Movements like Slow Food and Slow Fashion are supporting ethical and sustainable business practices around the world and many industries have fair trade certifications. Fair trade is defined as paying local producers fair prices for their goods, as well as supporting improved social and environmental standards.

There are many third party certifiers for fair trade including Fairtrade International and Fair Trade USA that certify handicrafts and agricultural products, but there is currently no fair trade certification for building materials.

We are developing our own standards under the broader heading of ‘impact sourcing,’ sourcing from companies who strive to reduce their impact on the environment, uphold ethical labor practices, and support the communities in which these products are produced.

Material Vetting Process

We are in the process of vetting the materials, products, manufacturers, and vendors that we work with to source good, clean, and fair materials and goods from companies and manufacturers that operate ethically and sustainably.

While we cannot independently verify that all companies meet all our standards, we look for companies that share our values, rely on third-party certifications and affiliations, and ask the suppliers to self-certify if possible.

Material Vetting Grading System. Drawings by Sarah Lueck.

As the marketplace for good, clean, and fair building products grows, this process will become easier and we hope to collaborate and share information with others doing this work.

Are you a building professional or manufacturer that is interested in working with us?  Get in touch!

Read the other articles in our SLOW SPACE Series:

SLOW SPACE: FAIR LABOR IN ARCHITECTURE

SLOW SPACE: FAIR LABOR IN CONSTRUCTION

SLOW SPACE: DEFINING FAIR BUILDING PRACTICES

SLOW SPACE: CLEAN BUILDING MATERIAL SELECTION

SLOW SPACE: CLEAN BUILDINGS FOR BETTER HEALTH AND WELLBEING

SLOW SPACE: GOOD DESIGN PRINCIPLES

SLOW SPACE: WHAT MAKES A GOOD BUILDING?

SLOW SPACE: GOOD, CLEAN AND FAIR ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

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In our experience, design firms also regularly misclassify employees, willfully or not, as Independent Contractors to avoid paying payroll taxes, unemployment, and benefits. If a worker is not classified as an employee they are not protected by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (US).

What was once a landmark workers’ right legislation, protections under the FLSA have been eroded over time, particularly with respect to the overtime exemption. As of 2019, any architectural worker earning over $35,568 per year is exempt from overtime pay under the Professional Exemption, thus leaving them vulnerable to exploitation by employers who demand 60-80 hour work weeks for the same pay.

Design firms regularly misclassify employees as 1099 contractors.

Fair Labor Standards Act

We rigorously follow the US Fair Labor Standards Act for ourselves and all of our consultants and subcontractors. The FLSA covers minimum wage, overtime, hours worked, record-keeping, and child labor. 

In 2017, Just Design, an Architecture Lobby initiative, was established to create a certification system for fair labor practices in architecture and recognized Aamodt / Plumb for our fair labor practices.

Living Wage

We support a living wage for all workers. A living wage refers to a theoretical income level that allows an individual or family to afford adequate shelter, food, and the other basic necessities. The goal of a living wage is to allow employees to earn enough income for a satisfactory standard of living and to prevent them from falling into poverty.

Impact Based Hiring

We embrace diversity, including, but not limited to BIPOC, LGBTQ+, Disabled Individuals. We apply an equitable approach to recruiting, hiring, supporting, retaining, and advancing careers of employees that identify as belonging to groups that suffer from systemic barriers to employment. We are transparent about our commitment to inclusion, share our values publicly, and strive to make our work environment comfortable and accepting.

We use a values-based hiring approach which prioritizes fit with our company mission and culture over degrees earned and years of work experience. We encourage on-the-job-learning in our growth- based and improvement-focused environment.

Values-based hiring approach prioritizes fit with our company mission and culture over degrees earned.

We also use equitable hiring practices for our consultants and subcontractors and prioritize working with businesses owned by women and those from marginalized demographics in order to share opportunities with those who are systemically overlooked in the construction industry.

Equitable Work Environment

We are committed to creating an intentional inclusive company culture. Our goal is to create a workplace that is good, clean, and fair for all our employees by establishing a safe, supportive, flexible work environment that encourages acceptance, empowerment, growth, respect, and compassion.

We accommodate varying work schedules to meet employees’ family responsibilities and we emphasize the importance of work-life balance by limiting the typical work week to 35-45 hours maximum. This is particularly important for hiring and retaining women long-term.

