Bios

We'll be adding bios as we convince people to write them. For now, here's a sampling...

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Hi, I’m Clarke Snell. I never intended to have a career in building. I became interested in construction because I wanted to build my own house. Now, many years later, I’ve built that house and along the way learned a brainfull of useful information that I'm dedicated to sharing with anyone who cares to listen, discuss, watch, or participate. I do that by writing, lecturing, consulting, designing, and, if the project is just right, building. In addition to a number of articles, I’ve written two books on “green building” techniques, “The Good House Book: A Common Sense Guide to Alternative Homebuilding” and (with Tim Callahan) “Building Green: A Complete How-to Guide to Guide to Alternative Building Methods”.

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Greetings , Tim Callahan here. My turn to speak. I have always been fascinated with how things work. I am even more fascinated with creating new things that work. I was fortunate as a child to have incredibly forgiving parents, because I began my career at a very early age by cultivating a passion for taking things apart: watches, lawnmowers, you name it. Eventually, actually years later, I completed the course of study by learning to put everything back together. Thanks for the learning opportunities, Mom and Dad! There was a pay-off, though. My curiosity eventually led me into areas of the design, engineering, and construction of a wide variety of fun things including custom acoustical instruments, sailing yachts, timber-framed buildings, and active and passive solar homes. Clarke Snell and I share a deep passion and interest in our work. You will find it expressed in various ways throughout this web-site. If we sound like the type of people that could help you with your project, or help you to clarify the potential of a dream unfulfilled, let us know.

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Hello, I’m Greg Jackson. I’m an architect focusing on design and project management for residential, institutional, commercial, and community design projects. As a LEED Accredited Professional and ecological designer, I have extensive experience and interest in sustainable architectural design including green urbanism, eco-community design, and ecological construction. I also have considerable hands on building experience ranging from construction jobs while in graduate studies to running crews and volunteers at The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems with Pliny Fisk to the more recent renovation of several investment properties in my historic neighborhood in Charlottesville, VA. I spent six years as an Associate at William McDonough + Partners where I served as project manager and a lead designer. In addition to my design work, I present at conferences and universities on green/sustainable design and LEED, and am a visiting professor teaching sustainable design at the University of Kentucky’s School of Architecture.

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Hello there, I’m Lisa Mandle. I’m a visual artist with a wide pallet of skills and experience that stretch across disciplines including theater, special events, interior design, clothing design, and mural painting. The through-line through all of this work is a fascination with how color and texture interact to create a specific impression. I’m often called in on Think Green Building projects as a sort of aesthetic consultant. In that capacity, I’ve done everything from choosing a building’s color pallet, to designing living roof plantings, to creating cob wall bottle patterns and structural shaping, to executing murals. Unlike other designers in this capacity, I also have a fair amount of building experience, so I understand the full construction process. I think that helps me integrate what I do with the whole building, rather than simply creating an aesthetic sheen in the final hour.

© Clarke Snell, 2005