SARCO Architects believes that a project needs to have the lowest possible environmental impact. This is broken down into two separate steps in the project lifecycle: its construction and its operation. Both areas require specific attention and analysis, but the operation of the project has a much longer duration and ongoing impact, not only on the environment but also on the owner’s pocketbook.

Energy efficiency and optimization then becomes a key factor in the design and planning of any project type, and especially when talking about vacation residences in warm climate conditions, where the energy consumed by air conditioning and other systems is substantial.

With our integrated design approach, we have the technology to perform energy analysis in our projects, from the initial architectural design stage. This allows us to fine-tune the design of our projects to provide the best possible energy efficiency. Studies have shown that the architectural design impacts around a 65-70% of the overall energy footprint of a project, whereas optimizing systems and equipment only represents the remaining 30-35%. Also, the changes that can be done through the optimization of the design are usually much more cost-effective since minor changes on design, orientation, shapes, etc., can have a huge effect if properly measured.