SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

 

 

 

 

 

The gnarled root of a tree reflects, like the wrinkles and stoops of an old person, the adventures of its life. It is a history to be acknowledged and honored in the places we make and live.

FENG SHUI: ENERGETICS OF PLACE

The feng shui section of this website covers the role of chi energy in sustainable design.

"Our Homes are a Goldmine," Daily Astorian, Feb. '09.

"TillaWatts", 21 Jan. 2009.

"Beyond an Overstuffed World",  3 Nov. 2008.

" Global Warming: Require Zero-Energy Homes" Daily Astorian, 3 July 2008.

FLEXPLEX , 2008. Modular, net-zero-energy affordable flex-homes.

“Truly Affordable Housing,” 29 Nov. 2007 North Coast Citizen.

LIVING ARCHITECTURE , 2007. Chapter for Biophilic Design book on reconnecting architecture and nature.

FLEX-HOUSING, 2007. Home design that can adapt to changing family and community needs - accessible for home occupations, ADUs, duplexing, etc.

FREE HOMES , 2007. How to use a CLT structure to eliminate home financing costs forever within 25 years.

"Zero Energy Homes," 25 Jan. 2007.  North Coast Citizen; Global Intelligencer, Feb. 2007.

NEAHCASA, 2007. Strategies our own CLT is using to transform the housing market and achieve 80% reduction in overall housing costs.

PLACES TOUCHING SPIRIT, 2006. How our places can bring us into deeper connection with the rest of creation.

“Finance-Free Housing,” Sept. 2006.

"Two Homes from One," 29 June 2006. North Coast Citizen.

"Two for One: Better Use of Existing Housing", 6 March 2006.

SACRED ART, SACRED SPACE, 2006. The different roles of art and architecture in a world where all is held sacred, and where the primacy of energetic realms is understood.

"Improving Housing Affordability", Oct. 14, 2005.

* "Zone 4 - Bank of Astoria", ADVANCED ENERGY DESIGN GUIDE FOR SMALL OFFICE BUILDINGS, ASHRAE, 2004. 3.4mb PDF.

"Economics, Architecture, And Banking," GREEN MONEY JOURNAL April '03; SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS INSIDER, June, '03; GREEN MONEY JOURNAL "Greatest Hits of First 12 Years" issue, Winter '04.

"Putting Heart Back Into Our Homes", May 2001. for ANOTHER KIND OF SPACE, Dealing & Meltzer, ed. 7mb PDF.

BANK OF ASTORIA: Building Community Sustainability, 2001. National Award Winning Project in Sustainable Design, 2001 AIA Architecture + Energy Program. Community and spiritual as well as material dimensions of sustainability, and what happens when we touch the heart of our institutions in design.

Moss Roofs, Dec., 2000.

TOUCHSTONES, 1994. Some excerpts from THE HEART OF PLACE and BUILDING REAL WEALTH which give a hip-pocket short-list of reminders and checklists for designing from the heart.

PUTTING HEART INTO OUR HOMES from YOGA JOURNAL,1986. How our surroundings mirror our values, and how to bring our homes to reflect the values of nurture, love, and being a part of the ongoing creation of life.

PUTTING HEART BACK INTO OUR HOMES, forANOTHER KIND OF SPACE, Dealing & Meltzer, ed. 2001. A piece of my own journey into the wholeness of making places.

Hospice: Gateways of Life and Death, Oct. 2000. HEALING MINISTRY, Nov-Dec '01.

THE HEART OF PLACE, 1993. From feng-shui to sacred building to the economics of sustainabile design to learning from and designing places from the heart. Book xero-published in manuscript form. To order

"The Soul of Natural Building", from NATURAL BUILDING COMPENDIUM, Lynne Elizabeth and Cassandra Adams, ed., Wiley & Sons, 1999. What do we seek through the use of natural building materials?

"Entries", FENG SHUI JOURNAL, Spring 1998. 6.5mb PDF

"Palace of Power", FENG SHUI for Modern Living, Apr. 1998. 12mb PDF

"Efficiency vs. Effectiveness", BUILDING WITH NATURE #18, Jan. 1998.

