got a 3 1/2 hour bike ride on the Cabot trail (through all the good parts) which was amazing. We stayed one night at Meat Cove and the rest was with the in-laws at a farmhouse on a dirt road in Port Dauphin. There was an empty rocky beach across the road where I had the profound pleasure of watching the sun rise over open ocean on a clear morning.


I found it particularly interesting to study the residential landscape of the Canadian Maritime Provinces as well as the scenic landscape. The residential areas where real people lived (as opposed to us tourists) reminded me of the Maine of my youth. The farther you get from Wal-Mart, the less “stuff” people have in and on their yards. Not just “toys” which seems to be a big cultural difference between Southern Maine and Vermont (the two areas I’m most familiar with) – (branch office in western Maine?) but also a difference in landscaping. The new American northeast approach seems to be to have many trees and shrubs and flower beds rather randomly punctuating an expanse of lawn. What I saw on Cape Breton was much simpler and cleaner. Many if not most houses didn’t even have plants around the foundation, almost unthinkable here in the states. The effect was very serene and peaceful. The houses as one would expect were much smaller and more compact as well. I probably should have snapped more photos but that would have slowed us down considerably and probably not gone over so well with the others in the vehicle.
I think I may have to take a vacation every year.

Most clients say they want either a bigger house because they have kids or a smaller house because the kids have left. It has been my experience over the past few years that 2000 square feet is unacceptably small for most clients. Unfortunately, I most love designing houses in the 1200 to 1800 square foot range. Mostly, people either have too much stuff (oh the stuff I’ve seen) or are simply used to a large house. Try fitting the retired couple into a 2000 square foot house when they have just spent the last 40 years in a 3000 square foot house. They may initially like the idea but when it comes right down to it, they can’t make the mental adjustment. Even if I come up with a floor plan that functions much better than what they have been living with.

Just a small thought. Perhaps I should collect more along these lines. “traditional” design (which is usually not actually very traditional) seems to limit one to creating spaces that are “nice” and “pleasant” and “functional” which is enough for some people. But it is hard, especially when faced with a fantastic view or outdoor space, to create a space with amazing emotional impact within the confines of traditional design.

My architect colleagues will do some nodding here.
Sometimes you have to know when to run screaming from a project or risk losing your shirt to someone who probably makes six times your income.
-If I client is in a hurry, step away
-If a client refuses to divulge budget numbers, back away
-If a client has unrealistic expectations and refuses to listen to reason, turn and start walking
-If a client wants something for free run for your life!
The mistake I have made in the past is thinking I can change someone. If this sounds like the stereotypical doomed personal relationship then BINGO. I am limited in my abilities to educate a potential or new client as to the architectural process and rely on references in the form of previous clients and builders (I always give out a list) If after all this, it is clear that the client hears what they want to hear and nothing more or less than it is time to exit stage left.
An example: A few years ago I was hired to do an addition to an old Vermont cape. The addition was to have a large family room, two studies, a bedroom suite with closets and bathroom, a utility room, a porch etc etc. This is a LOT of square footage. I found that I could make a floor plan that made them happy but the resulting massing and scale was far off no matter what I did. I got fired from the job and lost my shirt to someone who can not only afford a second home in Vermont but can afford to renovate and add on. Mental note: future Woe-Is-Me post – why didn’t I become a New York architect so I could afford to live in Vermont. In retrospect, I realized that what they were looking for visually was irreconcilable with what they wanted for a program (the floor plan spaces) The addition was to replace a small shed ell which was quite cute and a good match for the old cape and my job was to make the new addition just as small and cute despite containing 4x the space. Impossible. There will always be someone else who will tell them they can do it. Either an architect or designer who is a better salesperson than me and will do fanciful renderings with lots of flowers that make it look okay or a builder who will say “lets just figure it out as we go” and exude confidence all over the place. Yuck. I must assume they found such a person.

