Green Building

Sustainability has been an integral value for Skycastle Homes + Rodwin Architecture since we opened our doors.  Our principal, Scott Rodwin, has helped lead the green architecture movement in Colorado for two decades and all our staff have been chosen because of their skill and dedication to this idea.  Local green codes are now some of the strictest in the country and if you are building here it’s important to have a thorough understanding of how they work and how to meet them. We teach the Boulder’s official Green Building 101 course and consult for the County on their BuildSmart program.   Project Manager Ron Flax is RESNET and BPI certified and we provide HERS ratings and energy modeling in house through-out the design of your home.  Many of staff are LEED Accredited, and we designed Colorado’s 2nd LEED Platinum house right here in Boulder.

We approach the design of your project from a whole systems perspective.  We look at the site and the opportunities it presents.  We consider energy, natural resources and environmental health in every aspect of the decision-making process.  Ultimately the intention of designing this way is quite simply to create a place that works with the world rather than against it.  The result is a building that lives lightly on the land, consumes fewer resources, doesn’t pollute, is comfortable to be in, is healthy for you and your family, is easy to maintain and is a joy to live in for a very, very long time.

We have worked with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs), straw bale, super-insulated stick frame and steel frame construction, photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal, geothermal (ground source heat pumps), radiant floor heating, non-toxic products, and super-efficient mechanical and lighting systems.

And importantly, because we create your home from the perspective of both the architect and builder, we are able to help you evaluate and recommend the most cost-effective and architecturally elegant way to acheive your sustainability goals.

Whatever your sustainability values are, we can help you bring them into your home.  We make it easy to be green.

“What’s the use of a house if you don’t have a decent planet to put it on?”

– Henry David Thoreau