November 7, 2021
Why I started 4 Dog Design.
4 Dog Design began in March of 2021 as a way for me to pursue a long-held passion for residential home design and remodeling. My childhood desire to become an architect began in the 1970s, a time when my mom worked for Dale Naegle Architects in La Jolla, California. I loved visiting their office and seeing their architectural drawings and models. I was amazed at the detail and craft that the architects employed to create their work. My mom would bring home sepia prints, drafting tools, stencils, and scales for me to use. I would draw my version of the houses I saw in plan magazines of the time and imagine how great it must be to draw all day as a profession.
After returning home from the Army in 1987, I worked as a commercial painter and then as an estimator, until going to school and getting a CADD degree in 1994. That opened the door to becoming a draftsman for a small firm specializing in healthcare and educational design work. I eventually became a licensed architect, working mostly on commercial projects such as car dealerships, high schools, hospitals, and senior living facilities. I enjoyed the variety of experiences during the first half of my career but later found that I was performing hospital and medical office work almost exclusively. I had become a ‘healthcare architect’, which comes with increased responsibilities and regulation, more so than other sectors, but had a little more professional cachet, which was nice. Over time I became a principal at a couple of different architecture firms in Cincinnati, which was very exciting too. However, I found myself wanting to pursue my original passion for residential design. I wanted to take all the experience and professionalism I gained up till now and blend it with my interest and passion for residential design. I wanted to “be a beginner” again.
While designing our own new home in 2020, (which by the way is a process that has likely driven more than a few architects insane), I found myself researching residential design, proper trim detailing and proportions, new building products, and then I discovered “Passive House” design. I tend to get obsessed with new interests, and this was true for my newfound enthusiasm for residential design. I started to think about how only 5% of homes are designed by an architect, and how the architectural profession seemed to be growing into a commodity, needed by builders in order to obtain a commercial building permit. Or in residential, our profession seemed to be a privileged service, afforded by only wealthy clients who can afford a bespoke design for their new home. I thought about the proper placement of a home on the site to maximize solar orientation, and views from within. I thought about how important air-tightness is to a home’s performance, more so than the amount of insulation – and why don’t more people know this? I wondered… “How could good architecture, or even a minimum level of basic architecture, be more accessible to more homeowners and buyers?” and “Why is it so expensive and difficult to hire an architect and build a home?” There must be a better way.
As I learned more about current and forthcoming building standards for airtightness and energy efficiency for home construction, and while experiencing the current housing shortage and corresponding building boon we are in, I can’t help but feel now is a great time to develop high-performance homes. I believe that the additional cost that one may spend on better-performing, air-tight wall assemblies, roof details, floor and foundation detailing, and high-efficiency heat recovery systems, (ideally downsized due to an airtight and well-insulated building envelope), will be offset by the energy savings of the home over time. While we have inexpensive fuel now, it is likely that will change, and owning a home that requires very little energy, (perhaps only 10% to 20% of what a typical spec-built home might use), would be a wise decision. Add a few solar panels and you might be at net-zero energy consumption! It would be a great feeling knowing you are “off-grid” in the next natural disaster, geopolitical crisis, or who knows what.
What’s more, an airtight, well-built home is also more than just an energy-efficient home. It is a home with less mold and allergens than a typical home, providing better indoor air quality. It is a home that supports good health, that has a mechanically controlled, filtered air ventilation system, as opposed to expecting the air to enter the home through holes and cracks in the house envelope. It’s a home that doesn’t have bugs and critters either because it’s been sealed up and airtight tested. I believe that if most home buyers knew how a home is typically built, and if they knew how much more comfortable a passive or near-passive/high-performance home would be, they might make better-informed decisions about where to spend their money. Marble countertops and crown moldings would take a back seat to well-sealed air and moisture barriers and ventilated rain-screen systems. They would proudly show off their European tilt-turn, triple pane R-9 windows to their guests, exalting their virtues of comfort, function, and energy savings.
As for the name, “4 Dog Design”? Well, that simply came out of our family’s love for animals. Especially for rescue animals, of which we have several. In fact, we had 4 dogs, and all but one was a rescue dog. The name is meant to be fun and unusual, and a nod to how important our furry friends are to us. I wanted to avoid the possibly off-putting, stuffy names that might be typical of an architectural firm. Names like “Everest Associates” or “Infinite Sky Design” sound a bit lofty. Nor did I want to use my own name, which would seem to lack some creativity and not have the catchiness of 4 Dog Design!
Regardless of what I named my firm, I’m just happy to be drawing houses, and even more happy that I’ve got clients that appreciate my designs and are willing to pay me to do what I love. There is nothing more rewarding than creating something that is admired and appreciated by others. And I find working smaller, can sometimes produce the biggest rewards.