Charles Hendricks's (harrisonburgarchitect) Blog

What a great treat to have a sticky snow storm before Halloween. Our backyard became a winter playground for the kids to build a fort, roll in the snow, and have a snowball fight. A snow storm gives us permission to become a kid again and just play (when it hits on a weekend of course). This stor...

Design matters when it comes to safety at home. IN bathrooms you don't want your home to look like a hospital room, but the safety needs are just as important. There is a lot of institutional looking options on the market that we are all familiar with, but that is changing. There are many innovat...

The idea of designing your home now for what might happen is difficult for most people to imagine. Universal Design is a concept that has been around for years, but has only gotten a little attention until recently. The limitation to the idea has been the idea of designing a home for a disability...

In a mixed humid climate there are many homes that have vented crawl spaces. For anyone that has spent time in these spaces you know there is a need to seal them and condition them. This is your source for 'fresh' make up air in your home. There is nothing fresh about the air in this space. You a...

When selecting an architect you should ask them their experience with and understanding of building science. Buildings are the most complicated machines that you will ever own and operate. Having a building scientist design for you will go beyond aesthetics and get to function. The result will be...

The goal of designing a building / home for every ability is a difficult challenge. There are many considerations that need to be made from someone that is in perfect health to someone that is having difficulty getting around. The simple process of moving from the car to the building is different...

I am thrilled to have a house in the SVBA Parade of Homes that I designed. Yesterday we had over 100 people visit and many nice comments about our design. This is my first time working an open house so I was not really sure what to expect. Nobody came in and hired me to design their home. One per...

Hope you can visit out high performance home in this year's Parade of Homes. This house features a high performance energy system, state of the art air sealing and insulation package, vegetated retaining walls, and rainwater harvesting system. I will be at the house during parade hours to answer ...