We commemorate holidays that amplify oppressed communities, for example Indigenous People’s Day, MLK Birthday, Juneteenth, Eid, Yom Kippur, and Rosh Hashanah, by offering two flex holidays where people can choose to take time off to celebrate holidays that are culturally important to them.

Read the next post in our series: SLOW SPACE: IMPACT SOURCING.

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Construction

Construction is a great source of well-paying middle class jobs that support local economies, however fewer people are choosing this career path. Instead the industry relies heavily on unskilled and low wage workers, making it extremely susceptible to exploitation and Modern Slavery.

“The International Labour Organization estimates that, by their definitions, over 40 million people are in some form of slavery today. 24.9 million people are in forced labor, of whom 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction, or agriculture … and 4 million persons in forced labor imposed by state authorities.”

The industry relies heavily on unskilled and low wage workers.

Although slavery has been officially abolished, enslavement persists through illegal control rather than legal ownership.

Examples in the construction industry include:

• Unsafe working conditions that led to thousands of deaths of the “World Cup Slaves” at Zaha Hadid’s 2022 World Cup Stadium in Qatar. 
• Predatory recruitment, confiscation of passports, and withholding wages of migrant workers globally, documented by an organization of architects, activists, and scholars called Who Builds Your Architecture?
• Workers are housed in remote “camps” with poor hygiene, no privacy, and as little as one square meter per person. Amnesty International reported a case where workers were forced to sleep in shifts because there was not enough space. 
• Non payment of salary, salary considerably below legal minimum wage, and sometimes requiring laborers to work unpaid until a project is completed. 
• Construction companies hiring workers illegally, paying them under the table, demanding long hours at less than prevailing wage with no benefits, workers compensation, or health insurance if they get injured. The companies rarely get caught because the workers have no legal recourse so it is cheaper for them to pay the fines rather than operate legally and ethically. 
• In the US, the 13th Amendment provides the legal basis for slavery to continue for incarcerated people. Prison labor is used to create case goods, office furniture, and other building products. 
• Around the world, enslaved people are used to harvest or make common building materials such as brick, stone, rubber, and lumber.

Construction Workers on Scaffolding. CC0 License.

The problem of exploitation in the construction industry is systemic and exists right under our noses. As one workers’ advocate said: “This is not about catching a few bad actors that are dragging down the industry. We’ve evolved a system for providing subsidized labor to build our houses, and it’s based on the vulnerability of the workforce.”

It is not uncommon for wages to be withheld, or never paid, and the workers have no recourse, either because they are undocumented or because they are not on the books. Wage theft is defined as the denial of wages or employee benefits that are rightfully owed to an employee.

Examples include failure to pay overtime, minimum wage violations, employee misclassification (classified as independent contractors rather than employees), illegal deductions in pay, working off the clock, or not being paid at all. It is estimated that billions of dollars are stolen from workers every year by employers in the form of wage theft. Oversight is difficult because of the complexity of the supply chain. There are dozens of different construction trades with many layers of subcontractors, each at risk of exploitation.

Meanwhile, the practice is very profitable. The International Labour Organization estimates that $34 billion in profit is generated annually in the construction industry worldwide from slave labor.

In the US, safeguards are in place on publicly bid projects where subcontractors are required to submit payroll records every week or month showing they comply with the laws. Unions also protect workers, but only a small percentage of people working in the trades are in unions.

Private, non-union jobs, like the majority of residential construction in the US, is awash in exploitation and Modern Slavery.

In 2015 the UK passed the Modern Slavery Act to strictly enforce laws on human trafficking and exploitation as well as transparency in supply chains. Canada and Australia have also passed legislation on Modern Slavery with more countries to follow. But as we have shown, just because there are laws in place does not mean slavery will end.

Read the next post in our series: SLOW SPACE: FAIR LABOR IN ARCHITECTURE.

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Everyone should have equal access to health, wealth, justice, and opportunity regardless of their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, legal status, or other circumstance. Inequity manifests itself vividly in the design of buildings and cities with resources directed unfairly. Redlining has created socioeconomic pockets of underserved communities where housing, schools, and other public services are sub-par.

Rather than being a steady source of middle class jobs, the construction industry is a contributor to modern slavery, both in the US and around the world. The field of architecture has a history of excluding women and minorities, using unpaid interns, and misclassifying employees to get free work.

