PHILOSOPHY

 

Lominack Kolman Smith is committed to a sustainable environment and a greener Savannah. Our office designed Starland Lofts and Ellis Square, two of the few LEED Gold certified projects in Savannah. Starland Lofts, a LEED Core & Shell project, has received numerous awards from several organizations including AIA Georgia, AIA Savannah, Historic Savannah Foundation, AIA South Atlantic Region, and an Excellence in Design Award from Environmental Design + Construction Magazine.

 

But we do not stop there. Our office is among just a few businesses participating in the city-wide recycling program. Further, energy efficiency and sustainability are goals for all of our projects, whether LEED certification is being sought or not. We always specify efficient systems, carefully select materials, and employ methods to obtain sustainable qualities for the owner and the environment.

 

One of the main goals of the sustainable design movement is to minimize energy consumption by making buildings more energy efficient. Generally, sustainable design is defined as and involves meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. When applying this principle to the built environment, sustainability allows a building to continue functioning into the indefinite future. This is the essence of historic preservation, which has long been a significant part of our firm’s work.

 

Historic preservation is the ultimate realization of sustainable design. Preserving, restoring, or rehabilitating a historic building is the ultimate recycling. In addition to preserving the cultural heritage and craftsmanship of a bygone era, preservation eliminates the environmental impact of new construction and respects the embodied energy that was exerted to construct existing buildings and is stored in materials. The most environmentally friendly building is the one that already exists.