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Resilient Design and Sustainability

Clients turn to Designs Northwest Architects for innovative design solutions located on challenging sites. Designing structures on sites that can resist destructive elements such as tsunamis, floodings, landslides, wildfires or earthquakes while incorporating low-maintenance materials is what we refer to as resilient design or resiliency.

Sustainability refers the goal of preserving natural resources and to help maintain ecological equilibrium. 

Resiliency and sustainability complement each other and can be incorporated in the design for a specific site that is prone to adversity.  Whether the goal is to design a disaster-resistant dwelling or to provide a building that has minimal impact on its environment by conserving resources, sustainable resiliency provides a pathway to achieve this.  With either approach, the design may be considered a high-performance structure because it has been designed to a level surpassing Washington State building code requirement(s).

Following are examples of Designs Northwest Architect’s homes that feature resilient and sustainable design.

A Waterfront Project | Resilient Design (Tsunami Risk Area)

Tsunami House

Camano Island, WA

A Waterfront Project | Resilient Design (Mudslide Coastline Area)

Saratoga Hill House

Camano Island, WA

Resilient Design (Flood Resistant)

Designs Northwest Building

Stanwood, WA

Resilient Design (Firewise for Fire Risk Area)

Mazama Meadow House

Mazama, WA

A Waterfront Project | Resilient Design (Float Home)

Lake Union Float Home

Seattle, WA

Sustainable Design (ICF Construction)

Thomas Eco House

Stanwood, WA

Sustainable Design (Rammed Earth Construction)

Skagit Valley Rammed-Earth House

Skagit Valley, WA

Sustainable Design (Passive House)

Bellingham Passive House

Bellingham, WA