Fair is the social justice lens through which we evaluate the challenges faced in the design and construction industry.

Inclusivity

We uphold the dignity and worth of all people and hope to create a world where everyone can live and learn from one another in harmony. This means including people of all races, religions, sexual identities, economic positions, and abilities in the neighborhoods where we live.

But we are far from that reality right now. 

A century of redlining and segregation turned our once diverse cities into socio-economic enclaves divided by race and class. This segregation was intentional, created by a continuous set of ‘de jure’ policies at the federal, state, and local levels as shown by Richard Rothstein in the groundbreaking book “The Color of Law.”¹ Now we have an uphill battle to undo the harm that has been done.

Home Owners Loan Corporation Redlining Map of Boston, 1938.

Non-discrimination

We believe housing is a human right, and that good, clean, and fair housing should be available to all people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic position, ability constraints, or any other classification.

We uphold and promote the tenets of the Fair Housing Act (FHA), otherwise known as Titles VIII through IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and family status, including pregnancy.²

Marginalized groups, specifically Black Americans, have historically been blocked from homeownership through racist public and private policies known as redlining.³

We must actively repair the damage done by these policies through strict non-discrimination enforcement, policy change, reparative housing initiatives, and by creating more affordable home- ownership opportunities for Black Americans.

Affordability

Everyone should have access to housing that is good, clean, and fair, regardless of their income level and where they live. Market rate housing in most affluent towns and neighborhoods is out of reach for groups in low income categories, and for those historically blocked from homeownership.

Market forces, together with redlining policies, have created underserved urban areas cut off from access to better schools, jobs, and networking opportunities.

Our goal is to create mixed income housing in urban and suburban locations with a minimum of 25% affordable units by 2030.

Accessibility

Housing should be accessible to people of all abilities without marginalization or stigma. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 sets forth minimum accessible design standards. Universal Design goes further to say these spaces should be designed without the need for adaptation or specialized design elements that call attention to specific users.⁴

Community Partnership

Our design and construction processes are centered around people and their well-being. This human centered design approach is rooted in empathy and guided by ongoing community partnerships, research, reflection, and iteration.

We understand that residents are the experts in their communities; they know what is needed and desired and can best identify the types of housing, services, and infrastructure that should exist in their neighborhood.

Community input is an inherent part of our design process. We partner with communities as co-designers to ensure our housing developments do not displace current residents, but rather promote equity, affordability, and inclusivity.⁵

We engage with the community throughout design and construction through outreach meetings and events to get to know the people and their goals for the future. These events are also a way to introduce the community to the concepts of good, clean, and fair, and how those standards are integrated into the project.

We research the specific needs and conditions of a community when looking for a development site. Every neighborhood is unique in its demographics, culture, amenities, and needs. Research includes speaking with local officials, holding community meetings, and surveying the immediate area.

Now that we’ve defined fair building practices, in our next article we will discuss fair labor and labor exploitation in the construction industry.

Read the next post in our series: SLOW SPACE: FAIR LABOR IN CONSTRUCTION.

End Notes:

1 Richard Rothstein, “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History Of How Our Government Segregated America,” Liverwright: 2017
2 US Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Housing Discrmination Under the Fair Housing Act.”
3 Richard Rothstein, “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History Of How Our Government Segregated America,” Liverwright: 2017
4 National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability, “The Principles of Universal Design,” nchpad.org.
5 References for Anti-Displacement: Tiffany Manuel, “Who Gets To Live Where, and Why? The Answers May Be Settled by Our Narratives,” shelterforce.org: 1/30/18; Housing Development Consortium, “Anti-Displacement Policies, Programs, Positions,” housingconsortium.org; National Coalition For Asian Pacific American Community Development & Council For Native Hawaiian Advancement, “Anti-Displacement Strategies,” 2016.

