BUILD SMALLER     BUILD BETTER     BUILD TO LAST     BUILD SUSTAINABLY

Ole Sondresen Architect believes in putting the health of our contractors, clients, their families, colleagues and our environment first. We are time and time again asked the questions "WHY & HOW" in regards to the issue of sustainability. No doubt we all have a heightened awareness of the fact that we are building and living in a way that is unsustainable, but it is less clear how we all can take an active role in reversing this unfortunate trend. Our hope is that this "Sustainability" section of our site will clarify how we all can partake and incorporate environmentally friendliness into our projects and lives. We believe sustainable design is good design and that every project can be designed and built to make our environment healthier.

WHY? The underlying reason for designing and building sustainably is to preserve the natural world around us and to halt climate change and global warming. Unfortunately many believe this is a problem for future generations only. Not true! Rampant unsustainable developments and population growth has and continues to deplete and destroy the natural resources and habitats throughout the world now. Buildings create enormous amounts of our total waste (30%), greenhouse gas emissions (47%) and consume up to 49% of our total energy annually. Sustainable design and building can reduce these destructive numbers by as much as 75%! We have the tools and the knowledge to build environmentally friendly buildings. Let's do it!

HOW? Sustainable design starts when a project is conceived by the owner, architect and engineer and a firm decision is made to make a smaller impact on the environment. Every project should incorporate as many environmentally friendly concepts as is feasible for that particular building. Some of these will increase cost but just as many can reduce cost and for many projects the cost of building sustainably should not increase the overall budget. To learn about potential sustainable design solutions for your project please click on the concepts tab above. Not all will be right for you, but the concept of building holistically with the health of our environment, micro and macro climate in mind is right for every project.