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Photo courtesy of Homewood Museum,
The Johns Hopkins University
photograph by James T. Van
Rensselaer
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A recent article in the New York Times, What Does it Mean to be Comfortable?, brought to mind the keynote address I delivered at the Homewood Museum at The Johns Hopkins University in 2009. The newspaper article describes how homogenization of perceptions of comfort are taxing the planet's natural resources as societies move away from traditional habits of accommodating work and life styles to be in tune with local climate and weather to a standardized 9 to 5 routine that relies heavily on mechanized heating and air-conditioning -- and therefore fossil fuels.
Homewood House was designed to astound visitors not only with its
appearance and appointments, but also with its comfort. Its owner and designer,
Charles Carroll, Jr., focused on the creation of a visually impressive villa. His
efforts to make the house as physically accommodating as possible included
"green building" techniques that can be applied today. While he did
not keep records of his decisions during the house's construction, family
correspondence, expense records, and the building itself provide helpful
information about both the structure and its operation throughout its use by
the young Carroll family. The story of Homewood House’s construction is
enlightening, and is especially useful for contemporary readers interested in
applying its assembly methods and building systems to current construction
projects.
Historic houses like Homewood are commonly considered
“green,” a word used to suggest that a building's construction and operation
are not detrimental to its environment. Built by hand and lacking fossil-fuel-burning
mechanical ventilation and electrically powered appliances, these houses are
non-polluting by today’s standards. Visiting tourists tend to focus on the
historical houses’ chronology and political and sociological contexts. Unsurprisingly,
the biographies of these houses' inhabitants are also of great interest. Historic
house tours typically highlight artifacts of the decorative arts as well as the
visual aesthetics of the residences’ architecture; but seldom do such tours
present technical descriptions about how residents planned for and endured
their summers and winters. These green building components and methods are the
focus of my article.
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| Photo courtesy of Homewood Museum, The Johns Hopkins University photograph by James T. Van Rensselaer |