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Indoor Air Quality

We spend 90% of our time inside and the indoor air quality (IAQ) has a large impact on the health of building occupants. In most places, indoor air has a higher concentration of pollutants than outside air and the increased exposure to pollutants directly impacts our health and well-being.¹

Common health problems from pollutant exposure include asthma, lung cancer, respiratory problems, headaches, central nervous system damage, dizziness, and more.²

Unhealthy indoor air quality is most commonly caused by:³

• Particulates: From fireplaces, stoves, mold and dust; results in eye, nose, and throat irritation, coronary and respiratory disease.⁴
• Carbon Monoxide: From fuels and burning gas; causes carbon monoxide poisoning.⁵
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): From paints, adhesives, sealants, solvents, finishes, blowing agents, household cleaners, furnishings; can cause eye, nose, and throat irritation, liver and kidney cancer, and damage to the central nervous system.⁶
• Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs): Found in plastics and epoxy resins; can be carcinogenic and endocrine disruptors.
• Formaldehyde: Found in insulation, resins, composite woods, preservatives, and household products; causes eye, nose, throat, and skin irritation, and cancer.⁷
• Carbon Dioxide: From kitchen appliances and fireplaces, causes headaches, dizziness and nausea.⁸
• Radon: Naturally occurring element, can cause respiratory issues and lung cancer.⁹
• Temperature and Humidity: Need to be controlled to prevent mold, moisture build up, and odors.¹⁰

In order to mitigate harmful off-gassing and maintain healthy indoor air quality it is important to define strict standards, carefully vet materials, provide adequate ventilation, and test and monitor.

Opening the windows is an easy way to get clean, fresh air. Photo: Jane Messinger

Passive Ventilation

We believe that a building should breathe. Opening the windows is one of the most effective ways to improve indoor air quality, by flushing out the air and removing idle contaminants.¹¹ It also has the benefit of connecting you to nature, thereby improving your health and your mood.

We install operable windows in all occupied spaces to give people individual control over airflow, temperature, and humidity. This low- tech solution is simple, affordable, and has worked for hundreds of years.

Passive ventilation like this is critical because it can work in any condition, even when mechanical ventilation does not, like during a power outage.

We believe that a building should breathe.

In most places, outside air is much cleaner than the air inside your home. Take advantage of your windows and get some fresh air by opening them periodically.

The exception is in cities like Los Angeles and Hong Kong that have notoriously bad air quality. In these situations, people often need to rely on the quality of their mechanical system, however this can be supplemented by maintaining clean ductwork, changing filters, or utilizing an indoor air filter.

Mechanical Ventilation

Buildings should have robust mechanical ventilation systems with fresh air intakes. Mechanical ventilation filters out harmful particulates and VOCs. We recommend a filter with a Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) of 13, though a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter is preferred, as it is able to comb through even smaller particles.¹²

Smog in Hong Kong, Photo: Andrea Piacquadio

Mechanical ventilation also provides air changes. Air changes are how frequently the air in the house is removed from a space.¹³ Stale air can cause health issues like nausea and respiratory problems, and is commonly referred to as Sick Building Syndrome.¹⁴ In areas where outdoor air quality may be poor, these mechanical systems can provide a substitute for fresh air.

Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs), which take fresh air from the outside and heats or cools it from the energy recovered from the exhausted air, are another example of efficient mechanical solutions for fresh air intakes.

Certain mechanical systems can also exhaust harmful emissions that make their way into your home, called re-entrainment.¹⁵ Specifying electric systems, such as electric heat pumps, ERVs, and appliances, eliminates fuel burning emissions.

Some mechanical systems themselves can actually cause IAQ problems as well, from trapped dust in ductwork, microbiological growth in drip pans and coils, improper venting or sealant, and refrigerant leakage.¹⁶

This makes it even more important to choose the proper mechanical system, so that the equipment you have in your home is not contributing to poor indoor air quality.

Exterior Window Detail by Aamodt / Plumb. Photo: Casey Dunn.

Covid-19

With air-borne viruses like Covid-19 there is an even greater need for outside air ventilation and proper filtration. Opening the windows is the easiest and most effective method of cleaning and dispersing air.

The EPA has additional recommendations for virus mitigation that align with our IAQ standards:¹⁷

• Increase fresh air intake from outside to remove pollutants and help circulate air.
• Increase overall ventilation, including running fans and increasing air changes.
• Use MERV or HEPA filters in your HVAC system and change them regularly.
• Portable air cleaners or filters can augment your existing system.

Finally, while the EPA warns that evaporative coolers and house fans are not standalone solutions, they significantly reduce the transmission of Covid-19 by cooling and filtering the air. They are a good solution to air circulation if no other options are viable.

Read the other articles in our SLOW SPACE Series:

SLOW SPACE: CLEAN BUILDING MATERIAL SELECTION

SLOW SPACE: CLEAN BUILDINGS FOR BETTER HEALTH AND WELLBEING

SLOW SPACE: GOOD DESIGN PRINCIPLES

SLOW SPACE: WHAT MAKES A GOOD BUILDING?

