Guiding Principles

From conception to construction, five guiding principles have been integrated into the BrightBuilt Barn project. Serving as a focus for every step of the process, the five guiding principles are interconnected by their shared goal of achieving beauty, an ideal that underlies all of them.

Livability: Does the solution fit the need? The project began like most–with a program. In this case two studios, a semi-private office, bathroom and kitchenette and the ability to adapt into a small house over time. While larger technical, environmental and social goals were part of the charge, meeting the fundamental requirements of the program and creating a comfortable, functional and attractive space could not be lost along the way.

Sustainability: Is this building environmentally responsible? One of the most important goals of the BrightBuilt Barn is to create a structure that contributes to a more sustainable future for the planet. Throughout the entire lifecycle of this project, decisions have been made to reduce not only this building’s carbon footprint but to reduce the impact of buildings everywhere by giving energy back to the central grid. All decisions have been made through the lens of keeping this building as low impact as possible.

Replicability/Affordability: Can we build this building affordably? Can we build it again? Along with meeting the initial client’s needs, the BrightBuilt Barn is a prototype for a product the key partners hope to offer in the near future. The goal is to offer this house, with variations for program needs and climate, at a cost equivalent to the current average square foot cost of building. In the meantime, information about the project will be regularly posted on the project blog so that others pursuing similar goals can learn and benefit from this project’s continuing evolution. This is a generative structure — one that points the way to the design and construction of structures that embody the same or similar ideas. In this context, replicability does not mean the ability to punch out exact copies; but rather, the ability to inspire other buildings based on the same ideas and technical solutions devised and employed by this project.

Disentanglement: Can this building change over time? Conventional residential construction layers a building’s skin over its structure with systems running inside, making adaptability of internal spaces difficult. Drawing on the principles of Bensonwood Woodworking’s Open Prototype, the systems in this building are separated physically from the structure. Electrical and mechanical systems are run through integral chases hidden in the baseboard of the house rather than through the walls. While non-plumbing interior walls are designed to be easily moved within the house.

Education: To achieve the goal of replicability requires transparency of the process, planning and implementation. Open for the public to inspect, critique, learn and grow from, BrightBuilt Barn is a project that establishes the dialog. Through the website, blog and wiki, this sustainability project is one that openly shares failures as well as successes, in the hope that others will find them instructive.