energysmiths

Marc Rosenbaum

Marc helps people create buildings and communities that connect us to the natural world, relying on sustainable systems that support both human and planetary health.

Marc is a friend of long standing. John Abrams, Bruce, and Marc met through their joint effors on NESEA's annual high performance building conferences. ARC Design Group was a formal design collaboration that bonded the three in executing one-and-two halves projects in the mid 1990's.

Nowadays Marc is a constant design consultant who sharpens our wits and strops our commitment.

Landscape Architecture and

Civil Engineering

Walter Cudnohufsky (Landscape Architect & Master Planning)

WCA are highly accomplished landscape designers. Walt is Bruce's primary collaborator in visionary long-term planning. He brings to the team a sensitivity and experience in shaping the landscape that completely aligns with our vision. Walt and his team are masters of process and supplement our abilities to work with complex clients and design challenges.

Coplon Associates

Sam Coplon likes to laugh. He's also an immensely talented landscape architect. We were introduced to Sam with the College of the Atlantic as their consultant-- we quickly formed a bond and relationship that has led to other projects together.

Structural Engineering

Ryan Hellwig, P.E.

The integration between architecture and structure cannot be separated. Ryan is a sole practitioner and an integral part of our firm. With him we have achieved a balance between conservative design and experimental intent.

Mechanical Engineering

Kohler & Lewis

We have worked with Joe Kohler and Dan Lewis on numerous projects and have a long history of experience on larger institutional projects. They are clever, conscientious, and care about getting the loads down.

We choose to collaborate with engineers like K&L who are "system designers" rather than "equipment sizers". Good high performance buildings come from engineers who care about envelope performance, who understand how to support us in diminishing the loads, and who design to eliminate parasitic / static system losses and simplify the system.

Lighting and Electrical Engineering

Bartlett Design

We like electrical engineers like Larry Bartlett who understand lighting design and, particularly, how lighting and daylighting work together and how each can be controlled to maximize the natural and minimize the artificial. This is a challenging undertaking, because over-reaching risks losing all--i.e., occupants simply override control systems. So integrating the human dimension is especially important in this fraction of engineering, and this is not a strength many engineers bring to the table.

If you have a project in Maine, Larry is your electrical engineer and lighting designer. He is fabulous at doing his projects and has a straightforward manner that is refreshing and efficient.

Associations

NESEA

The collaboration with NESEA is evidenced by the network of professional colleagues that bring depth and joy to our practice. In fact, Bruce and Tom met through NESEA and this organization is somewhat responsible, perhaps, for the genesis of Coldham & Hartman Architects.

Here is how Marc describes his work:

"In 1979 I maintained that 'a sane secure and sustainable community can only be built on renewable energy resources.' Twenty five years later, this still seems self-evident to me. In addition we have learned that good environmental buildings are places where people can thrive, as learners, as ones needing healing and as ones providing healing, as workers; everyone can benefit.

"As we create buildings and communities that transition from resource-using to resource-creating, we can share the Earth's resources more equitably with all humans, future generations, and our other-than-human companions. Environmental justice is a key ingredient of a peaceful and sustainable world."

Berkshire Design Group

Rick, Peter, and Mark provide a service driven by landscape architects with civil engineering capacities. This may not sound like much, but it's rather unusual. It's an arrangement that we think achieves more elegant designs for complex site and civil projects. They are our first choice for complex permitting and infrastructure projects. Bruce has worked with Rick for many years, including the pioneering cohousing development proposal for Cherry Hill in Amherst (not built, but where the Pioneer Valley Cohousing community eventually arose)--one of the very first to seek permitting in the US in 1989.

Structures North

Murray Engineering, P.C.

Petersen Engineering, Inc.

Petersen Engineering is a practice about the same size as ours with James Petersen, the owner. They produce thorough drawings; they work to understand the design intent and to build upon it with solution concepts.

Van Zelm, Heywood, & Shadford

A large, multidisciplinary engineering firm. We have not yet completed a project with them, but we are currently involved in our second large-scale renovation project with them. Ed Allen and Dave Madigan are two principals in that firm with whom we have worked, and we look forward to developing that relationship.

Special Consultants

Harold Cutler (Code Consultant)

We depend on Hal to test our knowledge and understanding of the Code and to help us interpret unusual problems or conflicts between the design intent and regulatory requirements in jurisdictions throughout the Northeast.

Camroden

Terry Brennan is unique in our experience as a building diagnostician. His wide-ranging experience in building failures and how to diagnose and correct them mostly helps us avoid problems – but occasionally bails us out. A notable example of the latter deals with problems arising at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store project one year after occupancy.

Project Collaborators

Hudson River Design

Chuck & Bruce’s friendship grew from their common commitments to the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association and organizing and speaking at its Building Energy conference from the 1980’s forward. It has been a policy of this office to expand its reach and capabilities more by cultivating collaboration than by enlarging our own office – and our relationship with Hudson River Design is a case in point.
Our relationship with HRD has enabled us to undertake the Ulster County Cohousing project in Rosendale, NY. The level of attention to this kind of client would be a stretch for us from Amherst, 2 1/2 hours away, but with HRD, Bruce & Chuck are managing the 4-year design and construction process for this project.

Gordon Stanley Architects

In a similar vein, John Gordon & Todd Stanley (Bar Harbor, ME) have enabled us initially to lead and subsequently to contribute to a 30-unit housing project for the Bar Harbor Housing Authority based on cohousing principles. The “menus option” process that C&H has developed for these types of projects has been put to use here.

South Mountain Company

Both Bruce and Tom - individually and together - have worked with South Mountain in collaboration and as guest designers. South Mountain's ability to craft a building and a project is unlike any other group we've worked with. They do well by doing good; they are beautiful people and they make wonderful things.

John Abrams and Bruce, with Marc Rosenbaum, met during the 1980's through their joint efforts on NESEA's annual high performance building conference. The ARC Design Group was a formal collaboration that bonded the three of us. Now we work collaboratively.