SLOW SPACE: GOOD, CLEAN AND FAIR ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION

Endnotes:
1 World Health Organization, “Household air pollution and health,” 2018.
2 Environmental Protection Agency, “Interactive Tour of the Indoor Air Quality Demo House,”
2019.
3 EPA, “Introduction to Indoor Air Quality,” 2020
4 EPA, “Improving Indoor Air Quality,” 2020.
5 EPA, “Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): Air Cleaners and Air Filters in the Home,” 2019.
6 ASHRAE, “ASHRAE Standard: Ventilation for Indoor Air Quality,” 2003.
7 EPA, “Indoor Air Facts No. 4: Sick Building Syndrome,” 1991.
8 EPA, “Factors Affecting Indoor Air Quality,” 2014.
9 EPA, “Factors Affecting Indoor Air Quality” 2014
10 EPA, “Indoor Particulate Matter,” 2020.
11 National Center for Environmental Health, “Carbon Monoxide Poisoning,” CDC: 2020.
12 EPA, “Volatile Organic Compounds’ Impact on Indoor Air Quality,” 2017.
13 EPA, “Facts About Formaldehyde,” 2020.
14 Michael G. Apte, William J, Fisk, Joan M. Daisey, “Associations Between Indoor CO2
Concentrations and Sick Building Syndrome Symptoms in U.S. Office Buildings,”
Munksgaard Journals: 2000.
15 EPA, “Radon,” 2020.
16 EPA, “Care for Your Air: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality,” 2019.
17 EPA, “Indoor Air in Homes and Coronavirus (Covid-19),” 2020.

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Our first attempt at a Material Vetting Grading System. Drawings by Sarah Lueck.

We rely heavily on the tremendous work being done by others in the design and construction industry. For example, if information is available for materials that we are currently in the process of vetting, we will check them for harmful chemicals against a number of industry red lists. Some great examples of industry red lists are:

• Living Future Redlist 
• Perkins and Will Precautionary List 
• Pharos Project

We may also look at some existing third party certifications, such as Cradle to Cradle and The Living Product Challenge/Declare to help us determine if a material is clean. 

Cradle to Cradle evaluates the full life cycle of a product, from creation through installation for harmful chemicals or processes.

The Living Product Challenge is an environmental analysis that focuses on place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity, and beauty.

Whenever possible we eliminate materials with a high negative impact on indoor air quality, carbon emissions, and environmental pollution. However, there are not always clean alternatives to many building products. For example, drywall contains silica, which appears on one or more of these red lists, however this may not be able to be eliminated from all projects due to cost issues.

We also use common sense and some age-old wisdom, giving preference to natural materials that are generally known to be non-toxic and unprocessed. Natural wood and stone have been used as building products for thousands of years and are inherently clean, as long as you do not add potentially harmful finishes, sealers or treatments. A simple approach is to use a limited palette of all natural materials.

Read the next article in our SLOW SPACE Series:

SLOW SPACE: WHY IS INDOOR AIR QUALITY IMPORTANT FOR CLEAN BUILDINGS?

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Buildings have a significant effect on both the health of the people who occupy them, and the health of the environment in which we all live. Health and wellbeing have been guiding principles at Aamodt / Plumb since its inception. Mette has had Multiple Sclerosis since she was an architecture student at Harvard Graduate School of Design, but she is not alone. Sixty percent of adults in the US have a chronic illness and the number is increasing rapidly.¹

Many factors contribute to this, but one area in the building industry deserves our immediate attention. Since WWII we have seen a dramatic rise in the use of synthetic chemicals in everything from household cleaning products to building materials. Less than 1% of those chemicals are tested for health and environmental safety before they are put on the market.²

Health and wellbeing have been guiding principles since our inception.

For example, a typical housing development in the Northeast is built with vinyl siding, spray foam insulation, and synthetic carpet. Polyvinyl chloride, used to make siding, is a known carcinogen. Spray foam is a two part chemical concoction that must be installed in hazmat suits. And polyester carpeting is a petroleum-based product that off gases chemicals which contributes to asthma.

