Better Places, Better Spaces

It is with great pride and honor that the Henry County Fuller Center for Housing   announces that it will be the host location for the fourth Millard Fuller Legacy Build in 2012.  David Snell, President of Fuller Center and Director of US Field Operations Kirk Lyman-Barner opened up discussions with the Covenant Partner earlier this month to see if we were willing to accept the invitation.  We are excited to say that we accepted that invitation  with open arms!! The 2012 Millard Fuller Legacy Build will take place Sept. 9-14. The Millard Fuller Legacy Build, named in memory of The Fuller Center and Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller, is an annual, internationally recognized week of building that brings attention to the need for simple, decent and affordable housing. Some very serious strategic planning and fundraising will take place over the next few months with the help and support of staff members from the Americus Office. They will be working very ...

Have you ever gone into a store and purchased an item that is on sale, then later that day (In my case, 30 minutes later to be precise) gone back to purchase another one, because you couldn't pass up on such a great deal?  Well, let me tell you a little story...... 35 year shingles purchased for $17/bundle Yesterday, we were involved in a roofing project in the Blacksville section of McDonough. We had another project going on at the same time in Stockbridge and it takes about 20 minutes to get from one project to the other. So, needless to say time was of the essence, and getting materials and tools to each team was a crucial part of the day's events. Yes, we should have had all the materials and tools delivered at the site a day ahead, but that's another story I choose to not share at  this time..... Let me cut to the chase ! We needed 4 roofing nail guns at the King Boulevard location - One was loaned to us; we purchased the 2nd at Lowe's on sale for $199; and w...

Pastor Tommy and I were having a meeting one day to discuss some “stuff” over a cup of coffee. Turns out, he actually read my previous Blog, “The Clawfoot Tub” and had a few valuable points to add to the discussion of Sustainable Design and reduction of construction waste.  He shared that while he was visiting a relative; he came across a magazine called Mother Earth News and became interested in one of the articles titled “Cut Down on Construction Waste”. A few days later he took the time to scan the article and then emailed it to me.    Having been involved with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) since 2000, and then very recently with Earth Craft Certified Homes, it was one of those stories that was encouraging to me. I'm glad to see that some people do get it! I’ll make this one a short blog because the link to the full story is below. Without giving away the entire story, the article illustrates how a family drastically reduced the amount of con...

The Great Bath I came across a photo album in the house a few weeks ago that I had completely forgotten about. One of the photos was of The Roman Baths, one of the largest tourist attractions in South West England. As I flipped through the photos I couldn’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of Roman engineering.  At the very heart of the site is the Sacred Spring.  Hot water at a temperature of 115°F rises out of the ground at the rate of 240,000 gallons every day and has been doing this for thousands of years.  Through an amazing network of pipes the water eventually makes its way to the centerpiece of the Complex; The Great Bath.  According to records this large bath was once covered by a barrel vault, which I imagine, made the structure even more astounding in its day. It is an example of an ancient civilization using a natural renewable resource. Today; I believe we refer to it as  Geothermal Energy.  The Spring Overflow  ...

A s a Board Member of the Fuller Center for Housing of Greater Atlanta, Inc. I have been a part of  a Task Force whose primary goal is to establish a Lifecycle Building Center in Atlanta. It is a collaborative effort between the Atlanta Fuller Center and several other organizations, including Perkins + Will . Numerous discussions have transpired and lots of progress has been made so far, in trying to bring this idea to reality. We are close, but there's still lots of work ahead of us......   A LIFECYCLE BUILDING CENTER (LBC) is a community-based warehouse facility which assists the general public by identifying and implementing best practice green building-related concepts. The LBC addresses all lifecycle phases of the built environment – planning, design, construction, use, adaptation, renovation and demolition. The heart of the LBC concept is the creation of a large-scale used building material facility that sells collected material to the general public in lieu of di...

"Through  this journey I have learnt that there are people who WANT change and are willing to roll up their sleeves and make it happen; and then, there are people who would LIKE to see change and are still waiting for it to happen. " Prior to May of 2009 I had never heard of The Fuller Center for Housing . That may sound strange to some, but it’s true.  I also did not know that Millard Fuller and his wife, Linda were the founders of The Fuller Center, and they also started Habitat for Humanity in 1976. I always thought Jimmy Carter did, and so do many other folks that I talk to.  I did know about Habitat and many, many moons ago as part of my Architectural Internship, I signed up to “do Habitat”  as part of my architectural internship- the education of an Architect starts with a 5-year degree, 3 years of internship, community service hours,  and nine (9) tedious State Exams ranging from Structural Design, Site Design, Construction Documents, etc.  I...