Below the cow of many colors which adorns the roof of the building on the corner of Milpas Street and Canon Perdido sits the office of Thompson Naylor Architects, Inc., the firm’s “green” ideas a stark contrast to the currently tiger-striped bovine above their heads. Partners Dennis Thompson and Susette Naylor began the firm more than twenty years earlier, the term “sustainable design” not yet a part of our "Dwell-chic" cultural vocabulary. Though the firm has seen a multitude of changes in the Santa Barbara area, from the first million-dollar McMansion to the Sideways boom, both Thompson and Naylor have continued to practice that very same mission they first set for themselves, to always practice “socially and environmentally responsible architecture which responds sensitively to their client’s needs and budgets.”

Dennis Thompson readily acknowledges the role their shared alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley, played in the formation of the firm’s mission, stating honestly, “It instilled values. It’s a humanistic school.”

That humanistic sense quite obviously directed one of the firm’s major pursuits after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Thompson Naylor joined with much of the Santa Barbara community, as well as various colleagues from the local building and philanthropic communities to build a home for one of the families displaced by the hurricanes. In a project spearheaded by local general contractor Allen Associates and Habitat for Humanity, Thompson Naylor donated their time researching the location and community and designing the cottage, the entire organization coming together to share experiences and expertise.

Says partner Susette Naylor, “We were all happy to be able to do something concrete to help. Being able to use our experience and our academic training, in a way that involved our local community, was incredibly gratifying. It was a distillation of many of our fundamental beliefs and desires that brought us into this profession.”

Dennis Thompson agrees, saying, “It was a time when everybody wanted to help, and this seemed powerful to us. We didn’t hesitate!” Thompson continues, “We’ve done a lot of affordable housing in the past, and we were able to bring to bear various economies. We also appreciated that the house was going to be intentionally green even though it was done on a budget.”

Designed in a Folk Victorian style respectful of its architectural neighbors, the house was built by community volunteers in Santa Barbara and then shipped in pieces to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It was then reassembled by additional volunteers from the Santa Barbara area and given to a family chosen by Habitat for Humanity who had lost their home. As Thompson suggested, the completed house was indeed a model for budget-conscious “green” homeowners: zero/non-VOC paints and finishes to improve indoor air quality, high ceilings with ceiling fans for improved air circulation, recycled redwood decking, dual-flush water-efficient toilets, energy-efficient windows and various other features.

A quick perusal through their portfolio shows that Thompson Naylor’s humanistic principles are evident throughout their lengthy list of accomplishments. Ranging from the grandly domed 10,000 square foot UCSB Hillel and affordable housing complexes to modestly-sized residential remodels, Thompson Naylor resists stylistic constraints, preferring to dip creative hands into various techniques. Says Thompson, “I think different styles are more interesting and fun to try out.”

Fun or not, the artistically unencumbered approach of the firm seems to be working; current projects include an extraordinarily “green” 4-unit Spanish-Colonial style complex that will be featured at this week’s West Coast Green Conference + Expo in San Francisco as well as the first building at UCSB’s Sedgwick Nature Reserve in the Santa Ynez Valley, also expected to be exceedingly “green”. Some of the sustainable features Thompson Naylor anticipates seeing in the 4-unit complex include rainwater collection cisterns, solar thermal collectors, recycled water site irrigation systems, high-efficiency appliances, radiant heating and a passive solar shell.

Why focus on “green” building? Replies Thompson simply, “It’s urgent that we get our carbon footprint down to reduce global warming.” Perhaps the better answer is that we can’t afford not to?