Designer Michael Feeney Talks High Performance Homes
A1DesignBuild is a designer and builder of high performance homes here in Bellingham and Whatcom County, Washington. In this post, Michael Feeney talks about his inspiration, what high performance homes mean to him, and the importance of a dog named Morty.
The Inspiration for High Performance Homes
In my early years, I always developed an instinct of form respecting the program and function first and foremost. The balance between pattern and scale and relationship back to function really speaks to me. Here at A1DesignBuild, It really goes back to our clients in Whatcom County, and how all the ideas came from them and I just help make it happen. Clients are my inspiration.
I got started as a designer about 35 years ago in Connecticut. I did an entire lifetime of commercial and historic preservation and institutional design. I got so I could look at a historic building and know in just a few short hours what was wrong with it. I gained a tremendous knowledge of historic materials, and how to come up with a solution that’s very low impact on the building itself, respecting those old materials to bring them back to life. I designed lots of college and private high schools too. So that was the commercial institutional part.
When I moved to Bellingham and got to A1DesignBuild, they were looking for a residential designer. I did not have a lot of experience in residential design, but my general training in architecture was really a benefit in the big picture. Plus the folks here, the whole team, but especially the design crew, has taught me so much about residential design. I’ve been working and learning at A1DesignBuild for five years now.
Usually a client comes to us and describes the spaces that they need in their house, or a new use or remodel that they think they want to have. Maybe they need additional space for an office, or a bedroom, or an ADU. We take those ideas and initially just try to lay them out in size and location to each other and the other spaces in the home to make sure they all work together., focusing on comfort and appearance. Maybe it’s about easier access for aging in place for older clients, or building a space that is high performance. Each job is different.
When we say ‘high performance’, to me that really means it has to be a happy place to live in. It has to provide mental and physical comfort. It has to be healthy living as far as breathing. It has to utilize the very least amount of energy and have envelope efficiency, and the mechanical systems all need to work together flawlessly.
Elements of a High Performance Home
For example, one of the most important things you can do is get the ‘air sealing’ dialed in on your home. The sealing is where lots of energy can be lost, and we specialize in getting the air sealing as close to passive house level of air exchanges as possible. So you're saving all that energy from escaping the building, which is great and results in a more comfortable home. It has to be a graceful design too, and very liveable. The materials we choose together should be great looking and fun, so the client can enjoy their life with the choices that are made.
A sealed box is ‘high performance’ from an energy standpoint. But it’s not very liveable. So great design has to be implemented as well.
The Modahl Project - with Aging in Place front and center.
The Modahl project is a great example of what I’m talking about. First it's considered a high performance home because of the way it manages heat exchange and its envelope. The roof, for instance, uses SIPS panels, which are insulated structural panels that have no beams holding up the roof, it's just the roof panels resting on the walls. And those were nine and a quarter inch graphite infused EPS insulated panels that got 20% more insulation value than just regular solutions. This increased the insulation value of the roof assembly from the standard R38 to an R47. Which is quite an improvement.
The walls are made from high performance rain screens, where we're putting mineral wool as continuous insulation to break thermal bridges. And then that rain screen breathes and the metal siding should have a minimum 75 year life span. Again, focusing on the thermal envelope of the house.
Then we did things like insulate the perimeter of the slab and below the slab, so that the client could have a warm slab to walk on rather than a cold one. This is important for aging in place, creature comforts that are important for an older person especially.
We did a heat pump system with three heads and we put in a fresh air system that runs c30 CFM continually for the whole house. And so no matter what, the customer is continually getting filtered fresh air that recycles the energy at about 70% rate. So you're not throwing the energy out, you're recycling it. Plus we used a lot of added materials that are all green.
The clients were so happy they hired us for another project, the bakery project up in Iron Gate. So we have a really great working relationship with them, and the project was featured by Sustainable Connections.
Why are high performance homes important? I think it's important to design high performance homes moving forward because we only have a limited amount of time here on Earth. I got my Passive House Consultant Certification, and when I was doing that training, I learned a lot about carbon and carbon footprints. We all need to do a gesture to help with climate change, and as soon as possible, and A1DesignBuild is making those gestures.
The Modahl Kitchen Space
The Home Design Approach
We do things as a team here. We’re always talking together about the best ways to do things. My biggest influencers here at A1DesignBuild are my fellow designers, and the design group led by Maggie Bates and Shawn Serdahl. Maggie is continually researching green ways to do things and has developed our showroom to reflect that. And Shawn, our construction manager, he's just continually providing invaluable feedback on how things can be done better, easier, more green, more efficient. So we get a lot of feedback from the construction crew too on how to do things better here.
Right now. I'm building my own tiny house, so that's really inspiring me. I'm about to move into that and it’s taking me 3 years to build. It’s very exciting and has taught me a lot. The project has put into practice the things I know as a passive house consultant, as well as my mechanical certification in high performance residential design. All of it coming together.
A Dog Named Morty
But most importantly, my dog Morty likes my new tiny home. Morty turned four this month. He's a Boston Terrier. During Covid 2020, A1DesignBuild had one of it’s greatest months ever, and we were doing most of our work from home. And I told the team that I'm thinking about getting a dog. And Maggie, who leads all the designers, says ‘Mike, go get your dog!’
And so four years later, here's Morty and he's my best friend and we're connected at the hip. He approves of my mission to design homes that make people happy.
Michael and Morty
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