Project Updates
Elizabeth DiSalvo
New house on the water in Stamford
New house on the water in Stamford

From Dim and Cramped to Cozy and Functional

Sometimes renovating an existing space can pose more of a challenge than starting from scratch. In our latest video, we walk you through a kitchen renovation that took the room from dim and cramped to cozy and comfortable.  

 Our first challenge was to open up the space. Trillium began with raising the ceiling to let in more light and create a feeling of spaciousness and freedom. Then the overall layout was revamped to open up even more space, including a “hidden” coffee bar and pantry which can be concealed and revealed on demand.

 Of course, the devil is in the details. Trillium delivered high quality throughout, including Porcelanosa cabinets from Spain, XTONE counters and HAWA hardware. The Miele appliances and custom millwork added an elegant finishing touch.

 Have a project of your own?  Let Trillium Architects apply their skills and talents, and you’ll never go wrong.

Additional Costs and Fees to build a green home (Part 4) | Elizabeth Explains

Last time Elizabeth DiSalvo, Trillium Architects founder, discussed the costs of constructing your new house—all of the materials and labor that need to come together to actually build a sustainable home. It involves an intricate process which encompasses a design that reflects the clients’ vision, an understanding of how to optimally place the structure on a given site and a contractor who understands the challenges of the concept and puts together an efficient plan to get it done.

This week, in Part Four as Elizabeth breaks down the additional fees and costs you can anticipate in achieving your green dream home. 

In terms of the actual property, Elizabeth debates the pros and cons of building on bare land versus building on an existing lot with a structure already in place.  Elizabeth also describes fees related to designers, engineers and subcontractors that may be encountered. She covers the responsibilities, contributions, fees of the architects, structural and civil engineers, surveyors, and subcontractors, as well as whether or not each specialty may be needed. 

While building your green dream home can come with challenges, Elizabeth makes it clear what’s in store for you and how an experienced green architect can be your advocate and guide throughout the process,

Going Green Pays Off (Part 2) | Elizabeth Explains

Some people may think a green or sustainable home is much more expensive than a “traditional” home.

Guess what? It’s not.

The minimal increase in expense is more than covered by the cost savings you’ll experience in utility charges. In fact, you can possibly get your utility expenses down to zero!

If you’re interested in a net zero home, this video from Trillium Architects is a must-view. In it, Elizabeth DiSalvo, the Founder of Trillium Architects, gives you a common-sense explanation of the minimal difference in costs between a new net-zero home and a new traditional home.

And besides the long term savings advantage, you will be living in a house that’s peaceful, comfortable and happy.

Take a look.

Costs of Construction | Elizabeth Explains

Building a sustainable or “green” house, or building any house for that matter, is a complex process. It involves an intricate process which encompasses a design that reflects the clients’ vision, an understanding of how to optimally place the structure on a given site and a contractor who understands the challenges of the concept and puts together an efficient plan to get it done.

 In this video Elizabeth DiSalvo, founder of Trillium Architects, talks about the elements included in the construction of a sustainable home. She addresses material, labor and the markups of both the contractor and the architect. The video will give you an excellent idea of what to expect if you are contemplating building a new home.

Significantly, Elizabeth explains what is and what is not included in the construction cost of a home. She uses what she calls the “upside down test,” where anything that would fall out if you held the house upside down is not included in the construction cost. In terms of markups, she explains that both the contractor and architect usually charge around 15% plus/minus to cover their planning, design, supervision and logistics management of the entire job.

 Attention to detail and fulfilling the homebuyer’s/owner’s vision is the most important aspect of designing and building a new sustainable home. As DiSalvo puts it, the end product is always a home that is “happy, healthy, warm and dry.”

 

ANNOUNCING…..

Trillium Architects Co-operative Better Buildings for People and Planet

 We are proud to announce that Trillium Architects LLC has become Trillium Architects Co-operative.

