Architect pushes the envelope of sustainable design, living

At Rodwin Architecture, “sustainable design” isn’t just a catch phrase or a goal.

It’s simply what the firm does.

Owner and architect Scott Rodwin moved from Connecticut to Boulder in 1992, when the real estate market was not much different than it is today, on the advice to go where he wanted to live to find a job. Several people mentioned that he was a “Boulder kind of guy,” so he set off on hopes to find a home as well as a job in architecture.

When he got up in the morning after arriving in Boulder the night before, he saw the new Boulder Public Library out his window and knew he was in the right town. Scott says he was “blown away with its beauty, its sustainability, and how it blended with its setting.” And landing a job in architecture just five days later confirmed that revelation.

Scott worked for several different architecture firms in Boulder and Denver before opening his own in 1999. Today he employs seven people – four of which he hired within the last couple of months. And Rodwin Architecture is a local leader in sustainability building with a stack of design awards to its name. The firm designed the LEED Platinum-certified “Edge House” in Boulder, which received the top honor from the Colorado Sustainable Design Awards. The home is near-Net Zero Energy, meaning that over the course of a year it uses about the same amount of energy as it produces. It was only the second single-family home in Colorado to achieve LEED Platinum.

Scott attributes the company’s success (and weathering the current storm) to its focus on “green” design, and to its ability to design any kind of building. Its current project list testifies to this diversity: the Columbine Elementary School; two churches (One of which is City on the Hill at 75th and Arapahoe); 1222 Pearl St. (renovation of the Art Mart Building); the historic remodel of a large bar/restaurant in downtown Denver; five custom homes and two remodels of various sizes; and a 19-unit townhouse project. The architecture firm also offers monthly workshops on green building to building professionals as well as homeowners, teaches Green Residential Building 101 for the city and county of Boulder, and recently offered a green building workshop for REMAX of Boulder's annual retreat.

Besides being green, Scotts says he always has an eye toward creating buildings that are cost-effective to build, will resell well in the market, function well and are beautiful. While the desire to have a “green” building brings customers to his door, they ultimately choose Rodwin Architecture because of its ability to do beautiful and intelligent architecture, Scott says.

“The mission of our architectural firm is to continue to push the envelope of sustainable design while at the same time keeping a clear eye on affordability, so that the benefits of sustainability are accessible to as many people as possible,” he says.

Toward that goal, eight years ago Scott branched out into design-build, starting Skycastle Homes; two years ago he shifted its focus to specialize in small additions with deep-energy retrofits. “It’s a nice complement to everything we do,” he says.

He hires employees who have real-world experience, such as in construction. "They understand that when designing a building, it’s more than just lines on a page." He also chooses people who have a high level of knowledge of sustainable design. Both Scott and the majority of his employees are LEED Accredited Professionals.

Personally, Scott practices what he preaches: he co-founded Nomad Cohousing in Boulder, where he has been a resident for 12 years. He is a member of the Not So Big House movement that focuses on the quality of homes and not their size. Rodwin Architecture is a member of Architects and Planners of Boulder, the American Institute of Architects, Sierra Club, the Home Builders Association, the Boulder Green Building Guild, and an affiliate of the Boulder Area Realtor Association. He is politically involved in the efforts to make sustainable living the norm – not the exception – in Boulder, getting involved with green building-code development and fighting for higher-density, transit-connected Smart Growth.

“Green buildings are a good start, but in order to achieve true sustainability we also have to address our land-use patterns,” he says.

For more information about Rodwin Architecture, 1245 Pearl Street, Suite 202, or its green building workshops (coming up on Jan. 19 and Feb. 15), call (303) 413-8556 or visit www.rodwinarch.com.