About
A leader in sustainable design, zero net energy homes, and livable communities, Caddis Collaborative applies attention, sophisticated design, and creative solutions to every project. In addition to our skills in architecture, our expertise in grassroots community engagement is essential for large-scale projects, especially multifamily housing and institutional projects. At Caddis Collaborative, we reflect our core values in all of our work, striving to create sustainable communities through sustainable building practices. Not only do we have the capacity to ensure a project’s success, but we also have the talent and expertise to do it elegantly and artfully. If it’s worth building, it’s worth doing it well.
Caddis has an open, collaborative environment where everyone brings to bear their expertise, experience, and insight through ongoing internal design review sessions. We also employ internal peer review on construction documents for quality control. This loops our technical proficiency into the conceptual design, creating an exchange of ideas and improving practices.
Team members enjoy working at Caddis, relish the types of projects we work on, and appreciate the types of clients we attract. Our team’s composition (with additional consultant expertise as needed) allows us to be flexible and agile as we take on new projects.
The team is organized to front-load each project with our best knowledge in a fully collaborative format. This attitude extends through construction documentation as we fully document the building in a Revit BIM model and then into the field where we work well as a team with your chosen general contractor.
Caddis focuses on affordability and sustainability in all projects. We can achieve energy efficiency ratings above the base requirements and can design projects to meet our client’s financial goals. The ability to create highly energy-efficient projects is a basic service we have provided for years (before it was cool!). From each end of the spectrum, our high-end design work and budget-sensitive projects inform each other to mutual advantage.
Environmental mission and strategy (ESG)
Caddis has always been ahead of the curve in energy-efficient design, and we remain so. At the core of all our work are deep sustainable strategies that we incorporate as a base level of service. Caddis has completed numerous zero net energy buildings, and we are also a national leader in sustainable community design. We have a strong background in passive solar, daylighting, and conservation-driven design, which makes goals of zero net energy and carbon neutrality all the more attainable.
Several staff members are certified Passive House consultants, and all of us are LEED Accredited Professionals. Caddis has won awards for energy efficiency on projects such as Silver Sage Village Cohousing and Wild Sage Cohousing as well as others. A net-energy-producing home we designed in Fraser, Colorado, has a Home Energy Rating (HERS) of -26 (about the lowest in the country, last we checked) and produces enough energy for the family’s two electric cars in a climate that’s incredibly cold.
Caddis performs iterative energy modeling in house, and we dovetail our services with third-party HERS Raters or energy modelers as required. While we press for sustainability, it’s less common for us to seek certifications for our work unless the additional cost is justified in the interest of serving the client. Each client has budgetary constraints that are real and that need to inform the choices made throughout the design process. This includes green design as well.
