From a man who makes beautiful homes, tough talk on energy use

MILLBROOK — For architect Allan Shope, carbon neutral isn’t one way to build a home; it’s the only way.

At the Cary Institute on Friday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m. he’ll explain why it must be done, how it can be done and how the average person can afford it.

Shope, who has his home and office in Wassaic, is a trustee at the Cary Institute. More than a decade ago, he left the award-winning Norwalk, Conn., firm of Shope Reno Wharton, which he co-founded in  1981 when he was 25. 

“I was there for 25 years and left because I felt a need to change myself and the world,” Shope said. 

An important part of that change: “I wanted to make an architecture firm where carbon neutral was not a choice. I feel it should be a requirement.”

Shope has strong opinions, but he also has a thick portfolio of extraordinary buildings that he’s designed and built, both at Shope Reno Wharton and at his new firm, Allan Shope Architect. A tour of his website at www.shopearchitect.com showcases a handful of projects that are as opulent as they are energy efficient. One of the featured projects is the education center on the property he purchased about 16 years ago in Wassaic, formerly part of the Taconic Developmental Disabilities Services Office. 

Shope is in the process of closing that office (the DDSO was supposed to be closed down but in fact has not been, he said) and moving it to Hudson. He and his family are moving to a new residence (carbon neutral of course) in Livingston, on the Hudson River. 

At his own firm, he has the freedom to create buildings that showcase what he calls his “three great passions: nature, woodworking and architecture.”

He will show some of his designs during the hour-long talk at the Cary Institute, but this is not a vanity lecture by any stretch of the imagination. 

Shope has an evangelical attitude toward sustainable design and he hopes at the talk to convert his audience to his point of view. Of course, residents of the Northwest Corner of Connecticut and the Tri-state region take pride in their green orientation, so it shouldn’t be that hard to convince most in his audience. 

The talk is organized into five parts, Shope said. First there will be an energy primer. In a phone conversation last week, Shope began to rattle off fairly detailed facts and figures about energy use and kilowatt hours and more. 

“The Earth is not an infinite resource,” he summed it up. “You can go almost anyplace in the world and have people agree on that.”

But, he said, there isn’t always agreement on the science behind the creation of energy and its use.

“In the second part, I’m going to talk about the American dream,” he said. He described that dream as the 4,000-square-foot Georgian clapboard house with a beautiful yard full of trees. 

“Most people don’t know what the American dream means in terms of energy use, so we’re going to talk about that. Then we’re going to look at an alternative. We’ll talk about choices that can be made and small and large improvements, and what a carbon neutral lifestyle looks like.

“The fourth part defines a problem: Everyone feels that the middle class deserves a break, but I’m not sure that’s true. We’ll talk about the average guy, someone we like, someone with a pickup truck who’s a volunteer firefighter or a school teacher, someone who’s a good guy, the backbone of our nation. 

“He’s a guy who thinks he has no choice, that his lot in life doesn’t allow him to live a carbon neutral lifestyle. But he does have choices and they’re real and they’re easy and he should make them in a way that he can afford.”

Next up for examination will be the upper class fellow with a Porsche. 

“He thinks he’s exempt, too. He wants to know the payback period. I want to talk about what his lifestyle means. 

“And then there’s the woman who drives a Prius and maybe doesn’t know all the science but wants to do the right thing. I want to give her some ideas on steps she can take.”

 Shope, who is a lecturer at Harvard University, will welcome questions and discussion and isn’t concerned if the event lasts longer than the allotted hour. 

“I promise not to be boring,” he said, “and I promise not to disappoint the audience.”

The talk is free and open to the public. For more information, go to www.caryinstitute.org/events/environmental-impacts-architecture.