Materials like these contribute to poor indoor air quality that lead to a host of negative health effects. They also contribute to the carbon emissions and environmental pollution that are accelerating the climate crisis. Most of the plants that produce these chemicals and products are located next to poor, indigenous, and minority communities, leading to increased birth defects, shortened lifespan, and chronic illness. Similarly, cheap, low quality materials are often used in affordable housing developments.

Less than 1% of those chemicals are tested for health and environmental safety before they are put on the market.

Read the next article in our SLOW SPACE Series:

SLOW SPACE: CLEAN BUILDING MATERIAL SELECTION

Endnotes:
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Chronic Diseases in America,” 2020.
2 “84,000 Chemicals on the Market, Only 1% Have Been Tested for Safety,” EcoWatch: 2015;

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May 5, 2021 to October 3, 2021

Aamodt / Plumb is pleased to announce our participation in the Vienna Biennale For Change 2021. We were invited to create an exhibit on our philosophy of SLOW SPACE and Good, Clean, and Fair building. The VIENNA BIENNALE 2021 is being staged by the MAK, the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the Kunsthalle Wien, the Architekturzentrum Wien, and the Vienna Business Agency, as well as a new partner, the KUNST HAUS WIEN, and as a non-university research partner the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT). 

A passion for our environment, ideas for change, and collective responsibility for the future of our climate—active CLIMATE CARE—are the focus of this year’s biennale. Exhibitions, projects, and events at five different locations demonstrate how a sustainable future, inspired by the concepts of CLIMATE CARE and PLANET LOVE, might look, and which impulses might be provided by art, architecture, and design.

As part of the main contribution to the exhibition, we joined more than 120 other artists, designers, architects, researchers, activists, and authors to represent the enormous potential of artistic disciplines in helping to develop and promote a sustainable climate modernity. We aim to inspire and motivate as many people as possible to develop and nurture a reverential relationship with our planet.

Learn more: https://www.viennabiennale.org/

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Slow Space: 8 Principles of Good Design

1 NATURAL MATERIALS IN THEIR WHOLE, RAW AND AUTHENTIC FORM

We choose to elevate humble, timeless, local materials over the elite, new, and precious. We celebrate the intrinsic qualities of materials, including the idiosyncrasies and perceived imperfections, which make them unique and beautiful. Far from representing disorder, these qualities represent another higher order of a natural world that is constantly in flux.

2 TRACES OF TIME 

We celebrate time in the marks left by the process of making, weathering and use (and by observing something closely). Nature and weather are dynamic, unstable, and unpredictable, as seen from the deserts in North Africa to rainforests in Brazil to volcanoes in Japan. In Norway the word for weather is “vær” and the verb “å være” means “to be.” 

Therefore the whole notion of existence there is “to be in a changing, shifting, unpredictable world.” In Buddhism this observation equates to the concepts of ephemerality, transience, and impermanence in life. Buddhists believe we have more than one life on Earth so there is time enough to slow down and observe all the details.

3 SOFT EDGES AND BLURRED BOUNDARIES EXPERIENCED THROUGH MOVEMENT 

In the nordics for half of the year there is continuous twilight where the sun’s oblique angles create a moody, shifting light. The light creates space that has no distinct boundary or clear form. Nothing is in sharp relief. Nothing feels permanent. Everything is changing and experiential. 

So too with the Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetic where things “have a vague, blurry or attenuated quality – as things do as they approach nothingness (or come out of it).” These soft edges must be experienced through proprioception, our body’s movement through space, sometimes referred to as the sixth sense.

4 MUTED PALETTE OF MATERIALS, COLORS AND LIGHT THAT SOOTHE THE MIND AND BODY 

Natural materials, earth tones, and the colors of the sky at dawn and dusk are both familiar and achingly beautiful. They complement and balance each other and create a neutral and inclusive environment that everyone can relate to and customize in their own way. This is an easy way to bring the calming effects of nature into the home.

5 INTIMATE SPACES FOR INTROSPECTION, TO CONNECT WITH ONESELF AND OTHERS 

The word “room” evolved from the Norwegian word “rydning,” which means clearing. Space, therefore, is a clearing in the forest, an aperture in nature that humans have created and where they live, and an intimate space is one that prioritizes the individual. 

The Japanese metaphor of space as a bowl, a fluid circular shape to be filled with possibilities, is also an intimate space, focused inward to “enhance one’s capacity for metaphysical musings.” 

