Environmental Design
Our
only
truly limited commodity is time. Where do we
spend
it?
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST
Our immediate
environment, when
it is ideal, can make us happy, healthy and successful. It can
stimulate us or it can make us calm. Feng shui means
‘wind-water.’ It is the ancient art of creating,
adapting
or affecting our environment in a way that it is ultimately beneficial
to us. Have you ever visited a place and felt good, or wanted to
stay there and not understood why?
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST
The modern
home has become a place where many
of us
work, as well as sleep, play, and entertain. There are so far more
functions that a
modern building can provide besides providing shelter and warmth.
Technology can provide significant benefits when utilized for energy,
communications and security.
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST
Energy
generation systems required for an self-sufficient building are
available
off-the-shelf, with little to no extra expense incurred for
construction. It is possible for the buildings to generate more than
enough energy using a combination of solar and/or ground or air
heat exchange systems. Efficiency can be maximized with heat recovering
ventilation and well-considered insulation.
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST
A building’s
surplus energy could be utilized to recharge electric vehicles with
zero
emissions. Not just in the future, but now, with existing technology.
Currently, 40% of all the energy consumed by
the
USA and Europe is used by both residential and
commercial buildings for
heating, cooling and lighting. If the
buildings were to produce 100% of their own energy, then almost
half of the
western world’s energy demands would be fulfilled.
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST
Energy that is
self-generated, becomes more ‘precious.’
Half the task
for a zero
energy building (ZEB) is to not lose the energy that it has worked so
hard to generate. When it’s cold, heat loss needs to be
prevented. To control heat, solar gain needs to be avoided. LED
lighting
consumes 90% less energy than a traditional system which uses
incandescent bulbs.
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST
A lot can be
achieved with very little effort. To create an appealing
environment does not require the most expensive of ornaments or
decorations. It
requires mindfulness and consideration of all the elements: content;
colors; tones; composition and light - just as the making of a
better painting or a better photograph does not require more money; it
merely requires more consideration.
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST
Like fruit on
a tree, the best will always be chosen first. Of course, property and
real estate is not always made more valuable by spending the most amount money
possible on land, labor and construction. Good decisions will always
make the
property more valuable, but the best decisions will also make the
property more valuable with less money.
Angels’
House, design
and build by MST |