Mark Ahlheim - Healing Homes.GURU

Not to mention building smaller saves resources and costs less. By definition it is more sustainable in terms of original investment and costs to operate and maintain. A floor plan that has less square footage and built to dimensions that require less cutting creates less waste and part-and-parcel of being healthy and sustainable. They are hallmarks of my homes. We must also consider durability and life-cycle costs. A friend’s father once told me, “I never try to buy the same thing twice” and at a time of skyrocketing material prices for construction materials, there has never been a truer adage to live by. I like to say that durability is the greenest aspect of my homes and I dare say that in my own home remodeling—e.g. fabricating our backyard deck railings out of copper rather than wood, hanging an alabaster fixture as the centerpiece of our dining room, or having a hand-made concrete sink built for our laundry room, I have never regretted the extra cost. These items make a noticeable difference in how our home looks and feels and performs. Building on my Bau Biologie and Bungalow and Not-So-Big influences, my homes strive to routinely substitute natural or highly recycled materials for artificial, synthetic ones. Salvaged wood, cork, wool, and hemp for flooring or insulation; steel or aluminum for roofing or sometimes siding; a completely natural and paper-less drywall called MgO board finished with good old-fashioned lime or clay plasters instead of petroleum-based paints, as examples. By minimizing the synthetics and using less processed building materials, we create an indoor environment that is instantly more healthy; much more conducive to cleaner ion-rich air; in many instances has reduced electromagnetic potential; typically helps sequester carbon; and is less fire-prone and therefore safer. Look elsewhere under the MORE tab on this web site for two videos that discuss further. [Also see another of my flip-page magazines entitled Get The Facts: Indoor Air Quality & Toxic Building Materials for a longer discussion on two topics key to building for human health.] NATURAL MATERIALS

ARCHITECTURE THAT INSPIRES

This is not necessarily one of Ms. Susanka’s main themes, but you certainly see it in the images of her book and it is something I think about often. We are in our homes A LOT these days, so the question becomes: how do we design a home that inspires without becoming mundane. And how—if at all—does that same space provide the opportunities we need to recharge and take on the next day’s challenges day after day after day?