Ghost Lab 13: Promoting Locavore Architectural Design



Attendees of Ghost Lab 13 Conference
June 14th - 17th, 2011
Shobac Farm
Halifax, Nova Scotia


This summer Bill traveled to Canada to attend an annual conference hosted by Brian MacKay-Lyons, of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, on his nearly 60-acre farm, Shobac. Discussions included "commitment to place" in response to globalization, and the dedication to architectural design focusing on local building materials and the skills of local tradespeople everywhere.

Architectural Record featured an online article about the conference, in February this year, before the event took place: Ghost Lab 13: Plotting a New Course for Architecture.

Honor for Haiti

With land already secured and numerous avenues for development in the works, FONHOH (the Honor for Haiti Foundation) led by Marky Jean-Pierre is making great strides in the ongoing effort to rebuild a stronger Haiti.

Austin Design inc and  Joan Rockwell & Associates offered a pro-bono conceptual design which was presented yesterday to an excited team of local professionals and Haitian representatives.

Memorial Future

Shelburne Falls Memorial Hall, home of Pothole Pictures and Metropolitan Opera simulcasts, is in the beginning planning stages of a major renovation including; energy upgrades, new seating, theatrical upgrades and other improvements.

Austin Design provided some pro bono visualization and planning help in order to get the project off the ground and we look forward to helping make this project a reality.

Town of Worthington

Chris Palames, Accessibility Specialist, and Austin Design have teamed up together to assist the Town of Worthington with its ADA Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan. 

On Friday, June 10th, we met with Evan Johnson and Peggy O'Neal at the Worthington Town Hall to discuss the approach and processes involved with bringing a town's public spaces up to code in all matters of accessibility.

Chris Palames explained that in the town's current state there would be structural barriers and non-structural barriers to those with disabilities, along with structural and non-structural solutions. For example, a structural solution is to build a ramp that leads into a public space where only stairs existed previously. A non-structural solution, on the other hand, is to move an activity to an accessible location in town if the first location chosen was not an accessible one.

Throughout the morning we moved around the Town of Worthington's public spaces documenting, noting, and measuring entrance ways, walkways, thresholds, types of door handles, wall protrusions (especially dangerous to the blind, in particular if the protrusion protrudes away from the wall more than 4" and is above the height where a cane can detect it), slopes of ramps, handrails, bathrooms, designated handicap parking spaces, turnaround room for wheelchair accessibility, sink/mirror/counter heights, quality of the materials of flooring, walkways, ramps, and more.

Northampton Deep Energy Retrofit

 Sketchup rendering of proposed home

Great progress is being made on a client’s home near downtown Northampton, MA.  Implementing architect Bill Austin’s designs for this custom Arts-and-Crafts home, are builder Joe Kayan and his crew. The homeowner, Bill, and Joe are working closely together to ensure the new house is extraordinarily energy efficient.  The craftsman-style house is slowly taking shape as the former ranch home sheds its old skin and comes nicely into its new look. The new energy-efficient house will feature:

• R-60 attic ceiling
• R-36 exterior walls
• R-38 basement ceiling
• U-0.30 Marvin windows
• Ground-source heat pump for forced hot air and DHW
• Natural daylighting throughout

Then: Front Facade (South)

 Now: Front Facade (South)

Then: South-East Corner

Now: South-East Corner

Then: East Facade

Now: East Facade

Then: North Facade

Now: North Facade

Then: North-West Corner

Now: North-West Facade

Then: Partial West Facade

Now: Partial West Facade

Solar Charging Stations

Duo-Gard is a leading company in the development of solar-powered charging stations for cars, bikes, scooters, carts, and motorcycles. For more information on these net zero energy charging stations: Duo-Gard Net Zero Energy Solar Charging Stations.

The U.S. Department of Energy has good information on Electric Vehicles (EV's) and locations of EV charging stations across the United States. To read more on this, please click here: Electric Vehicles and Charging Station Locations.

Currently, out of the three EV charging stations in the state of Massachusetts, one is located  at the Courtyard Marriott Hadley hotel in Hadley, Mass. This station is at the 240V level and includes these other EV charger standards.

XPS & EPS Insulation Poses Global Warming Threat

The article, Calculating the Global Warming Impact of Insulation, by Martin Holladay of Green Building Advisor, discusses the pitfalls of some types of insulation that actually contribute to the global warming of our planet.