Advice from an Architect
Jeff: Hey, I’m Jeff Philips and thanks for tuning in this week. If you’re planning to do a renovation or build a custom home, today’s guest will be interesting. Today I have Alicia.
Why don’t you explain to the viewers a little bit about yourself.
Alicia: I’m an architect. My name is Alicia Ravetto. I live and work in Chatham County. An architect is a facilitator of a design and construction process of either a renovation, a home, any other type of building. I always see my impact as a holistic approach so that I try to listen to the client and understand what their needs are and then come up with some solutions together that will lead to their desired project.
Jeff: Okay, so why don’t you explain, in general terms for myself and the viewer that may not know exactly what an architect does.
Alicia: For example, if it is a renovation, I would meet with the client at their home and try to find out what are the things that they are considering for this project, either a small bathroom renovation, a kitchen, or it could go all the way to a deep-green retrofit. If it is a new home, I prefer to start before people select a site to help them decide on what site will match their expectations for their project. And then from the first meeting on, it’s a series of meetings to understand more what the project is about and then draw up some solutions that will be accepted or not by the client. From there on, go into details of how it’s going to be built and draw up the sale’s plans that will allow a contractor to get a building permit and then move on to the construction.
Jeff: You mentioned the word green in there, and that’s like the buzzword in the building industry these days.
Alicia: Yes.
Jeff: What exactly is green?
Alicia: Well, green can be something different for many different people. I see it as this holistic approach to a project where you look at energy-efficiency, including the exterior walls and roofs and floors of a house to the appliances, to lighting, to the mechanical systems. And you are trying to be as efficient as possible so that then, if you decide to incorporate renewable energies like solar, you will have the possibility of doing that either to produce electricity or to heat your hot water. Other people may see green as just using recycled materials or local materials. They are a part of this overall approach to green, but they are not, to me, the whole green aspect. Then you can also implement all of the measures at once, or you can wait for something to break or needs replacement and then try to make the decisions that will lead to a lower energy cost and you’re building better indoor-air quality and a more comfortable space.
Jeff: Okay, so you kind of answered my next question, which was why use green? Other than reducing energy bills and being more cost-efficient, is there anything else? Are there any other reasons why?
Alicia: Yeah, there are things that you cannot put a dollar sign to it, but indoor-air quality is an important aspect of green. People have asthma. Americans spend 90% of their time indoors, and the indoors are fairly polluted the way we have been building until recently. For example, sealing a crawl space is a first measure to try to minimize the impact of the outdoors indoors and improve the indoor-air quality.
Jeff: Okay. So say if a viewer is looking to maybe do a renovation of a home that was maybe built in the 1970s, can you go in and design something that’s much better than it was?
Alicia: Yeah, you have a big range of options. You would start by hiring somebody to do an energy audit. That will allow you to see what are the weak points in the construction. Normally, the insulation on the roof will need upgrading; the under the floor, by sealing the crawl space, like I mentioned. Then, looking at the walls, looking at your lighting, your heating and air conditioning, and then I will work with you to design a solution that can be built that will lower your energy cost, but also that will make other things work better. Maybe the flow of the spaces doesn’t work very well. Typical buildings from the ‘70s and earlier have very separate spaces, and today’s living arrangements are more open spaces. So normally you will start looking at how to open up those spaces so that it works better for your current needs.
Jeff: Very good. Well, good information, and hopefully, you the viewers have gotten something out of it. Alicia, I’d like to thank you for coming in today, but if any of the viewers have any questions for this award-winning architect, I will flash her website at the end of this video. Thank you and see you next time.
