Christi Weber, Architect
This thoughtful architect advocates for designing small, environmentally conscious spaces.
Christi Weber grew up watching This Old House alongside her dad, who wasn’t shy about putting a hammer in her hand. She was the seventh-grader who wrote about recycling, and the grad student whose brain lit up at the term “green building.” Today she is an architect at TDS Custom Construction in Madison, Wis., as well as the kind of homeowner who unwittingly builds a high-performance garage over a handful of weekends.
It was thinking of sustainable architecture as the intersection of construction and ecology that turned Christi in the direction of her field 25 years ago. She was aware of the construction industry’s problematic consumption and waste, which bothered her. But she liked the idea of designing solutions. She wanted to apply skills she would learn in the design sector to create buildings with a lighter ecological footprint.
“It’s important I know my clients intimately, their routines and habits, so I can design spaces that will enrich their lives.”
At TDS, Christi designs for both remodeling projects and new homes. She encourages people to engage with architects and designers who emphasize efficiency in terms of space and energy, who understand building science, and who are generally thoughtful about environmental impact.
Whether she’s reworking spaces in an existing house to help clients make the most of what they have (rather than jumping straight to an addition), or building a new, high-performance home, Christi uses good design to help people do more with less. This makes her a thoughtful architect.
Building things helps. “The process of picking up tools and building something is critical to our ability, as designers, to do good work,” she says, adding that it is an architect’s responsibility to think through every one of a house’s details. “That’s the role of the designer in construction.”
Equally important, she says, is asking questions. “We are afraid to ask questions as architects, but curiosity is crucial. In mentorship relationships, I’m always encouraging people to build something—go to construction sites, look at how things go together, study the details, and don’t be afraid.”
—Kiley Jacques, senior editor, Green Building Advisor
Keep Craft Alive is our campaign celebrating those who have chosen to passionately pursue a career in design, building, and remodeling. Find out more and show your support by visiting KeepCraftAlive.org, and use #KeepCraftAlive to share your passion for the cause.
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