Mill Valley Straw-Bale House

Abstract

Arkin Tilt Architects is a small, environmentally minded firm in Berkeley, California, founded in 1997 by the husband-and-wife duo of Anni Tilt and David Arkin. (Tilt worked for nine years with the Bay Area firm Fernau and Hartman; Arkin is a veteran of the green-design pioneers Van der Ryn Architects.) According to the principals, the firm keeps five goals in mind with every project. The first is to harmonize with the site. The second is to build as little as possible, which “is somewhat ironic for architects, because we’re in the business of building,” Arkin says. “But we always try to convince clients to build less house, of higher quality.” The third goal is to design homes that will heat and cool themselves. The fourth is to maximize resource efficiency. Finally, the architects always aim to show that, as they put it, “ecological design can be beautiful,” which helps to bring it into the mainstream.