News
Green Architects Lounge interview with James Howard Kunstler
Some see the glass as half full, others see it as half empty. Jim tells you what the %$#@! is in the glass, how it got there, and what SHOULD be in the glass instead. Join Phil and his co-host Chris Briley as they interview author, and social commentator, James Howard Kunstler. Jim delivers his commentary on the built environment in a refreshing, unique, and blunt manner.
Feb 6, 2012
Flying Point achieves LEED Platinum!
We are thrilled to announce that Flying Point, in Freeport Maine, was just awarded LEED Platinum status according to the US Green Building Council. The house is built with triple glazed windows and double stud wall construction. The heating system of this 1800 sq.ft. 3 bedroom home is merely a single zone radiant slab! Flying Point also meets the Architecture 2030 Challenge of a 50% carbon reduction by 2010.
Feb 1, 2012
High Design & High Performance: The Passivhaus Building Energy Standard for Architects
On February 16th, Join Jesse for a presentation on Passive House structures being presented by AIA New Hampshire. Starting at 5:30 sharp we'll start with a tour of Regeneration Park, a near net zero structure in Portsmouth. Register on AIA NH's website.
Jan 23, 2012
Cityworks X(po) in Roanoke
Phil was honored to be a speaker at last month's CityWorks (X)po in Roanoke, Virginia, a small cities conference celebrating the people and projects that have exponential impact. National leaders from the fields of Social Entrepreneurship & Capital, Arts & Design, Knowledge & New Media, Leadership & Good Government, Food & Drink and Outdoors & Recreation gathered from all over the country. In chatting and sharing ideas alongside gadfly James Howard Kunstler and the inspirational Theaster Gates among many others, Phil was simply blown away. Organizer Ed Walker deserves a world of credit for an inspiring event that hopefully has enough steam to spread throughout our nation's small-but-linchpin cities such as Ogden, Utah and our very own Portland, Maine.
See Phil's interview as an out-of-town Speaker for the local Roanoke paper here.
Dec 29, 2011
Falmouth Town Green Development
As one of the slated designers of Falmouth Town Green we are excited about our collaboration on the development of the former Plummer-Motz & Lunt School Complex. The proposal has been submitted by Redfern North Atlantic LLC who is encouraging community discussion via their website Falmouth Town Green.
Redfern's plan calls for a new neighborhood with educational, civic/recreational, office, retail, and residential uses, surrounding a Public Park (Town Green), in the tradition of early New England villages. The Town Green will be anchored by a local food market/bakery, and is intended to host community events such as farmer’s markets, concerts, and other special events.
Log on today and let us know your thoughts on this development!
Dec 2, 2011
November/December Issue of Maine Home + Design
Our White Mountain View design is featured in the Architectural Issue of Maine Home + Design's November/December issue. This issue hightlights 20 of Maine's latest, most inventive, and striking architectural projects and we couldn't be more pleased to see White Mountain View included amongst such designs.
Oct 26, 2011
October, 1st: Tour Six Kaplan Thompson Architects designed houses on the NESEA Tour
Join us this Saturday, October 1st for the annual NESEA Open House tour. This year we'll have six low-energy homes on the tour from Portland to Rockland, most houses are open to the public from 10-4pm. NESEA's tour spans throughout the Northeast we'd encourage you to check out their website to find homes near you.
Sep 28, 2011
September issue of Builder Magazine
Our Modular Zero Collection series is featured on the cover of September's issue of Builder Magazine. Click here to read the full article; on news stands now.
Sep 23, 2011
Winner of 2011 Marvin Windows Architect Challenge
We are pleased to announce that White Mountain View is a winner of the 2011 myMarvin Architect's Challenge. Winning entries, which use Marvin windows, represent the "best examples of solution-driven design, innovation, classic beauty and sustainability." Located in Sweden, Maine this project is a two bedroom house over a horse barn with stunning views (through Marvin windows) of the White Mountain's Tuckerman's Ravine.
Photo by Trent Bell.
Aug 29, 2011
Jesse is Passivhaus Certified!
Our own Jesse Thompson is now a Certified Passive House
Designer; in fact, the only architect to do so north of Boston. Jesse is currently working on Earthship Passive House in Virginia, you can follow the projects progress here.
The Passive House concept represents today’s highest energy standard with the promise of slashing the heating energy consumption of buildings by an amazing 90%. Since buildings are responsible for 48% of greenhouse gas emissions it’s more important then ever to implement Passive House technologies, to learn more visit their website.
Aug 8, 2011
Portland Press Herald's "Open House: Neat Nooks"
Check out Spartina in the Sunday Portland Press Herald and find out how these owners transformed their camp into a family retreat and rental unit.
Aug 7, 2011
Robin joins the Westbrook Planning Board
In a role reversal Robin Tannenbaum is now sitting on the other side of the plan review process, last month she was nominated to the City of Westbrook's Planning Board. Congratulations, Robin!
Jul 30, 2011
GreenBuilder Magazine feature
Our Modular Zero Collection is featured in this months issue of GreenBuilder Magazine, "Market-Ready Modulars. Can pre-fab construction costs cut the cost of a low energy home?"
Jul 29, 2011
Kaplan Thompson Architects Project Location Map is live
On a lark we built a Google Map showing the locations of many of our projects over the last five years of work. Most are complete, some are still under design, but all of them are special in one way or another.
Take a look, we'll update it with more information soon: KTA Project Location Google Map
Jul 22, 2011
Jesse makes Top 40 under 40 in Maine
Our own Jesse Thompson was nominated as one of Maine emerging leaders in Maine Today's "40 under 40." Recipients were nominated for their commitment to leadership, professional excellence and their communities. Look for Jesse's in this Thursdays "Go" section of the paper.