Trillium Architects Co-operative (L-R) Megan Loucas, Darrell Soho, Elizbeth DiSalvo, Dave Reilly, Jackson Wehrli

At Trillium Architects, we’re entering our twentieth year in business.

And to celebrate, we’re doing something significant, quite significant.

Trillium Architects LLC is now becoming Trillium Architects Cooperative.

This is a big deal for us. Because it reflects our values, the values of a new emerging economy where employees have a major stake in their own success and the success of the organization. We are all invested in each other and invested in our work, both individually and collectively.

So what does it mean for our clients? Nothing really changes except for the fact that now our key employees have an even deeper commitment to the success of each and every one of our projects. Our founder, Elizabeth DiSalvo, will retain leadership now being joined by the new ownership team.

We believe that the characteristics of a co-op dovetail perfectly with our mission at Trillium to make ‘Better Buildings for People and Planet’ while also creating stable, meaningful jobs with competitive living wages and a strong feeling of intentionality.

Through the co-operative structure, all of our employees will be empowered to take ownership (both literally and figuratively) of their own futures as well as that of the environment around us through the work we do together.

This new structure will give us even greater freedom to implement meaningful changes as we evolve, including our abilities to:.

  • Improve our services, our communication and the overall client experience.

  • Open doors to new and broader endeavors (such as other forms of housing besides single family).

  • Cultivate an attitude of ownership - not only of our own company but of all of the work we do.

  • Foster an even healthier, more meaningful workplace.

  • More consistently maintain our mission of helping the world be a more sustainable place through built design.

  • Inspire all of those within our reach - be they clients or craftspeople, or those we live near or work with - to take similar steps towards Better Buildings for People and Planet.

We’re excited about this refreshing change: for ourselves, but mostly for you.

Our ownership group looks forward to working with you in the years ahead,

The Trillium Architects Cooperative

Owners

Elizabeth DiSalvo, AIA, CVO - Chief Visionary Officer

Dave Reilly, AIA, Senior Architect and Director of Production

Megan Loucas, AIA, Director of Design

Darrell Soho, Director of Client Relations and Head of Materials

Jackson Wehrli, Director of Branding and Architectural Designer

 

 

 

Celebrating 20 Years

Going Green: Ridgefield House Featured in 068 Magazine

Our clients for a new house in Ridgefield wanted a beautiful home that was not only energy efficient, but also used materials that have the least impact on the environment. We all decided as a team to stick to the most stringent standards available. They also realized a home has a much bigger impact on your health than many realize, so they wanted to ensure that the new home would have no chemicals or off-gassing. The result is a house that achieves LEED Platinum and  Passive House certifications, as well as qualifies as Net Zero. The Bottom line: its healthy, great for the environment and costs about $18 in total utility bills per month.

The greatest advantage for our clients, however, is peace of mind. The clients know every single material that went into building their home, sensors remind them how clean their air quality is, and they can monitor and control the energy use of all of their appliances and devices. The estimated cost of building this way is between 2-5% greater than traditional building, which generally results in an ROI of under 5 years.  

The biggest questions people ask about he houses we design : ‘Isn’t it too expensive to build green?’, ‘Is it really worth it?’ and ‘Isn’t making your home energy efficient really hard to do?’ Building this way is not hard but it does take thoughtful design, good planning and an experienced team. It isn’t too expensive and it is definitely worth it. Houses built to Passive House Standards use approximately 90% less energy to heat and cool. For the lifetime of the house. Imagine spending about $220 per year to heat, cool and fully electrify your house and EVs for the next 30 years!

 Click here for full article

Trillium Architects ~ Greenwich Passive House Remodel ~ WINS AIA CT SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE AWARD!

We are thrilled to announce that our Greenwich Passive House Deep Energy Retrofit has won the 2022 AIA CT Sustainable Architecture Award of Merit in the Renovations, Adaptive Re-Use, or Retro-Fit Category.

