While I am a practicing architect I also have a side venture with my partner Scott Hedges (not an architect). We have started a company, ByggHouse, with the goal to introduce energy efficient building technology from Scandinavia to the US market. Essentially we are a consulting group working with Scandinavian companies to introduce their product to North America, and to work with American companies that want to adopt these techniques.
Disclaimer: There is an element of self-promotion to post this here, but not beyond what I believe is appropriate for the community. If you disagree, I invite you to request the moderator to remove my message. I do not want to impose. I am posting this here because I believe it could be an important product for custom residential Architects to be aware of.
One of the products we are working on is an innovative foundation system for residential scale construction, which I think could be appropriate to Architects working in custom design as a primary focus.
The foundation system is called WarmForm. It is for making highly insulated frost protected slab on grade foundations. This is a system of remain-in-place concrete forms that speed the process of forming and casting a slab, and eliminate nearly all of the earthwork associated with extending footings below frost. It is fast, it is inexpensive, and it is energy efficient.
We built a prototype in 2012, and now we are looking for the first customers to use this on a residential project in a heating climate. So for you CRAN Architects, if you work on projects in a cold climate please consider this. I will help you understand how it works, so you can decide if it makes sense for your project.
Information on the system is on our web site including a photo of the prototype in progress. There is also a link to a typical detail so you can examine this and consider the detailing aspects of incorporating this into a project. The link:
http://www.bygghouse.com/products/warmform-slab-forms/ -------------------------------------------
Gregory La Vardera
Gregory La Vardera Architect
Merchantville NJ
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