Sustainable Design

For Cate Comerford, a commitment to "green design" is nothing new. As a longtime advocate of historic preservation, she knows how intimately the two concepts are intertwined. "Preservation is the original green movement," she comments. "It's really the ultimate in sustainability."

Today, it takes vast amounts of energy to construct, run, maintain and ultimately demolish a building. Thus, by saving an old residence, Cate points out, a homeowner is actually "recycling." She comments, "When you restore a historic home, you minimize the impact of construction, reduce resource consumption, and create no new demand for land. You also take advantage of existing infrastructure such as water/sewer and streets." Plus, she adds, when homeowners rehab an older residence, they have the opportunity to incorporate new energy efficient measures such as spray foam insulation, dedicated ventilation, modern hot water heaters, high efficiency furnaces, solar panels, and more.

In a speech this past March, Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, also highlighted the connection between preservation and the green movement. He said, "Because it necessarily involves the conservation of energy and natural resources, historic preservation has always been the greenest of the building arts." (For the full speech, see HERE.)

Beyond preservation, Cate is committed to another "green" concept in residential design. "My other passion is living in a smaller home which literally minimizes your ‘footprint' on the earth," she says. In striking contrast to the mammoth "McMansions" being built today, smaller homes consume far less energy in terms of heating, cooling, and electricity. Yet Cate emphasizes that "smaller spaces don't mean a compromise in quality of life." As an advocate of "The Not So Big House" philosophy (www.notsobighouse.com) created by architect Sarah Susanka, Cate knows that well thought-out spaces designed for the way people really live can provide the same comfort as larger, nondescript rooms. She comments, "You can design flexible spaces with nooks, built-ins, details, and craftsmanship that give you all the same options you always felt you needed a larger home for. It's great to think you can create an architecturally stunning home with less impact on the environment that also costs less for the owner over its lifetime."