Many African cultures use circles to represent the interconnectivity of all aspects of one’s being, including the connection with the natural world. African circle dances reflect another form of intimacy through community, unity, and inclusion.

6 SENSORY DETAILS THAT AROUSE ALL MODES OF HUMAN PERCEPTION 

We perceive the world with all of our senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, touch, and movement. Instances where one comes in contact with the building, like the door handle at Villa Mairea by Alvar Aalto, are opportunities for deep sensory connection. This is also true in wabi-sabi, where things “beckon: get close, touch, [and] relate. They inspire a reduction in the psychic distance between one thing and another, between people and things.”

7 SIMPLE FORMS EXPRESSING AN ECONOMY OF MEANS, GRACEFULLY AND WITHOUT PRETENSE 

Folkcraft, indigenous, and vernacular buildings such as barns, smoke houses, longhouses, and yurts are both efficient and poetic. The form of these structures has evolved over time and bears the wisdom of culture and experience.

8 COEXIST INTENTIONALLY 

We promote purposeful, intimate, and ethical interactions between citizens, where the architecture focuses on people, rather than the building itself. In Japan, wabi-sabi principles suggest that no one thing should be more important than another and buildings should coexist easily with their context. 

In the Nordic Region this goes further to say no person should be more important than any other and all people are equal. This social responsibility is evident in the humanism of Nordic Design and our work at Aamodt / Plumb.

These 8 Principles of Good Design are derived from our belief that good, clean and fair housing is a human right. Read our article, SLOW SPACE: GOOD, CLEAN AND FAIR ARCHITECTURE AND CONSTRUCTION, to learn why we created the Slow Space movement and made it our mission to create homes that are good, clean and fair.

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At its best, a good building achieves Slow Space, a carefully crafted physical space that creates the right atmosphere and conditions for slowing time and fostering deep, meaningful experiences. 

The clock may not literally beat slower, but our experience of the place will be as if it had. At Aamodt / Plumb we strive to create good buildings, which we define as empathetic, experiential, beautiful, and connected to nature. 

Slow Space is a carefully crafted physical space that creates the right  conditions for slowing down.

Empathy 

Empathy is a deep understanding of another person’s emotions and needs. It allows us to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. This human-centered design approach focuses on people first to highlight equity, social values, and empowering the community. Empathy is how we understand the world around us, including our physical environment. 

Beauty 

Beauty can evoke joy, inspiration, awe, a connection to something spiritual, or even consolation in our times of sorrow. A good building must be beautiful because beauty evokes a deep emotional response and an ineffable connection to something bigger than ourselves. Architecture should create beauty not just in the occasional monuments and sacred spaces, but also in the everyday moments of the home where we spend most of our time. 

The visions of beauty we admire are based on a deep appreciation and close observation of nature.

There are many definitions of beauty and we draw inspiration from sources across the globe. Some definitions of beauty praise order and perfection and others revere the machine as a source of inspiration, but the visions of beauty that we admire are based on a deep appreciation and close observation of nature. This is evident in cultures found in places around the world, ranging from the Nordics, to Japan, to Africa and South America, whose clear respect for nature and its power is reflected in what they create.

Connection To Nature 

The ideal conditions for slowing down, reflecting, and engaging our senses exist in nature. Our bodies are part of nature and rely on its clean water, air, and soil to survive. As the Norwegian Architect and theoretician Christian Nordberg-Schulz wrote, “nature implies nearness and empathy; here one lives with and among things, as a participant in a web of phenomena.” Rather than separating us, a good building connects us with nature and allows us to understand our place in the world. 

Experience Of Space 

The experience of space impacts us in profound and meaningful ways. Our physical environment is an extension of our own bodies, and the sounds, smells, and sights are mapped onto our brains, affecting our wellbeing in subconscious ways. At Aamodt / Plumb we use this phenomenological approach, choosing to focus on the spatial experience, rather than the form of the building as the driving force in design.

We manifest these core ideas of good buildings in a set of eight principles of good design.

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Aamodt / Plumb are a team of architects, designers, and builders. For more than a decade we have specialized in designing and building homes, and have learned some lessons along the way.

• Good design has a huge impact on people’s lives, and so does bad design. 
• Hiring an architect is out of reach for most people.
• Typical buildings today are only expected to last 3040 years.
• Common building products contain a wide array of toxic chemicals. 
• Skilled trade jobs can offer meaningful and well-paid careers for many people. 
• The construction industry contributes to exploitation and modern slavery.

