When Michael Phinney studied architecture in the 1990s at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, unconventional modern buildings were all the rage. But those structures didn’t appeal to him. “They were these super-twisted, folded metal kinds of things,” Phinney says. “They felt cold.”
As an architect, Phinney has gone in a completely different direction from the architects who once made waves with their sculptural and imposing buildings. Look through his firm’s portfolio, and you’ll find properties that blend in with their environment. Many have large windows to let in the light, and many use modest materials such as wood and stone. Because while Phinney bucked the futuristic trend that was dominant during his college days, he sunk his teeth into another nascent trend—nay, a movement—and hasn’t let go since.
The sustainable architecture movement can be traced back to the 1960s and ’70s when environmentalism gained popularity, but it wasn’t until the early 1990s that the green building wave really started picking up momentum. In 1990, the UK introduced the world’s first green building standard, and in 1993, the US followed suit with the establishment of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Eager to dive into this new world of design, Phinney actually wrote his college thesis paper on environmental awareness in architecture.
Founded 22 years ago, Phinney Design Group is a multi-disciplinary architecture, interior design, and construction management firm that specializes in sustainable design and green building, both for new builds (residential and commercial) and retrofits of existing properties. Most of the firm’s projects are in the Capital Region, Lake George, and Lake Placid areas, but the company recently expanded to the Hudson Valley, where it’s currently renovating a vacant mansion and turning it into a boutique 55-room hotel called The McKinstry, and New York City, where it just opened a satellite office.
After graduating from RPI, while working with Albany’s WCGS Architects, Phinney served as project designer and project architect for the first LEED-certified building in New York: the 15-story headquarters for the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation in downtown Albany, which was completed in 2001. “I saw this as a huge opportunity to do something I was really passionate about, learn a lot, and get paid for it,” Phinney says. So he started his own firm.
“A lot of what we do is restoration and preservation projects,” says Cira Masters, director of marketing and business development for Phinney Design Group. “The most green and sustainable thing you can do is restore a building that’s already here.”
What exactly does sustainable design entail, though?
In an industry that accounts for some 37 percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, green buildings incorporate technologies that reduce their carbon footprint, such as energy-efficient appliances, and produce clean energy, such as solar panels. Many also make use of what Phinney simply calls “common sense.” For example: considering the changing angle of the sun during the design process and constructing overhangs that block the summer sun and let the winter sun in.
“A lot of this is just common sense stuff that we knew for a really long time and forgot,” Phinney said. “My philosophy is: Let’s do all the common sense stuff we can, and then we’ll add technology to it. That’s what we do on every project type.”
Phinney also considers “embodied energy”—the total amount of energy consumed during creation—when developing his projects. He looks at how much energy goes into producing the building materials, the energy used to transport those materials, and the energy used to make the final product. Whenever he can, he tries to bring down the embodied energy level of his products, sometimes by sourcing locally—using stone from quarries in New York or Vermont rather than, say, Italy.
One recent high-profile Phinney Design Group project is Saratoga’s 385 Broadway, a five-story luxury apartment building inspired by the United States Hotel, a Victorian-era hotel that once occupied the site. The structure has a “living roof”—a layer of vegetation that eats carbon, removing heat from the air and reducing temperatures both inside and outside of the building. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, a living roof can lower a building’s cooling load by 70 percent compared to conventional roofs.
The building is also home to Coat Room, an upscale bar and restaurant that was also designed by Phinney Design Group. The firm received a prestigious Citation Award from the American Institute of Architects of Eastern New York for Coat Room, which has energy-efficient lighting and an all-electric kitchen.
While Coat Room itself certainly has a vibe, Phinney says he prides himself on not having a signature style.
“Each project is unique, each site is unique, each client is unique, each budget is unique,” he says. “Most buildings we design are green in some way. Some are very much so.”
One project that falls on the “very much so” end of the spectrum is the Bridge House on Friends Lake, a net-zero residence that generates more energy than it uses. Built from locally sourced products and materials and utilizing a geothermal heating/cooling system, The Bridge House doesn’t use any fossil fuels—it has solar panels and faces solar south, allowing for optimized solar energy and passive heating.
“It’s a shining example of how you can do a very green, very sustainable house in the middle of the Adirondacks,” says Phinney, who himself hails from the Northcountry. The descendent of a long line of Adirondack natives, Phinney grew up in the Lake George area, and traces his passion for sustainable design back to his childhood.
“We’ve always been pioneers,” he says of his family. “Mountain men. I have some pretty hardcore roots with the land. I was an outdoor kid. I would leave at 5 or 6 in the morning and be home for dinner. My entertainment was being in the woods.”
Growing up, Phinney hiked, camped, and worked at his father’s marina on Lake George in the summers. “I took it for granted when I was younger,” he says. “The natural beauty of our area.”
Now a father himself, Phinney hopes that investment in green buildings will continue to grow, inspiring more businesses and homeowners to buy or build properties that are better for the earth.
“I’m interested in this from a future-of-the-world perspective, not just a business perspective,” he says. “I have a 14 year old and a 12 year old. Hopefully, I’ll see their grandkids someday.”