BY KATHERINE LUDWIG 

It’s a well-known phenomenon, and Thomas Jefferson was a prime example: builders, carpenters and architects whose own homes are perpetual projects. Like a chef too tired to cook his own dinner, those who spend their days building and designing other people’s places typically have precious few hours and little energy to spend on their personal habitats. It’s unfortunate, because more than their professional portfolios of work, builders’ and designers’ homes may best illustrate their skills and sensibilities—their ultimate dream jobs.

Thanks to 14′ timbers discovered after Hurricane Isabel damage, the home’s one main living space looks and feels spacious.

The timber frame Keswick home of Alec Cargile, founder of green building firm Lithic Construction, has been years in the making—the culmination of a drawn-out process that at various times has required him and his wife, Leslie Ryan, to camp in a tent on the property’s wooded 15 acres, to live in the moldy basement of the property’s original vintage farm house and to cook all their meals in an outdoor kitchen.

Surprisingly, save for the moldy basement part, none of this has been hardship. Both former academic wilderness guides for the Sierra Institute, Cargile and Ryan love living an indoor-outdoor lifestyle among the flora and fauna. Because of that and their own attentiveness and patience, they’ve been able to carefully and methodically build a home that truly reflects their personalities and values as well as the mission of Lithic itself: to honor a site’s surrounding environment, to use local and sustainable materials and to highlight craftsmanship.

…

read the full article:
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=1990502072917840&ShowArticle_ID=11800710093694444

On March 10, the City of Charlottesville’s Planning Commission awarded its 2009 Award for Outstanding Sustainable Development to the 208 Hartman’s Mill Road Project.   The award was given to all three parties who helped save the historic Nimmo house— Linda and Howard Carey, the homeowners; Aaron Wunsch, the architectural historian; and Lithic Construction, the restorer.  Congratulations to all who helped make this project a success.  For an in-depth look at 208 Hartman’s Mill Road, come to Alec Cargile’s Preservation Week talk on April 9 (details below).  

On March 10, the City of Charlottesville’s Planning Commission awarded its 2009 Award for Outstanding Sustainable Development to the 208 Hartman’s Mill Road Project.   The award was given to all three parties who helped save the historic Nimmo house— Linda and Howard Carey, the homeowners; Aaron Wunsch, the architectural historian; and Lithic Construction, the restorer.  Congratulations to all who helped make this project a success.  For an in-depth look at 208 Hartman’s Mill Road, come to Alec Cargile’s Preservation Week talk on April 9 (details below).  

before

after

GreenMatters is a two-year series of workshops designed to help educate and inform the public on a variety of green building and design principles. The series recognizes the significant impact the built environment has on our natural environment, economy, and health.

More information: http://www.greenmatters.info

Green building is the attempt to holistically structure the building process so that the relationships between the site itself, the design, and the team of builders combine to produce an end result that performs its given function in a sustainable fashion, that is beautiful or at least aesthetically appropriate, and is either enduring or recyclable.

Health, impact of building process to site, impact of the extraction and fabrication of materials to be used in the process, longevity of structure, both short and long term energy footprints of structure, processes of production, and aesthetics are a few of the principle concerns in the green building process.

Green building calls on the builder to think and act creatively and to be able to respond to the wide array of eventualities that present themselves in the construction process. It also calls on clients to be willing to at least consider the hard questions, such as how much square footage is required, what the energy consumption will be, and how budget is prioritized.

Download an extended version of this article written for Green Builders seminar (PDF) >

The Nimmo House was built in 1870 by carpenter and building contractor James D. Nimmo for his own family. Although modest in scale, the Nimmo House contains numerous high-style architectural elements which evidence Nimmo’s talents as a carpenter.

The Careys purchased the house after it had stood vacant and had deteriorated for many years. After being counseled by numerous contractors to demolish the house, they nearly did just that.

However, with the assistance of Preservation Piedmont, historian Aaron Wunsch, Lithic Construction contractor Alec Cargile, and historic preservation tax credits, the house has been restored as an important testimonial to 19th century craft and 21st century accommodation.

Photo gallery of Nimmo house - click to view larger images

related link: View full article (PDF)