Arielle Condoret Schechter on the Benefits of Precast/Prefab Concrete Walls

Susan Bady, senior editor of Professional Builder and Custom Builder magazines, recently asked Arielle for a few comments about precast concrete components in residential architecture. Is she still incorporating precast in her residential projects? Why? Does she think the use of precast concrete in homebuilding will increase in the near future? Following was her response…

The Happy Meadows Courtyard House features precast concrete walls.

I like the precast concrete wall system we use because it combines customization within the prefab process. The walls are fabricated by a local company one town away and they don’t mind that I use custom window sizes and custom wall heights.

My clients love it for a lot of reasons, especially the low maintenance aspect, termite resistance, and increased fire resistance on the exterior (although usually, we have wood truss roofs, so it’s not a totally fireproof house).

My clients also love the “thrill-factor” of seeing their exterior walls go up via a crane in two days, which does translate into lower labor costs.

Yet precast concrete is a more expensive system than standard wood framing, and that may hinder its wide acceptance in the home building industry.  But I think there will always be those who will want all the other benefits that prefab concrete offers. ~ Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA

 

AEC CAFE: “Haw River Net Zero Passive House in Chatham County, North Carolina, by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA”

By Sanjay Gangal 

The clients — an artist and an attorney — asked for a “very sustainable yet super-modern” house for their blended family, which is generously populated with children and beloved dogs. And they wanted the type of house that Arielle Condoret Schechter is known for: modern, Net Zero, Passive house-rated with clean lines and clear volumes and open, uncluttered interior spaces filled with sunlight, panoramic views, and easy access to the outdoors.

PHOTO © TZU CHEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Perched on a knoll above the Haw River rapids in Chatham County, the 2600-square-foot house was designed to be perfectly at home within its wooded site. READ MORE

 

Green Building & Design magazine celebrates Arielle Schechter and four of her recent residential projects

As GB&D‘s newest “Architect to Watch,” Arielle Schechter, founder and principal of the Chapel Hill firm Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, Architect, received a six-page spread in the international magazine’s summer of 2020 edition, which is arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes this week. The full feature spotlights three of the firm’s most recent custom-designed Net Zero houses.

 “A lot of my clients don’t start out as green as they end up being. Somehow, over the process of design, they get really excited about it. That makes me so unreasonably happy.”

Founded in 2009 by publisher Chris Howe, Green Building & Design is a professional, or trade, publication that “connects and inspires green building professionals by partnering with those at the forefront of sustainable design, development, planning, and policy.” As a reliable, award-winning source for architects, builders, and developers, GB&D features projects, products, and trends that support the magazine’s mission: “to create a more sustainable world.”

The previous ACS Press post includes the link to the article on GB&D‘s website. Below is how it appears in print!

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The print version of Green Building & Design is available solely through subscription.

GREEN BUILDING & DESIGN – Architect To Watch series: “Arielle Schechter on How Japan Inspires Her Design Philosophy”

This architect builds for the North Carolina climate and for clients who crave sustainability.

By Jessica Mordaco

Light is the most important factor in architect Arielle Schechter’s design philosophy. Much of her design inspiration comes from Japanese architects who use screens and overhangs to block the sun while creating a seamless translucence from outdoors to indoors—that, and modernist design that connects inside spaces to nature. Schechter became interested in her craft at a young age, growing up with a famous mid-century architect as a father. “I always thought I’d work for him but, when he died, I had a lot of things I wanted to say in architecture,” she says. “I totally believe there’s no point in designing anything, much less a green building unless you’re going to make it wonderful for the people who live in it, too.”

“I really don’t care how much money I make. I just want to get people to stop buying cookie-cutter, badly built developer houses that don’t have an architect involved because they’re inefficient.” ~ Arielle Schechter

READ MORE…