LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk | Design GREENDesign By Margaret Nupp BIO BUILDING: The award-winning Bio Building, certified LEED Silver, houses the maintenance fleet, environmentalist's offices, and quarantine areas for the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks in Tupper Lake. W hen Mike Phinney started his own architecture firm in 2003, he had no idea that ten years later, he would have a staff of 16, work in a landmark building of his own design, and be catering to some of the most exclusive resorts in the Northeast. His primary goal when forming Phinney Design Group was to introduce more people to "green building" when few people knew what that meant. Phinney's interest in green building began during his time as a student at RPI, when the school's curriculum was focused on contemporary, urban design. Phinney, a Lake George native who spent much of his childhood outdoors skiing and playing football, wanted to explore the interface of architecture in nature; his thesis topic was "environmental awareness in architecture," with most sources coming from Germany because green building was still in nascent stages in the United States. In 1997, while working for an Albany-based architecture firm, Phinney was hired as the Project Designer and Project Architect for the new NYS Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) headquarters building. This project, the first certified "green building" in New York State, was designed concurrently with the United States Green Building Council's creation of the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system, and the building was used as a testing ground for many of the LEED guidelines before attaining LEED Silver certification. Upon completion of this 500,000 square-foot building, Phinney desired a change of pace from large-scale projects. In 2002,he and his wife Marci bought land near Saratoga Springs, then designed and built their own green home.Theyincorporated a number of environmentallyconscious choices in hopes that it could be a model for others in the area looking to be more sustainable. Working mostly on word of mouth referrals, Phinney founded his 44 LOCALadk Magazine Summer 2013 own firm, Phinney Design Group, in 2003. At first, new clients were specifically looking for "green" features in their new homes, but over time, clients came based on the reputation of the firm to build highquality, aesthetically-pleasing homes. "It's a goal of mine to make environmentally-friendly architecture that's beautiful," says Phinney. "I don't want people to look at one of our homes and immediately think, That must be an eco-friendly house. I want them to think the house is beautiful and then be pleasantly surprised to discover that it is also green. We try to bridge art and beauty with sustainable ideals." Some of Phinney's first clients had respiratory conditions and chemical sensitivities, so he worked with them todesign well-ventilated, lowhumidity homes that could help decrease symptoms of asthma and allergies. In 2004, Phinney Design Group designed the first "Health Home" in the Northeast certified by the American Lung Association, and completed another in 2006. Phinney Design Group has also designed two LEED certified houses:The first, a barn-style home located within the city of Saratoga Springs, received LEED Platinum certification through its passive heating and cooling strategies, solar panels & hot water system, rain water harvesting, drought tolerant landscaping, and use of environmentally preferable products. The second, a LEED Silver lake house in suburban Saratoga County, includes cherry wood trim which was harvested on site and an abundance of lake vista views. Phinney believes there are three categories of green design: Common Sense measures do not add additional costs. For design of a new home, this may be as simple as orienting the home on an east-west axis with living spaces on the south side in order to take advantage of natural light and heat.

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