HCHW Green Educational Consultants Jenny Brady and Rebecca Foster had the pleasure of getting to know Green Architect Peter L. Pfeiffer this Spring in his home town of Austin, Texas.

Peter Pfeiffer specializes in what we call "Sustainable/green" design and he likes to call “High-performance” commercial and residential building practices. He has been nationally recognized as being instrumental in "mainstreaming" the concept of green building into the North American home building industry.

“The timing of our visit was fortuitous as he was conducting one of his famous lectures on his specialty, high-performance building, at the 2007 AIA National Convention in San Antonio,” says Brady “Pfeiffer’s relaxed, yet engaging, style made it easy to grasp the often technical concepts involved in this field. The lecture hall was standing room only with builders, realtors, architects and consultants listening attentively to the reasons for, and challenges of, building high-performance, energy- efficient homes. Later that day, we got a personal tour of Pfeiffer’s home, on the tour of homes for the attendees of the AIA National Convention.” (See Below)

A Pioneer in the Green Building Field

Barley & Pfeiffer Architects is recognized nationally for their pioneering use of environmentally responsive building design and construction techniques through the use of innovative ideas combined with real world practicality. Barley & Pfeiffer Architects have completed over 400 green projects nationally since it's founding in 1987.
Their projects have been featured nationally in Fine Homebuilding, Better Homes and Gardens, and the new national publication Environmental Design and Construction among many others.

Their understanding of building science is the key. Building Science encompasses the entire system of elements that go into the construction of any building. It is an architect's responsibility to be well educated and knowledgeable of just how a building is put together. No detail can be left unchecked when designing a high performance building because any glitch will negatively affect the project's sustainability. The proper application of building science lies within the architect's ability to understand how each physical aspect affects all others and then integrate each component into harmonious assembly.

Green Design extends the reach of building science to cover the environmental ramifications of each project. It involves a range of ideas from the use of solar power to something as simple as the use of day lighting to reduce the need for electric lighting. Proper green design must be climate and site specific, and must minimize waste while maximizing efficiency.

Peter Pfeiffer’s Austin High Performance Home

This "one-of-a-kind" high-end custom residence is sited on a mid sized central city lot to take advantage of the prevailing cooling breezes and good solar orientation in such a way as to maximize passive cooling in the summer and passive solar heat gain in the winter. An open central stair tower helps cool the home while flooding its center with glare-free daylight.

The home is beautiful and comfortable with these other notable Green features:

• A ventilated, radiant barrier roof system
• Rigid foam wall and attic insulation
• Carefully sized roof overhangs
• Sealed attics
• Hydronic heating
• Water based air-conditioning system that uses the swimming pool as a heat sink

Anticipated utility bills based on extensive computer based modeling are to be less than that of a typical two bedroom apartment-less than $100/ month total average operating costs for a five bedroom 4000+ square foot home.

A Healthy Collaboration

Wagnon Medical Clinic

The Texas Specialist Center, a 6,300 square foot, single story clinic is the result of the collaboration between a well-informed client and architects interested in sustainable, energy-efficient design. The client came to the firm with a desire to produce an environmentally safer building.

Improving indoor air quality was a high priority. An important factor in the development of environmental illness is long-term exposure. Many substances that are not otherwise irritating, may become some over time. Therefore, every effort was made to select materials that did not include or produce potentially harmful substances. Mechanical systems were carefully cleaned and then sealed to further improve air quality.

Every aspect of the building's design had environmental goals: from solar exposure, to installation of a rainwater system. The many windows are operable and reducing energy costs by decreasing the amount of electric light required and by providing ventilation. Photovoltaic panels were installed on the roof; electricity generated is stored in batteries for an emergency backup for the building's computer and security systems.

The foundation is a suspended structural slab; the frame is composed of both steel and locally harvested pine. A standing seam galvalume roof sits atop pre-manufactured wood roof trusses. The clinic's exterior is finished in brick and traditional three-coat stucco.

There are many more of Pfeiffer’s projects described on his website.