Architecture is one of those professions where the more you know the more you know you don’t know. Many architects don’t know this. There are some who “float” and others who are in a constant state of continuing education. I am reminded of this by the large number of architects who state on their websites “We have always been green” but then you look at their projects with a trained eye and see otherwise. Geothermal heating or solar Photovoltaics on a house with 2 x 6 walls, probably insulated with fiberglass batts is an infraction I commonly see. Those architects who read this and don’t see the hyppocracy in this example would be the example of “floaters”

My own home is 900 s.f. with two bedrooms and a bathroom. We have lived there for 9 years. There are occasional mini-crisis over the one toilet. and I would like a large kitchen than the 9 foot “new york kitchen” we have. Also a mudroom would be nice. We will add on someday and double the size of the house. I rarely let clients see my home because after moaning to me about how their own 2000 s.f. house is way too small and they need more space, they might get embarrassed and “disappear”

We invested in a really good sleeper sofa – it is our guest bedroom.

I just stuck this post over at GreenBuildingAdvisor.com

This is more of a musing than a question. When building a new home would it be more environmentally responsible to forego the triple glazed windows and put the saved money into insulation upgrades on neighbor’s houses? 10 or 20k would go a long way. Likewise, who is greener? someone who builds a net zero house with 40k of PV. or someone who donates 40k to weatherization programs or even buys 4 solar hot water systems for four neighbors?

I don’t run into this phenomenon as often as I suspect my more urban counterparts but when I do, it is disturbing. People put all their hopes and dreams about their new home through the filter of what the next owner will think. Or worse, a set of requirements their realtor or builder is telling them they must have for the house to re-sell. A rather obvious assumption here is that the real estate market will not come out of the feedback loop it is currently in although all signs are pointing towards that happening soon and in a big way. Will what sells in 2009 be the same as what sells in 2029? I don’t think so. Never having been in this position personally, maybe I’m missing something in the psychology of it all. Maybe people are watching too much TV. I suppose I should add “duh” here.

Quite a number of articles have come across my desk recently about how “boomers” in particular but also “millenials” and other age groups are demanding smaller more economical and efficient homes in exponentially increasing numbers. The large scale builders are taking notice and adjusting to accomodate. I guess cleaning three or four bathrooms every week gets old. – remind me to explain my butts to toilets ratio theory of American economics – remind me to invent one to explain.

11/5 Time article
ran across this good article about market forces on home size – Downsizing

Some notes on windows to be filed under “opinions and musings”.
In the past several years I have designed some houses with large window quantities although not necessarily in terms of the area of glazing to floor area ratio. I often use lots of smaller operating windows and some large fixed windows, often mulled together so they install a one unit. Usually there is some push-back from the client because the number of windows is a clearly quantifiable beast which makes it fair game for the budget axe. Windows (fenestration) are much more difficult to get right than floor plans so I spend a disproportionate amount of time and worry getting them right. Typically the contractor will point out that “there are an awful lot of windows” in this project and the client will then come to me and ask “why” and can we “lose some windows?”. Tough thing to hear after putting in so much effort to get them right. The window budget typically represents about 5% of the overall so it is not really a big deal. And also, and typically, (grumpy sputtery architect time) triple glazed windows are completely out of the question because when it comes right down to it, people care about the environment until it affects their granite countertops or 4 bathrooms or huge bedrooms (another blog another day) I have had the satisfaction over the past few years of having the clients understand and appreciate the window decisions I made during planning when they see the real thing built. Sometimes the client will even add a window or two.

This is something I run into fairly often. I am asked to design a home in a location that has a beautiful view and the client wants every room to have equal share of that view. Oh, and nothing may obstruct that view (trees, porch posts, mullions in windows, other parts of the house). Booooring. It is much more lively and interesting to break up a big view into vignettes so that the various locations in the house have variable relationships with the view. This is much more a part Eastern landscaping philosophy than the Western expansionist ideal. (which often includes random acts of shrubbery) The eastern philosophy says that the view starts at the end of your nose and extends to infinity. It also includes what you don’t see but know is there. The Western view is “I need to see as much of the mountains as possible from every room in the house (and outside). Those trees are in the way – off with their heads”. Side note: I heard that Tim Burton is working on an “Alice in Wonderland” movie! There should be one spot that takes it all in but this should be a place that you have to go to so the view doesn’t become a part of the humdrum of everyday routine. This is just a small philosophical lecture that I usually lose in the end but I thought I’d write it down and file it under “mutterings”