Our clients asked us to take an existing 1930’s house in Greenwich, CT and transform it into a modern oasis. We turned a leaky, old home into an energy-efficient sustainable one, with a design that let us ‘break open’ the existing structure to reveal spaces that are light- filled and playful.

To find out more about this award winning project, click here:

Thinking Green? Then Think Differently.

To read an expanded version of our priorities in thinking differently and building differently, download our free PDF here.  

During Earth Month, all of us think of going ‘green,’ but when building green it also means thinking differently and designing differently. 

When we think about green building, we think first about innovation. Being innovative requires setting our priorities differently than when we used to do ‘normal’ construction.  Since every home we design is now ‘green,’ our thinking is always focused on a few different and key priorities:  

1.     We look at the entire project holistically. I like to think of a building like a body. The systems in your body all work together. None of them can function individually, and the health of one will greatly affect the condition of the other.  If your lungs are in poor health, for example, the rest of the body will be stressed and have to work harder. The same is true of a house. All of the systems work together, and you can’t sacrifice one without injuring the other.

  1. The framing of the house is like the skeleton.

  2. The envelope of the house (the insulation, siding and roof) is like the skin.

  3. The electrical system is like your brain and nervous system.

  4. The HVAC system is like your lungs.

  5. The plumbing is like your alimentary tract, with a seamless supply of healthy water in, and effortless systems to get waste out.

  6. The heart? The circulatory system? I think it’s the people who live in the house.

2.     We look at the impact a building will have on the earth and the community.  I have a vision of some day every single house on this beautiful planet being its own off the grid biosphere. It wouldn’t have a dome or anything, but it would be self-sufficient. Image your own home on its own plot of land needing nothing from its neighbors or from the town, city or state to operate.  If the national grid goes down – you don’t even notice. If it does not rain for a while, you have full water collection tanks. You have zero dependence on fossil fuels. All waste is taken care of on site and you might even grow your own food.

3.     We Innovate constantly to find the best ways to solve the same old problems. Trillium Architects is a firm solely dedicated to sustainable design and building. After 18 years we have honed our craft and have never stopped honing it. Our firm has dedicated itself to finding new ways to advance building science. Every house we do involves a new advancement that we are excited to try out.

Some of our recent innovations include:

  • An innovation on the ‘slab-less slab’

  • No foam houses.

  • Super creative details to tackle the problems of air sealing the thermal envelope

  • Phasing out all spray foams, reducing our use by approximately 90% in the last 8 years.

  • We outlawed Vinyl use in our house designs 15 years ago. ‘

4.     We require sustainability.

We do not have to build things the way everyone else does. We determine the goal, see what materials are locally available and also sustainable, and then we ‘Get Creative’ and make something out of that. That’s what our ancestors did before we had global shipping and modern technology. And guess what? It was super sustainable!

Walking backwards into the future, is a Māori proverb and one of my favorites. It means looking back to the way things used to be done to inform the future.

  1. We look at the idea of building with materials that are local and natural.

  2. We build to suit the local climate.

  3. Modern technologies integrated with the building wisdom of the past help us achieve the perfect solution.

We love our job and we love designing cutting edge houses for people that allow them to live in worry free comfort, health and beauty while saving thousands of dollars a year in operations and maintenance.

SEEDs in a Pod

Listen in while Elizabeth discusses SEED homes and sustainable houses in this new podcast from #KeepCraftAlive!

 “Of course, I want to continue building amazing, beautiful houses,” Elizabeth tells the host. “But at the same time, I want those houses to be responsible.”

In the podcast, Elizabeth shares the motivation behind her move to SEED homes to balance some of the larger, material-heavy custom houses the firm designs. She also talks about how she got into sustainable architecture, started working with open-minded contractors, and began providing more affordable net-zero options using prefab homes.

 

#KeepCraftAlive is an initiative powered by Fine Homebuilding magazine to bring awareness to the skills gap in the building industry and the rich professional opportunities that exist in the trades. The hashtag offers the opportunity for professionals to share their passion for the cause and to showcase inspirational work.  And, it celebrates those who have chosen to pursue careers in design, building, and remodeling. 

