So What Is the BrightBuilt Barn?

The BrightBuilt Barn is a collaboration between Kaplan Thompson Architects, Bensonwood Woodworking Company and many of the finest minds in sustainable design and construction in the northeast who have come together at the invitation of a visionary client who strives for the following goals:

1. To design and produce a building that will serve as a studio for the client and his wife which is sustainable, affordable, replicable, educational and beautiful.

2. To bridge the seam between the building and its context, specifically its impact on the environment by employing passive and active building systems to attain zero net energy status.

3. To create integrated building systems for which it is necessary to connect the seam that currently divides the architect and subcontractors.

4. To bridge the seam between the employment of sustainable design and evaluation of the systems through an analog and digital monitoring system.

5. To thoroughly document the research, design, construction and use of the building through the internet and other means of wide reaching publicity so that this project will become a green building resource, closing the gap between research and application.

6. To create a network of creatively and technically skilled individuals within the northeast who can work together on future projects to achieve similar goals.