Yesterday I attended a workshop put on by NESEA, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association entitled “Residential Retrofits for Energy Efficiency and Sustainability” by Larry Harmon.  Usually I have to travel to Boston or Burlington to attend these which can be costly and time consuming so it was nice to have one a mile down the road from my offices.  There was a lot of good information and Larry is an engaging speaker.  The big things that I came away with were the reinforcement of what I have been learning about air sealing, venting, and insulation.

1-Seal completely before adding insulation.  -  Most contractors or architects probably don’t grok the importance or level of thoroughness that is required here or realize the ramifications of doing a less than perfect job.  It is not just about energy loss and heating bills.  It is very much about how to make a house that will last 100 years or more.  There was much discussion and many slides of imperfect air sealing jobs and how they acellerated rot and mold problems.

2-Don’t ventilate your roof!  That was so 80’s and 90’s.  Now, ten or more years later we get to see the nasty ramifications of venting your roof.  yuck!

There was a lot of other information which I may add in here over the next few days and some of which was rather techy involving cost analysis calculations and BTU’s and therms, (oh My!)

What disturbed me as it often does at these events is the lack of local builders in attendance.  Of the 10% of local builders who care about building science and sustainbility issues, very few will go much further than a subscription to JLC.  I’m afraid that if I go out there and draw up plans for a house with an unvented roof or create specifications for enhanced air sealing, builders will simply refuse to follow the plans and convince the homeowners that the architect (me) is full of it.  It’s an issue that I’m sure a lot of other architects face as well.  Although I suspect that 90% of architects don’t really care about such things either.

Added the next day in response to a comment.

The presenter showed lots of slides of what happens when you leave a pencil size hole in the sealing of the attic before adding insulation. Basically air pressure turns it into an moisture laden air nozzle. All the moisture then condenses (dew point) on the sheathing and rots it through fast. Or it freezes on the underside of the sheathing then rains down on the insulation when it thaws.  Ventilation compounds this pressure effect.  The best method seams to be to bypass all these issues and spray the underside of the sheathing with closed cell foam which is what I specify on new construction and treat the attic as conditioned space.  Loose fill cellulose or fiberglass batts lose much of their insulating value when exposed to air movement.  Many independent tests in recent years have shown the temperature on the underside of the roof does not vary due to ventilation or no ventilation.  There were also slides of what happens when insulation is added to an existing house attic that previously had no problems other than high heat bills.  Suddenly the attic was cooler, the dew point moved to inside the attic and rot set in almost immediately.  board sheathing holds up better than plywood which holds up better than osb.

I get the feeling that as building science matures, ventilated roofs will become a way for architectural historians to date houses to a specific time period in the late 20th century and early 21st century.

This may come off sounding like more of a personal diary entry but oh well.

I have an intern arriving in a few weeks to work for me for the summer.  (woot!)  I am both exited by and nervous about the whole prospect.  I need to write down a plan of action including my expectations.  I have never before been an employer so to a great extent this is new territory for me.  I have been in a supervisory role both in an office setting and as a carpenter and those situations always went well.  (insert the usual grumbling about having to train someone who is relatively clueless but earning much more than me)  I am hoping that the experience will be not only fun and profitable but force me to introduce more rigor into my working habits.  If I have to be more organized for him then I will have to be more organized myself and I could always use more of that.  I tend to be highly productive but disorganized in my workflow plans.  I have lots of work but of course I am worried about it all drying up instantly.  I would love to get another whole house commision or super cool, green and mod addition/renovation right now but will be fine if I don’t.  That’s all, I have go to hang up all my awards and distinctions and diplomas etc. to properly impress  and intimidate the intern when he arrives.

