Preview: Real Estate & Development in the Northern Rockies
Conference: Architect Randy Hafer on Great Towns Waiting to Happen
By Anne Medley, 10-16-07
Few people determine their career paths in the womb, but architect Randy Hafer knew his destiny from day one. “I was born that way. I was always going to be an architect…,” he said. It makes sense then that at age four Hafer sat on the floor of his grandparents’ house trying to sketch the structural relationship among all the rooms in their house.
Today, as co-owner of High Plains Architects in Billings, Mont., Hafer continues to explore the intricacies of building design, with an eye toward restoration, revitalization and greening of historic buildings.
His most innovative project to date, the “Home on the Range” project in Billings, marks what Hafer describes as the “current culmination of my personal vision.” Given a platinum rating under the national LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) system, the Home on the Range project is the only LEED platinum building in Montana, and one of only 41 in the country—reflective of the stringent nature of LEED certification.
“You’ve got to get way out of the comfort zone to get to platinum,” Hafer said. “It’s not just saying we’ll use more environmentally friendly carpet or buy a more environmentally friendly bucket of paint.” Rather, all designs, construction materials and implementation must be third party verified for maximum sustainability and minimum impact on the environment.
Since the completion of the Home on the Range project in May 2006, Hafer has set his sights on additional LEED platinum projects, including the restoration of an 1892 building in Billings that will serve as the new office for High Plains Architects and another office building in Pinedale, Wyo. that promises to be the “greenest” building in the state.
During his presentation at NewWest.Net’s second annual Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference in Missoula next week, Hafer will focus on the revitalization and restoration of downtown Billings as well as the future of sustainable development in Montana as a whole.
“We really need to focus development on the already developed cities and towns in Montana,” Hafer said, leaving open spaces for everyone to enjoy and reducing expansion of the urban interface.
“Almost every little town has a great main street…Lewistown is a great town waiting to happen. Butte, clearly, is a huge opportunity,” Hafer said. Building upon his LEED platinum success with the Home on the Range project, Hafer looks to continue transforming historic structures into environmentally friendly buildings, following his mantra that “the ultimate green building is saving an old building.”
Click here, or on the logo above, to register for the conference.
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