Jul 8, 2011
Portland Society of Architects Unbuilt Awards
We are pleased to announce that our residential design, Meduncook Hardshell, was one of the projects awarded at the Portland Society of Architects' bi-annual Unbuilt Awards Competition held at the Portland Museum of Art.
Jun 20, 2011
BrightBuilt Retrofit Update
On June 7th, Maine Green Building Supply will host the 2nd Technical Charette for the BrightBuilt Retrofit. This is a chance for building design and construction professionals to get together and scratch their heads over the details of our demonstration Deep Energy Retrofit in Biddeford - part of the BrightBuilt Retrofit. Special guest Martin Holladay, Senior Editor of www.greenbuildingadvisor.com and BrightBuilt Retrofit Board Member, will join us for a detailed exploration of insulation and technical detailing strategies for this 3,000 sf 1946 house which is typical of Maine residential construction. A major goal of this project is innovation and we will also be talking about the feasibility and replicability of adding insulated panels to the outside of the house as a retrofit strategy. Phil will also be talking with Martin about their upcoming collaboration on a Deep Energy Retrofit Class they will be giving this summer to instructors at Yestermorrow Design/Build School.
May 18, 2011
New Addition
Grace Elisabeth Broadbent born April 24, 2011. 7 lbs, 12 oz.
Many congratulations to Jamie and Katie. Welcome to the world little Grace. Don't worry, daddy will save it for you!
May 13, 2011
Passive House Competition for New Orleans
Our own Morgan Law has entered the 'passive house for New Orleans' design competition The competition, which is being run by the 'Design by Many' website and sponsored by HP, has over fifty entries. It involves investigating the shotgun typology housing stock of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, LA. The jury is looking for a re-interpretation of the shotgun house that is economical, sustainable, and beautiful. Another goal of the project is to meet the standards set forth by the Passive House Institute. Morgan, along with a peer from graduate school, Colin Schless, has developed a prototype house that is modular and inflatable. It resemebles an Annulus, or more simply, a tube. The Annulus house utilzes pre-cooled air from underground earth tubes to condition the ETFE cavity of the tube. It also has a metal canopy built from recycled shipping containers that provides year-round shading. The internationally renowned jury is currently reviewing the final projects.
May 9, 2011
Drink'n Crit
Fellow designers of all kinds: It’s time to talk design. In public. On stage. In front of a jury of your peers.
We recently completed the first in a series of DRINK ‘N CRIT, at SPACE Gallery. Four
Projects, Two Juries and hours of talk provided by your friends,
neighbors and colleagues.
We'd like to encourage you to check the Portland Society of Architects website for information on the next session and how you can contribute. Submissions will be selected based on diversity of projects, we’re
looking for a mix of commercial, residential, landscape and interiors
projects preferably in the Schematic or Design Development phase.
Mar 28, 2011
Net-Zero Modular Homes Head for Peaks Island, Maine
Green Building Advisor.com addresses how the community of Peaks Island and Kaplan Thompson Architects came together to create a series of low-energy year round affordable housing.
Mar 17, 2011
March issue of Maine Home + Design
Falmouth Flyers "success stems, in part, from what Kaplan calls “the integrated design process.” All the players were brought on board early and contributed to the design. Something like Dominak’s apparently simple choice of perforated lights for over the dining room table stemmed from the room’s perforated light shelves—designed by a lighting specialist and made by a metal fabricator—which depended on the windows in the living room, which were necessitated by the solar plan for the home, and so on. In other words, that simple choice was anything but." - Debra Spark, Maine Home + Design
The homeowner says it best though "This is definetly the house of my dreams. I wanted something artistic and green; using materials such as metal cladding and polished concrete floors that were a little out of the ordinary. The Kaplan Thompson team definetly came through for me."
Mar 16, 2011
High Design & High Performance
Congratulations to Jesse who was part of a great presentation at Building Energy 2011 last week:
How does good design enhance high performance and how does the goal
of high performance affect good design? Each speaker discussed
projects and how design and energy concerns worked together and how they
clashed -- and how the final product performed relative to their
initially declared design and performance goals.
Mar 14, 2011
Best Old House Neighborhoods 2011: City Living
"For the fourth year in a row, This Old House has tracked down North America's most timeless neighborhoods." Check out our own "Pleasant Ave Grand," pictured above, representing Deering Center in Portland, Maine. What makes this area so unusual is the easy access to K-College schools, retail stores, and parks.
Mar 7, 2011
Passivhaus and Net-Zero: Economical Carbon Reduction Principles
Passive House (or Passivhaus in the original German) is a european building energy standard that strives for a radical 90% reduction in heating energy. It is a concept gaining popularity rapidly in Germany and Austria (20,000 - 30,000 completed structures), and has attracted a great deal of attention in the US in the past few years for being a possible path towards the deep reductions in greenhouse gasses that we need to bring about.
Come learn more about the history of Passivhaus, its American roots, the technical components of the standard and how it compares to LEED, Net-Zero and conventional low-energy construction. Join us this Thursday at 8am at the Freeport Community Library, this talk is free of charge and open to the public.
Jesse is a Passivhaus Consultant in training, having completed the rigorous nine days of training required by the German Passivhaus Institute. Kaplan Thompson Architects currently has several Passivhaus projects under design.
Links:
http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/PassiveHouseInfo.html
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/passivhaus-beginners
Feb 14, 2011