On a side note, I have been reading lots of case studies about architectural firm startups and have discovered that I am doing it all wrong!

okay, lets see if this can get me into a few good arguements!
my square foot standards for house size:
Tiny < 750
Small 750-1500
medium 1500-2500
LARGE 2500-5000
immoral and irresponsible >5000

I would perhaps make an exception to the last category for adopting a large quantity of children.

I like to throw about the term “functional square feet”  I hate it when people come to me with a list of specific room sizes.  I also don’t mind designing a large house when I know it’s going to be filled with children and in-laws and  parties.  If you try to design too small, you get into the issue that the house may not be flexible enough.  Hopefully the house will be around a few hundred years and who knows what families will live there.  If you design a 1200 square foot house that fits the current client perfectly, what happens 20 years down the road when somebody else adds on?  I would rather focus on the idea that a good house should:
1. last 300 years
2. use very little energy to maintain / heat / cool
3. be flexible enough in plan to adapt to a wide variety of occupants, not just the current ones.
4. be responsible in materials usage.  No granite from half way across the country, No non FSC  tropical wood etc.
The actual size is secondary to all these.

December 09 update:
When I travel to Maine for family shindigs, I find myself looking at all the “housing stock” between here and there. about 30% of houses are under 1200 s.f. or so and have 1.5 bathrooms max. I then start to think about all the large happy families raised in these small homes, kids sharing bedrooms, waiting for the toilet etc. Clients who come to me – whether they have any money or not – all would be horrified at the thought of their kids sharing a room or sharing a bathroom with their kids or “guests” or not having an “away room” (thanks Sarah Susanka) It is the sad state of where our culture has taken us. I suppose one could say that being an architect isolates me from the lower financial half of society.

Pergola in Purgatory – Brattleboro Reformer article.

The neighboring town of Wilmington just erected a lovely little pergola in a park where an old building burned down at the main intersection.  Wilmington is a minor tourist trap on the way to Southern Vermont Skiing complete with historic buildings repurposed as restaurants and souvenier shops.  Some folks think that the new pergola looks, well, new.  As if the vinyl siding, all the shop signs and the monster Rite-Aid don’t look new.  so I wrote a reply to the reformer article.

“I was sad to see the Reformer article on the petition to remove the pergola in the park in Downtown Wilmington but I wasn’t surprised..  People in Vermont are, on average, as conservative architecturally as they are liberal socially.  I am also not so ignorant that I don’t understand that anachronism and nostalgia sell and if your town is a “tourist trap” you need a certain amount of it.  In Wilmington, if you stand on the corner at the intersection of  9 and 100 where the pergola is and you ignore the cars, the touristy signs and forget about the Right-Aid up the road, use some imagination and squint a bit you can see a bit of old Vermont.  People also come to Vermont for Art and the pergola brings to Wilmington a much needed liveliness that tells visitors that Wilmington cares about art and not just kitsch.”

It just occurred to me that my own house is almost net zero.  We use no fossil fuels.  We heat with wood grown and havested on our own property (by me – gas in the chain saw) and use a modern high eficiency wood stove.  we use a few hundered dollars of additional electricity for the radiant ceiling panels, mostly when we are away for a few days in the winter.  There is no other heat system and we don’t need one.  I have about r40 fiberglass in the attic and our walls are 2 x 4 with (not very intact) fiberglass batts. windows are single glazed with aluminum storms and an additional layer of plain glass by me.  no low e.  In short,the house is insulated to an average level and does not meet code for new construction.  We heat our hot water and cook with electricity and use 500 to 700 kilowatt hours per month.  With the addition of photovoltaic panels, we could achieve net zero!

I will probably read this post tomorrow and pull it. I just came in from a midday bike ride during which I thunk things.  Before my ride I was poking around the Thermotech windows web site.  Thermotech makes very nice triple glazed, orientation tunable (heat gain) windows that work very nicely in our primarily heating local climate.  I would love to use them on a project but they cost 1/2 again as much as Marvin Integrity windows which are also very good windows but only double glazed and designed to block solar heat gain.  So on a typlical 300 or 400k house that means 30-40 k in windows versus 20 to 30k. This is the grumbly architect part: Clients typically come to me with a budget and a non-negotiable wish list. Sometimes (usually) the two are incompatible.  Always the client says “I want to go green!”  Always the first thing to go is the triple glazed windows, not the third bath or the granite countertops.   When it comes down to it, very few people are really willing to “go green” if it affects their desired lifestyle.