"Places with a Soul", March 1997.

THE SHRINE OF THE MOUNTAIN AND THE WATERS,1997. The importance of our surroundings showing that we value all of Creation, and what happens when we go about ensuring that it does.

"Architecture and the Breath of Life", November 1996.

"Unexpected Gifts - The Real Rewards of Sustainable Communities", Solar '96 Solar Energy Association of Oregon Conference, October, 1996. webpub @ www.oikos.com/seao/SOLAR96/TBENDER

"Building with a Soul", in DIALOGS WITH THE LIVING EARTH, James & Roberta Swan, 1996. 9mb PDF

"Eco-Building II", May 1996. Reprinted in Environmental Building News, July 1996 and IN CONTEXT, Issue 44, July, 1996. webpub @ www.context.org

"Some Questions We Haven't Asked", April 1996. Reprinted in IN CONTEXT, Issue 44, July, 1996. webpub @ www.context.org

"Shedding A Skin That No Longer Fits" Mar. 1996. Reprinted in IN CONTEXT, Issue 44, July, 1996. webpub @ www.context.org

* "Sustainable Architecture - Interview with Tom Bender", FORESTLAND MANAGEMENT NEWS, 1996.
2.2mb PDF

THE SACRED ROOTS OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN, 1995. A personal commentary on moving to patterns of enriching and nurturing living and working.

MULTICULTURAL DESIGN IN AUSTRALIA, 1995. From Winter Cities to desert countries- the power that comes from living and designing in touch with the heart and spirit of different places.

"Feeling At Home - Multi-Cultural Design in Australia", Sept. 1995

"Sewage is Art: A Study of the Healing of Place with "Chi", June, 1995. Reprinted in IN CONTEXT, Issue 44, July, 1996. webpub @ www.context.org
"Sewage is Art: A Study of the Healing of Place with "Chi" Full PDF.9mb

"Being At Home", RESURGENCE #169, March 1995. 2mb PDF

* "Tom Bender", BUILDING WITH NATURE #16, Jan. 1995. 2mb PDF

"Feng-Shui", and "Being at Home with our Surroundings", THE URBAN ECOLOGIST, 1994 #3. 2mb PDF

"The Izu Principles", Oct. 1994.

"The Spiritual Heart of Sustainable Communities", May 1994. Reprinted in HEART OF PLACE, 1993; and IN CONTEXT, Issue 44, July, 1996. webpub @ www.context.org Diseases of the spirit in our culture, breaking loose from the values of greed and violence, an introduction to the role of "chi" in design, putting heart back into our architecture, and making cities which can move our hearts.


"Amazon Student Housing," April, '94.

SUSTAINABLE CITIES - JAPAN, 1994. A work plan for bringing a place and culture back in line with its roots, its ecological supports, and its own dimension of sustainability.

THE HEART OF PLACE, 1993.

"Bamberton: A Checkpoint on the Road to Sustainability", Dec. 1993.

"Touchstones - Seven Tests", Dec. 1993. Reprinted in THE HEART OF PLACE, 1993, and DIALOGS WITH THE LIVING EARTH, Swan & Swan, ed. 1996.

"Notes on Ecological Housing in Japan", GREEN POST (Japanese Environmental Journal) #10, 1993. Every culture and situation gives a different faceted look into the dimensions of change and the nature of sustainability. Why is Japan looking for ecological housing?
"Notes on Ecological Housing in Japan", GREEN POST (Japanese Environmental Journal) #10, 1993. In Japanese. 4mb PDF

"Building Real Wealth", May 1993. Reprinted in IN CONTEXT, Issue 44, July, 1996. webpub @ www.context.org, BENDIGO ADVERTISER (AU) Apr 20, 27, May 4, 2002.

"Towards A Sacred Society", THE URBAN ECOLOGIST, Spring 1993.

