In addition to the attributes of sustainable design, HumaNature Architecture employs the following principles in designing a home or building:

The idea is to build quality rather than quantity — and to design a home so that every space is used every day — with flexibility in mind so rooms can do double duty. Also, design strategies can be used to create the illusion of bigger spaces to make a home feel and live larger. Simply by optimizing the spaces in a building or home, it’s size can be reduced. This lessens the environmental footprint by saving energy and material use, and the resources required to condition it. One of the best books on this subject is “The Not So Big House”, by Sarah Susanka.

In order to optimize a building’s performance, this design process is crucial. Anyone who has been through a construction process knows that it involves a cast of dozens, if not hundreds, of people. Errors, delays and other pitfalls used to be more the rule than the exception. In that old, linear mode, an owner would hire an architect, who would design the building, and then give the design to the engineers, who would work their systems into the design, often at greater effort and cost, due to the lack of their input in the early design phase. Then, the drawings are given to a contractor to build, and since their input had not been solicited, there could be inefficiencies in the design that may have been averted. Then the building is occupied, and the users may find that, due to the inherent flaws in the process, the building is not comfortable or functional. In an integrated design process, all players — owner, architect, engineers, contractors, subs, users — are brought together at square one, with everyone’s input invited, so that the building design is optimized.

If a building is built to last — which is fundamental to minimizing a building’s long-term impact — it must be designed so that it can evolve with its use over time. And, conversely, if a building is built to be adaptable, it is likely to have a longer life.

Avoiding short-term trends will yield a building that ages gracefully, and never becomes “dated”.

The building should use daylight to the maximum extent possible. This not only reduces energy demands but improves health, productivity and morale as well.