Business is generally good for me despite the economy.  I have work enough to keep me busy but I do get nervous.  Right now I have four houses on hold for one reason or another.  If everybody calls and says “go” next week, I will be in big trouble. Also, if nobody calls in the next few months I will be in big trouble although the phone does always seem to ring.   I have a colleague working on getting Vermont Simple House up and running. (Vermont Simple House is my fledgling and not yet up-and-running stock plan business with huge potential)

I have been noticing a trend in my contact with clients and potential clients in the past several years.  the statistics mean nothing due to the small numbers involved. It seems that older people are often more adventurous and less conservative than younger people when it comes to architectural style.  young couples send me messages from thier I-phones while driving around in their Prius’s saying ” eek! – too modern looking” and the older folk are saying ” what if this wall were entirely glass?

I have been absent from the blog for a few weeks as life got even busier.  I am setting up a small office in Brattleboro at the old Cotton Mill. The Mill is filled to capacity with artists, musicians, woodworkers, massage therapists, dogs, a circus school, a jazz center and other similar organizations and businesses – a very fun place.  This working out of the (not so) spare bedroom in my home has its advantages and drawbacks. I cannot meet with clients here and I am finding it increasingly difficult to put in the hours getting work done.  As my business grows I need to feel and act and be more professional.  That was the plan for my barn but the barn seems to be on the slow track as I have very little time to work on it.  Moving my operations is a pain but exiting as well and I have a rediculous number of new projects. In this age of connectivity I can get help with my work from architecture school classmates on an as needed basis and this will be the first step in the growth of my practice. The next step will be hiring an intern next summer.  I already have someone lined up and needed a place for him.  I am a bit scared and very exited to think about where I will be in two years or five.  The response to this blog and my website, both of which are less than a year old, has been very positive. I think I’m onto something and after years of doing good and plentiful work in relative obscurity in the local economy, it seems to be time to step out on a bigger stage.

Here I am at a coffee shop in Williamstown, MA checking my e-mail, charging my laptop batteries and waiting for some folks to arrive for a meeting. My home has no power or phone and I will be surprised if we get either by the weekend. Cell phones don’t work within miles of my house. Such is Vermont. So I really have been incommunicado since Friday except for these forays into town. Perhaps a generator would be a good Christmas present after all. I noticed more neighbors have them this year. The folks down the road have solar photovoltaics and micro hydro so they’re fine. We’ve all been through the drill before. Candles, a woodstove to cook on and heat the house with, hauling water from our spring, lots of chainsaw work. The neighbors on our road were all out Friday morning clearing the road with chainsaws and plows but the power lines are all over the ground under trees and propped up with sticks where they pass over roads. The hardest part, really, is the food in the basement freezer. It is too warm to put it outside so I chopped some ice out of the pond and put it in the freezer. We freeze a lot of food in the fall, being the dutiful homesteaders and overzealous gardeners that we are. My two year old daughter is way into headlamps so she is fine. Yesterday, we visited friends with power (FWP) to take showers and do a load of cloth diapers. (yes, we really do practice what we preach eco-wise although no prius yet) We really should (and do) consider ourselves privileged to have electricity and telephone 97% of the time.

Random note along the lines of why I live where I do and work from home: Last week I put on my lightweight winter boots (there was snow on the ground) and took the dog for an afternoon jog out to South Pond which is a few miles on trails through the woods behind my house. On the way we encountered the local female moose who seems to be getting rather used to us by now. I had my head down as I ran and nearly ran right into Ms. Moose. Peter Q Puppy enjoyed the chance to bark at her and send her on her way but she hardly seemed intimidated and just sort of wandered off. Mental note: moose are big. I returned home, split a little wood and returned to my work. Good day.