Which do you prefer, separate or connected rooms in a house? Or some combination of the two? This is a question we can ask today, after a century of much change. Historically, a couple basic kinds of early American architecture were the northern “four square” plan—a two-story box with central fireplace and staircase, and one room in each corner, and the southern “shotgun” house, which featured several rooms placed end-to-end in a long, narrow plan, making cross-ventilation effective at cooling.

After a 40-year hiatus, solar energy is cool again. But for those who remember bulky aluminum frames awkwardly balanced on the roof, the current look, use, performance, and value of today's solar energy systems has changed dramatically.

Larry and Mary Gilland, along with Dawn Nickles-Streb and Frank Calleio from our office, attended the AIBD (American Institute of Building Design) Colorado Spring conference at the Warwick Hotel in Denver. The AIBD is a professional organization for mostly residential Building Designers which Larry and Mary have participated with for years.

You have decided to build a custom home or remodel your current house, and have found an Architectural Designer who looks promising. What now?

By some counts, half of all the waste in landfills comes from buildings. Most of that trash could have been recycled or reused. You may not have heard about your options to buy and sell salvaged building materials in Colorado Springs yet, so LGA Studios is here to enlighten you! Whether you are trying to be more eco-friendly, aiming for an authentically antique appearance in your new house or remodel, or trying to get rid of some building materials in your garage, you've got options now.

The size, type, placement and interconnection of rooms in your house should reflect your lifestyle. Whether you are designing a custom house, remodeling, or just shopping for a pre-owned house, considering how you live now and how the amenities of a new house could make that lifestyle better is a good way to start.

For those of you unfamiliar, a "Charrette" (pronounced Shuh-ret) is a short, intense, creative activity. Usually it's performed by a team. Starting from scratch, the end result is a presentation of a solution to a design problem which can serve as inspiration or proposal for future projects.

LGA Studios admires Frank Kinder. In the photo above, he is giving a tour of the GJ Gardiner house we covered on the blog last summer, where the surrounding landscaping conserves water. We support what he stands for and we root for his positive changes! That's why we are re-publishing this interview article from the Colorado Springs Business Journal. Let's help make Colorado Springs a positive place to live for the long term!

We at LGA Studios have really enjoyed watching the restoration of a house on the Noble Family Ranch in Lake George, Colorado. We provided the plans and the Nobles did the construction management and even much of the labor on their own house.

Taliesin West, in Arizona, has a $200,000 annual energy bill. In some ways, the late Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home is already environmentally sensitive. It's constructed from mostly local materials. Wright spread the practice of situating a house based on the geography and weather. Many of his homes (including this one) have large windows and widespread roof overhangs which block the heat from the high summer sun but allow the heat and light of the low winter sun inside.

Amenities is a term used to describe those aspects of an area which make that area enjoyable to live in. The best way to find out about the amenities of the area you're interested in is to talk to the people who already live there. Ask them why they chose to buy their property. You will be overwhelmed with a wealth of information, good and bad.

We've listed Protective Covenants first because it is the protective covenants which aid in controlling the other factors. With good protective covenants, your property's setting will be protected as the future value of the property. When choosing your property, obtain a copy of the protective covenants. The covenants should be rules that you could live with/by and hope that others can/will live with too.

Locating the property upon which to build a home is one of the most important decisions a homeowner must make before the custom home can become a reality. You can locate the property in several ways. Driving around several locations which you have heard about from friends or relatives may help you to define what you are looking for. If this isn't possible, enlisting the help of an area realtor will help to locate an area quickly.

LGA Studios has made frequent site visits to one client's house over the last few months, staying involved as things are tweaked and problems are solved. In the blog, we referenced this particular house earlier this month. What a beautiful location! But then, this is Colorado Springs. Witness the foundation, site excavation and framing.

Many of LGA Studio’s clients have never participated in designing a home before. Their desire for something—whether it’s a certain style or layout they can’t find elsewhere, or just to build on the land they own—drives them to hire a home designer or architect. But that doesn’t mean that they know exactly what they want.

With a higher than average sunshine index, Colorado is one of the best locations in the country for the use of Photovoltaic (PV) panels. With all the hoopla in the news about Energy Secretary Dr Steven Chu supporting PV panels, we are aware that use of PVs is still lagging in this country behind China and especially behind Germany.

Merry Christmas! At year's end, we have for you a number of photos of the rewarding progress at the Noble Family Ranch. With the house stripped down and the bones repaired, it is now being put back together. New siding, roofing, insulation, plastering/drywall, electricity and plumbing have been applied; and as you can see, they don't forget to have fun as they work.

The format of the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch from Apple has allowed numerous developers to create “applications” or apps for these phones and computers that can be used for energy-related fine tuning and cost saving. Savant and Crestron both have created apps that help to control lighting, window shades and mechanical systems. Lighting systems apps can be programmed to turn off light groupings or single room controls.

Trailside Estates in Salida, Colorado won first place in this year's Colorado Sustainable Design Awards for the category of communities. LGA Studios did some work with Pinon on the homes in the community and are honored to be listed as the architects.

As more and more builders consider building green, the topic of Green Materials always comes up. When it comes to cabinetry we love the look and feel of wood from cherry to alder—not necessarily a rapidly renewable material. Therefore to be green what do you do? Naturally, you may think of rapidly renewable materials such as bamboo or FSC certified wood products.