Design for a Sustainable Future
The way we design our homes for you and how they connect with the local community, space, and place hold immense significance to us. The harsh realities of the recent 2023 Vermont flood brought this clearly into perspective. With its effects in mind, we are trying to return to a new normal with how we design our homes, major renovations, and additions for you. What is the roadmap? It is unclear. The flood affects certainly highlight the importance of sustainable home design here in Vermont. We have work to do and design and building practices to reassess.
Design Process Diagram
The summer of 2023 Vermont flood devastated our downtowns, rural communities, and green mountains. It was a harsh wake-up call for us and our clients like you after the earlier flood from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 that we thought was a 100-year flood. The recent flood, twelve years later in Montpelier was just five feet below the record-breaking flood levels of 1927. It highlights the need to design and build for future storms and climate instability. We must change how we design and build our homes and develop our cities and downtowns. Collectively, we must make hard choices. As a society, we cannot afford nor sustain repeated rebuilding after devastating climate-change driven events like the 2023 flood. We must prepare, adapt, and change.
Every decision we make in the home design process with you and your family will influence the environment and our shared future. These decisions will also affect the well-being of your family and future generations that follow. Arocordis Design values modern design that is adaptive, beautiful, climate-friendly, and sustainable. Join us on the following journey to learn more about what modern design means to us, how, and why it matters.
The Essence of Sustainable Design: Nature Near
Sustainable design goes beyond aesthetics; it embraces an integrated approach that respects and preserves the natural world. At Arocordis Design, understanding your unique needs and aspirations as a family is at the core of our process. Sustainable design starts with site choice and thoughtful planning. At this stage, we will maximize connections with nature with sustainable site planning strategies, as well as the form and function of your home.
Interior Rendering from ZigZag2 Prototype Design
We design with you to harness sunlight and wind for passive solar heating and cooling and to frame spectacular views. We advocate for the use of rainwater harvesting and permeable paving surfaces in driveways and paths. This helps ensure responsible stormwater management along with planting areas that slow water from moving off your home site. We use these strategies with you to help nurture a harmonious relationship between your homes and the environment.
Often it is a better use of resources for you to consider reuse of an existing home and site, rather than building all new. Such reuse helps lower the carbon footprint and climate effects of a project. While collaborating with you in the design of your major renovation and or addition, the remaining construction will stay on site. This is far more climate positive than building an all-new home on a virgin site.
However, if your design brief includes a new home and site, we will work with you to reduce its long-term impact on climate and the environment as best as we can. Designing accessory dwelling units (or ADUs) or mother-in-law apartments also can come into play. They help increase community density and may create more sustainable, connected family units.
With your goals in mind, we will balance aesthetic and practical design factors in the detailed design of your project. Those include beauty, comfort, durability, energy efficiency, health, and wellness. We will collaborate with you to be deliberate and thoughtful with the choice of those details. Many exciting integrated decisions await. We'll help you choose levels of insulation, equipment, doors, windows, materials, and more for your home. We will function as guides by the side with you in this inspiring process. Along the way, we will advocate for upfront affordability, long-term sustainability, and value.
Modern-Inspired Design and Vermont’s Traditions
Our design philosophy combines mid-century modern-inspired home design with Vermont’s traditional farmhouse charm. Our work also pays homage to the region’s rich building traditions and agricultural landscape. The homes we design for you celebrate Vermont with our unique blend of modern and historic styles with contemporary convenience. We design our projects here in Vermont to reflect your family’s unique sense of place, site, and ties to the land. We like that the form of our buildings follows their function. The special appeal of the Modern Farmhouse form and idea also is strong in Vermont because it is possible to interpret it in so many ways. While extremely popular across the country, its roots lay in the green mountains of Vermont.
Smart Technologies and Renewable Energy
For you, we seek to integrate smart technologies into our designs that enhance both comfort and eco-consciousness. At Arocordis Design, we prioritize automated lighting systems, smart thermostats, and energy-efficient appliances. We optimize with you resource consumption and minimize waste. Our commitment to renewable energy is clear in advocating for the use of solar panels, wind turbines, and residential battery storage. Their use generates clean and sustainable power that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels.
Embracing Resilience and Climate Responsiveness
As environmental stewards, we prioritize with you resilience and climate responsiveness in every design. We design our work to resist and withstand climate-related challenges. We advocate elevated structures guarding against flooding and fire-resistant materials protecting against hazards. Thoughtful interior and exterior space planning can help ensure comfort and safety in any weather condition. This can provide you and your family with peace of mind amid a changing climate and uncertain future.
Floods in Vermont made us rethink building basements and costly infrastructure underground. It is critical we rethink the risk to the general building design with increasing rainfall and snowfall here in Vermont homes. The importance of adequate site planning, rough and final grading to keep water away from your home is more important than ever. Our architectural and engineering team must also adapt to the changing climate and design with increased risk and safety in mind.
Celebrating Inclusivity, Accessibility, and Alternative Family Living Arrangements
Arocordis Design believes in the design of inclusive and accessible homes and sites for you and your family. We prioritize universal design principles in our work together. We like to create spaces that accommodate diverse mobility and family needs. Over the last few years, we have learned to celebrate the beauty of multiple generations that want to live together.
We have experience designing spaces for you that support multiple generations living together harmoniously. This can reduce overall environmental effects through higher density housing and increase overall affordability. In the first stages of our work together, we will ask you about these details as we develop the overall project design brief and the site and building program.
New Beginnings
To design for a modern-inspired sustainable future is a shared responsibility, and at Arocordis Design, we invite you to join us on this journey. Each decision we make together can have a lasting positive impact, shaping a world where beauty and sustainability coexist. We embrace modern-inspired design, climate responsiveness, resilience, and inclusivity in our work with you. By doing so, we create homes for you that stand as symbols of a brighter future for generations to come. Let’s celebrate this commitment on your project.
Together, we can build a world where every home is a sanctuary of sustainability and inclusivity, cherished by those who call it home. If you find this approach valuable, please join Arocordis Design today on the path towards a more sustainable future.
To learn more about our services and project approach, please click on the link below. This will take you to our contact us page. Please stay in touch! We look forward to hearing from you.
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We also welcome your questions about our blog post. Or if you need more info about the topics covered here, please let us know in the comment section below or contact us.
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