Green Homes: Fact & Fiction

We learned in our recent survey that there are still some misconceptions about green building and living in efficient and sustainable houses. Because of your interest in green architecture, I wanted to share these with you, along with our thoughts on some of those misconceptions and the general market appeal of these amazing homes.

Some of these might be surprising, so read on to see if any of them sound familiar!

Misconception: ‘Green homes look different’ Perhaps surprisingly, most of our homes look indistinguishable as Green Homes! Aesthetics are not tied to energy efficiency construction methods. We could make a classic colonial into a Passive House. And we have! (Have a look at our portfolio. Each house on our website is a true green home.)

Misconception: ‘I’ll have trouble with resale’ People love our houses so much that it’s a rare event that someone builds one and then sells it. In the last 200 houses we have designed, for example, this has only happened three times. In each case there was a bidding war and the house sold within weeks for above asking price. People are thrilled at the idea of living in a healthy environment with almost zero monthly operational and upkeep costs. What’s not to love?

Misconception: ‘I’m not sure everything will work.’ We build what we like to call the Teslas of houses. We may use the newest technologies, but all of the technologies we use have actually been in testing and use for years, if not decades. We create houses that are extremely well built, and like an electric vehicle, there is generally nothing to do to keep the house humming along. Just sit back and enjoy!

Misconception: ‘I’m afraid of the unknown.’ Even though green homes are not as common as traditionally built, the concepts are the same: Provide shelter, design for user friendliness and beauty, insulate, heat and cool. Sometimes the unknown turns out to be a truly welcome change. We start with beautiful houses that work, and consciously integrate healthy sustainable materials, extra insulation and higher efficiency heating and cooling systems to bring you a healthy, quiet, uncommonly comfortable and more long lasting product.

Misconception: ‘A ‘green’ house may end up being more expensive.’ This is a classic myth. They may cost up to 10% more to build, but- oftentimes -they cost the same or only 1% or 2% more than a traditionally built house. Yes, we spend more in windows and insulation, but we spend less in HVAC. In the end most clients find the cost difference negligible, especially given that they will spend almost nothing in operations over the life of the house.

We’d welcome the opportunity to continue this discussion -- and to share our extensive knowledge and architectural design experience with you.

We are the experts in bringing you healthy, sustainable, green homes, and we specialize in LEED, Net Zero and Passive Houses. Please read through our website to find out more!


Simply Sustainable, featured in Bedford New Canaan Magazine

Pound Ridge Net Zero Chosen Aerial 115A.jpg

Many clients come to us having done their homework, knowing exactly what they want in their green dream house. 

That’s the case with this Pound Ridge design, featured in the March issue of Bedford & New Canaan Magazine

Creating a team -- with the client, builder and the architect all onboard together from the beginning --had everyone invested in the project quickly and working from the same page.  This ‘design-build’ approach provides collaborative dialogue, allows the builder to buy-in on the design vision, and for the client to capitalize on the builder’s and the architect’s combined expertise.              

Our recent clients in Pound Ridge came to us with clear requirements and ideas for their new home.  New retirees relocating from the south, they were avid gardeners, enthusiastic cooks and ballroom dancers… and their plans for the house reflected that!  Of equal importance to them was that they wanted to ensure that the resulting house was super energy efficient.

We delivered.  The final design incorporates an open floor plan with room for dancing, shifting volumes and diverse spaces to satisfy the client’s artistic eye, large floor-to-ceiling windows to offer a constant experience of the extensive outdoor gardens while moving through the rooms of the house, specifically designed work rooms for hobbies, and an immaculately detailed his and hers spa bathroom.   

