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Two with Nature |
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Architects Jean Zagrodnik and Scott Thomas don't just build green; they live that way, too
“I’ve always been sort of a nature child,” says Jean Zagrodnik, managing partner and principal member of Zagrodnik & Thomas Architects (ZTA), a small design firm whose goal is to educate and excite people about sustainable, renewable living. Scott Thomas is the other half of this husbandand- wife team, which opened its Normal Heights office in 1991 and has since personalized every project with an ecoconscious approach to design.
Self-described “social architects,” Zagrodnik and Thomas design for clients who, in turn, do something for the community. Their portfolio includes Normal Heights Elementary School, where they increased energy-efficient materials by more than 40 percent. They also designed a 3,000-square-foot, modern campus library, oriented around mature trees to allow for optimal views, less heat gain and natural ventilation.
The couple’s passion for eco-conscious design grows with each project and has prompted the two architects to host an annual Green Scene, at which artists create pieces using recyclable materials and display their artwork in the ZTA gallery space. Last year’s event included a fashion show for which models wore trash bags and dresses made from beer-bottle caps. Zagrodnik and Thomas say it’s one way they hope to show people they can make a difference.
“For about five years, the building industry has had such a significant impact on global warming,” says LEEDcertified Zagrodnik, who strongly believes her industry and people in general need to do more for the environment. She and Thomas not only practice what they preach at the office, they do the same at home.
They live in a house built in 1932. Their living room has a dual function—a traditional living space and a meditation/ yoga room. Décor is kept to a minimum, and furniture is movable so “we can stay small and flexible,” Zagrodnik says. She and Thomas also share a car and a scooter but often walk or ride their bikes to the office.
This lifestyle, Zagrodnik says, allows her to live much healthier. Rather than adopt the typical consumer mentality of buying more, “why not use what you have?” she says. Instead of constructing an addition to the house, which at one point was her dream, she plans to remove concrete from the yard and replace it with a vegetable garden.
To learn more about Green Scene and Zagrodnik and Thomas’ design approach, visit www.ztarc.com
Photography by Ramona D'Viola
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