"Co-housing to Co-mmunity", Nov. 1993. Reprinted in THE HEART OF PLACE, 1993.

"Time and Place", Nov. 1993.

"Heart-itecture", Dec. 1992. Early version of "Cities of Passion".

"Making Places Sacred", in THE POWER OF PLACE, James Swan, ed. Quest Books 1991.

THE PANTHEON REVISITED, 1990. A response to an article in Design Spirit on sacred geometry, questioning some of the conventional application of that term and searching for the depths in geometry and design where power does exist.

"Sacred Building", SPIRIT OF PLACE CONFERENCE, 1989

"A Guide to Building on the Coast", OREGON COAST, Feb/Mar 1989.
3.9mb PDF.

"In A Wild Mountain Garden", 1989. Learning to shake loose the conventions of gardening and landscaping. Learning from where we are, and from the wisdom of eons of interacting of the communities of life we join in a new place.

"The Sacred Art of Building", IN CONTEXT, Autumn 1986. 6.6mb PDF. A brief look at touching the spirit of place, the heart and soul of where we live.

"Northern Lights", PROCEEDINGS, WINTER CITIES FORUM, 1986. 4.8mb PDF.

"Putting Heart into Our Homes", YOGA JOURNAL, Sept. 1986.
Reprinted as "Putting Heart into Our Homes," Bendigo Advertiser, Bendigo, Victoria, AU, Jan 5, 12, & 19, 2002.

TOUCHSTONE. Monograph. Nov. 1985.

"A Place for Your Home" East-West Journal, 1984. 5mb PDF

"Hidden Cost of Housing", RAIN, Mar/Apr 1984. Reprinted in UTNE READER, Summer 1984; SUN TIMES, Nov/Dec 1984; ALTERNATIVE PRESS ANNUAL, 1984.

"Hidden Cost of Housing",UTNE READER, Summer 1984. 9mb PDF

"Storage Stairs", FINE HOMEBUILDING, June/July 1983. Reprinted in BUILDING FLOORS, WALLS and STAIRS, 1988; FINEHOMEBUILDING ON FLOORS, WALLS AND STAIRS, 1990, and STAIRS: THE BEST OF FINE HOMEBUILDING, 1995. 4.8mb PDF.

HANDCRAFTED DOORS AND WINDOWS, Major contributor. Rodale Press, 1982.

* "Roll-Away Window Wall", in HANDCRAFTED DOORS AND WINDOWS, Rodale Press, 1982.
4.6mb PDF.

"DON'T Do A Solar House", THE WELL-TEMPERED HOUSE, Robert Argue, REC, Toronto, Canada. 1980. 8.7mb PDF.

"Granny-Flats and Duplex-Pensions," RAIN, Nov. '78.

"Taking Pipe," RAINBOOK, '77.

"Unnecessary Activities?" RAINBOOK, '77.

"Wasting Water," RAIN, Dec. '77.

"Low-Flow Wastewater Treatment," RAIN, Dec. '77.

"No Tanks!" RAIN July '77.

"Compost Privy Update," RAIN, June '77.

"55-Gallon Drum Composting Privy," RAIN, June '77.

"On Balance," RAIN, June '77.

"Passive Solar Rules of Thumb," RAIN, Jun '77.

"Space and Spirit," RAIN, July '76.

"Make Where You ARE a Paradise," RAIN Poster Issue, Apr. '76, RAINBOOK, '77.

* "Autonomous Living in the Ouroboros House", POPULAR SCIENCE, Dec. 1975.

ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN PRIMER, 1973. The 1973 edition of the Environmental Design Primer gives an overview and introduction to the issues of sustainable design beyond those gone into more depth in these more recent articles. It is currently out of print, but available through Interlibrary Loan, or used book searches from powells, amazon, or b&n.com.

OUROBOROS from LIVING LIGHTLY, 1973. One of the first integrative "ecological designs", in a northern climate, and demonstrating the principle that one plus one equals at least three!

LIVING LIGHTLY: Energy Conservation In Housing. Monograph. 1973. 8.7mb PDF