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Planning
Sustainable Design deals with optimizing large scale to small scale considerations such as solar access, watershed relationships, plant communities, land use and circulation. Thus, planning is an extremely important part of sustainable design. We have experience at both the programming and physical planning levels for urban design, campus planning, housing projects, ranches, parks, and camps. San Luis Sustainability Group is on the leading edge of green building practices. In participation with the US Green Building Council's innovative sustainable building certificaton program, one of our principals is a LEED Accredited Design Professional.
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Architectural Design & Green Remodels
For 32 years San Luis Obispo Sustainability Group Architects has been designing a variety of building types with the common thread of being green in regard to function, process, and composition. These buildings incorporate passive solar heating, passive cooling, daylighting, green materials, integration of photovoltaic electricity generation, and concerns for health. This includes building complexes of 400,000 square feet to cottages of 400 square feet. We offer a total package of design services from programming through construction observation.
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Research
Sustainable design is a rapidly growing discipline. Therefore, involvement in research and publication is critical to its practice. In this regard, SLOSG has been involved in the following: 1977-Roof pond prototype for the first passive solar building in California. In 1980, Ken Haggard and Phil Niles wrote the Passive Solar Handbook for the California State Energy Commission. In 1992, SLOSG designed the first permitted straw bale building in California, and designed the first permitted interior marsh for integrated waste water treatment in California. In 1999, Scott Clark and Ken Haggard were the editors for the Straw Bale Detail Book for the California Straw Bale Builders Association. In 2000, SLOSG wrote a passive solar chapter for the book Alternative Construction, edited by Elizabeth and Adams. Ken Haggard and Polly Cooper co-authored a book entitled Fractal Architecture-Design for Sustainability, published in 2006.
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Interiors, Artifacts, and Appropriate Technology
Follow through and connection to all scales is essential in sustainable design. Thus, we concentrate on the details of building interiors, project-related art & artifacts, and appropriate technology as much as the other scales of design.
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Consulting
We offer consulting on a variety of projects at a number of scales from campuses to residences. Because sustainability is so integral to design at all levels, consultation is most effective if part of the whole process. It should begin early at the programming and site planning level.
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Regarding requests to visit us: We appreciate the interest in sustainability and have for many years provided home tours to groups and classes. However, our busy office schedule now requires the following policy regarding non-client visitations. We are usually part of an annual tour of buildings benefiting the Mothers' for Peace. This happens during the Fall. At other times, we will consider scheduling groups for visits, also as a benefit for the Mothers' for Peace. For this we request a donation of $5.00 per person with a minimum participation of 10 visitors and arranged at minimum two weeks in advance. Other buildings with many sustainable features include the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden Center and the Congregation Beth David Synagogue.
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