We also helped achieve their desire for a truly efficient home.   Construction involved unique building envelope construction techniques, maximizing their energy efficiency and reducing the house’s carbon footprint including: smart double wall framing, a slab-less slab foundation, continuous roof insulation and triple pane European windows.  All of these techniques result in a house that is far more insulated than code requires and thus drastically reduces the amount of energy used and mechanicals needed to heat and cool the house. A fresh air system ensures healthy indoor air quality. A large array of photovoltaic panels hidden on their flat roof powers the home and charges their Tesla, producing more energy than they use.

As expected, the team approach between the clients, the architect and the builder created a home that expresses and facilitates their passions and their pursuits. 

Find more resources on how to 'go green' using our resources here :
https://www.trilliumarchitects.com/client-resources   

Guilford House Featured in the March issue of CTC&G

We often hear from prospective clients that they want a home that's environmentally-conscious, but don't know how to achieve it. The process can seem daunting and rumor has it that it also cost a lot more money to build a super green home.

Those are the concerns we were approached with by our clients in Guilford, CT. They wanted a house that was not only beautiful, but also environmentally sensitive. They had found a perfect piece of property overlooking Long Island Sound, hired us and we got to work.

19_Old_Quarry_Rd_006A copy.jpg

The final result is the house Passive Progressive*, On the Sound published in this month's CTC&G.

*The house is not Passive House-certified, but it is built towards those standards. The house is Net Zero Ready and will be Net Zero after the final PV Solar panels are installed later this spring.

But, is it challenging to build one of these houses?
Here are the key points that we tell our new clients:

We specialize in building Passive House, Net Zero and LEED Homes. If you work in our specific industry it is easy to achieve this level of house. We do it all of the time. Yes, it is hard to find people who can design and build these houses. You need to have the right team.

When you live in a house like this, you can expect:

  • Extremely low energy bills.

  • Healthy fresh air and clean green living

  • A quiet, comfortable indoor environment

  • Peace of mind that you are helping the environment.

Costs? They are not a lot more than building any other new house in our region. We spend more money in insulation and framing but less in HVAC. The end result may be a 5% to 10% upcharge, but another client might spend more than that on a countertop from Italy. So, it comes down to priorities.

And the Guilford house on the Sound?    
Not only did we achieve the environmentally friendly, energy efficiency goals, we also made the beautiful, designer home that they wanted.  Just take a look!  It’s featured in this month’s Connecticut Cottages & Gardens magazine.     

  • Wood, stone and glass combine to create strikingly modern yet warm exterior and interior spaces.

  • A wall of triple pane windows faces the water and captures the view and the southern sun.

  • A solar panel trellis shades the interior during hot summer days.

  • A central volume clad in wood features the staircase and hides house mechanicals, while long sleek hallways clearly distinguish living spaces.

Now that they can call it home, how did the clients react?
"It's wonderful to be in a space that we love."
And find more resources on how to 'go green' yourself using our resources here :
https://www.trilliumarchitects.com/client-resources

VIDEO: New gable roof transforms attic into green, functional living space

Watch how the design/build team takes a chopped up old attic and transforms it into a spacious entertainment room.

See the team completely reframe the home’s roof with scissor trusses to open up the space and make room for a thick layer of cellulose insulation. Get a peek at details for a continuous air barrier and the future 3rd-floor balcony.

Having trouble viewing video? Please click here

Trilllium Architects Pound Ridge Net Zero Home Wins AIA of CT Sustainability Award of Merit

THUMB NAIL Pound Ridge Net Zero Ext.1.jpg

We are super excited to announce that Trillium Architect’s Pound Ridge Net Zero Home has won AIA of Connecticut’s Sustainable Architecture Award of Merit  This is the first year that AIA of CT has offered this award category in honor of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and we are thrilled to be among the chosen.   Thank you to BPC Green Builders and the home owners Philip and Ronnie for a great sustainable collaboration!   

The award recognizes design projects that reduce emissions, energy use, and water use while still remaining a comfortable and healthy environment. It recognizes architects who are creating durable, comfortable, and healthy environments within the built industry that show reduction in Green House Gas emissions, energy use, or water use.