We uncovered some serious problems within the design and construction industry and were not satisfied with the impact we were making. In 2017 we started The Slow Space Movement, modeled on Slow Food, to rally like-minded architects, designers, builders, and artisans around the idea of good, clean and fair buildings for all. We started the conversation around many of these issues and began to raise awareness about material health and fair labor in the building industry. 

In 2020 the coronavirus pandemic put a hard stop to business as usual. As we all sat at home pondering the health and economic impact of this crisis another virus of-sorts reemerged. Racism, injustice, and inequality lay just beneath the surface of our society and the killing of George Floyd and the resulting protests shone a new light on an old problem. 

Meanwhile the climate crisis continued, unaltered by the covid related pause in industry and automobile use. We are in the midst of a climate, justice, and public health emergency. Business as usual will not cut it. The great pause of 2020 allowed us to see things clearly and take a hard turn toward doing what is right. 

Our mission is to create homes that are good, clean and fair.

We came together as a studio to define what ‘good, clean and fair’ means to us. We synthesized design principles from our early influences and current inspirations from around the globe to define these terms and a list of design principles. This guide is a work in progress and will change as we learn and grow. We are sharing this with the design and construction industry in the hopes of furthering conversations, inspiring action, and broadening our impact. 

This article is the first in an upcoming series around the concept central to our work philosophy: good, clean, and fair housing. We hope to spark inspiration and conversation around what good design really is. We welcome your thoughts and feedback.

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Read the full article about this Provincetown Modern Renovation. Article excerpt below.

‘I can’t believe this came out of it’: A Provincetown guesthouse gets reinvented as a modern single-family

Neil Jacobs and Eric Ganz dreamed of a seaside escape with a Scandinavian sensibility. What they purchased was a historic Greek Revival built for a sea-captain-turned-merchant that had been functioning as a guesthouse since just after World War II.

As head of reconnaissance, Jacobs gave the Provincetown property a hard pass at first, in part because the house was chopped up. “It felt like every door you opened was another bathroom,” Jacobs says. Later he reconsidered, noting that it met his husband’s criteria: a water view and a yard big enough for a small pool. This time, inspiration struck. If they opened it up, Jacob says, “We could have a central atrium filled with light.”

Wife-and-husband architectural team Mette Aamodt and Andrew Plumb rendered the vision a reality. The duo realized that scooping out the shell, including the second floor and attic, would leave exactly what Jacobs and Ganz were looking for. “There are two gabled roof forms, one that runs east-west and another that runs north-south,” Plumb says. “That meant we could have two double-height spaces perpendicular to each other.”

Excavating the inside of a building is easier said than done. While the red brick chimney could be dismantled with little problem, eliminating a good portion of the second story would require backup. “The floor does a lot of work to stitch a house together,” Plumb explains. “You can’t just take it away and be done.” Steel ties were inserted to stabilize the roof and steel lintels went up to support the walls.

The main living space is now the central atrium the couple imagined. It soars to 22 feet at its peak and light pours in from nearly every direction. The architects matched an existing sky-high dormer window facing the street with a copycat opening on the wall across from it, which opens into the second-floor den. They also made a cutout in the wall above the stairs that peeks into the master suite. “The idea was to create these specific moments of connection between spaces,” Plumb says.

The living room melds into the kitchen at the back of the house. At Ganz’s suggestion, a 12-foot bi-fold door visually connects the space to the deck, patio, and plunge pool. In the interest of keeping sightlines clear, cabinetry and appliances are pushed to the side. “A kitchen has all this stuff that screams, ‘I am a kitchen!’” Plumb says. “It’s important that a kitchen be quiet in an open space, especially here where you look through it to the outdoors.”

To imbue the dining area with its own sense of space and character, Plumb lined the ceiling with white oak tongue-and-groove boards. He also designed a slatted white oak screen as a backdrop. “Neil wondered if the ceiling would be high enough, but a contrast in scale is a good thing,” Plumb says. “It makes smaller spaces cozier and larger spaces more impressive.” The purpose of the screen, which Jacobs calls, “Andrew’s greatest moment,” is threefold. Functionally, it shields the stairway to the master suite. Visually, it adds interest. Mentally, it also soothes the mind. “Textured surfaces slow down the eye and makes things feel calm,” Plumb says.

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