If there is any religion to architecture, it lies in the distinction between inside and outside.
The grounding principle, first and foremost, is that there is such a distinction, and that the distinction is meaningful.
Our home, our inside, is sacred. The wildness lives outdoors, and we close ourselves in even as we close it out. We establish a selectively permeable membrane between us and them: windows flood us with light and view, seep breeze and sound; doors provide for our passage and restraint.
The distinction is psychically powerful and generative.
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Biology (1999) and a Master of Architecture (2003), both from University of Oregon, and am a licensed architect in the state of Washington (2009), and am studying towards a Master of Science in Historic Preservation (2013, anticipated).
My professional experience has been largely within the subdiscipline of residential architecture, as practiced in several small firms, in design-build, and in construction. I initially pursued this scale and type of architecture because I wanted to be able to wrap my head around the whole thing, start to finish; I am continually reminded of what a fine choice that was. I have been delighted to learn how much I enjoy designing directly with clients, consultants, and contractors over the course of a project.
The envelope reflects massing and meaning and structure, climate and program, aesthetics and desire. It is skin; critical and complex.
I come to this by way of multiple, brief inquiries into the various assemblies which make up the envelope, in terms of structure, insulation, and air and moisture control, especially in regards to their durability and energy efficiency (including embodied energy and constructability).
Further, I am interested in the relationship of currently employed technologies to those we have abandoned: I am interested in the history and evolution of these assemblies. I want to know if what we hold to be improvements in envelope technology actually are, most especially in light of our 21st-century awareness about our finite and diminishing natural resources.
Link to resume: John David McEwen Arnold, Architect AIA