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David Heymann

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Political People

   David Heymann is an architect who was commissioned by President George
   W. Bush to design a custom, environmentally friendly house for the Bush
   ranch near Crawford, Texas.

   He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from The Cooper Union
   in 1984. After receiving his B.Arch., he worked for Tod Williams and
   Associates, and I.M. Pei and Partners. He received his Masters of
   Architecture Degree from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard
   University in 1988. Prior to teaching at The University of Texas,
   Heymann taught at Iowa State University. Heymann is currently professor
   and associate dean of architecture at the University of Texas at
   Austin.

Approach to architecture

   The Audubon Society selected Heymann to design their new interpretive
   visitor centre. Audubon Magazine writer Patricia Sharpe calls him a
   "well known green architect".

   According to Heymann, he tries to design buildings that fit in with
   their surroundings. He says that sustainability is important to him on
   a personal level. Heymann has said:

     "Most of my clients are building in nonurban areas, seeking to
     establish grounded relationships with their sites. They are not
     initially worried about conservation. ... More and more, I can push
     my clients further--to use groundwater cooling for example--because
     they are cognizant that an emotional benefit also accrues to the
     building...My work is possible only because people are populating
     the countryside at alarming rates, seeking to find a world they
     think is lost. Architects have argued against this and other recent
     trends--the increasingly large house, for example--to no avail."

General honours

   In 2000, Heymann was selected by The Architectural League of New York
   for inclusion in its Emerging Voices series.

   He is the recipient of the 2002 award for Award for Outstanding
   Educational Contributions from the Texas Society of Architects, and he
   was selected as a visiting scholar by the American Academy in Rome for
   2002-2003.

   He is the recipient of the 17th annual Friar Centennial Teaching
   Fellowship (FCTF). The fellowship comes with a $12,000 cash honorarium
   which is the University's largest for undergraduate teaching
   excellence. The Fellowship is funded by earnings from the nearly
   $500,000 FCTF endowment. Professor Heymann is the first person from the
   School of Architecture to receive the award. The Friar's award is one
   of 8 teaching awards he has received while at the University of Texas.
   He has also been elected to the University’s Academy of Distinguished
   Teaching Professors.

Commissions and design awards

   Heymann and fellow architects Michael Underhill and Laura Miller won a
   design citation from Progressive Architecture magazine in 1994 for
   their design of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames, Iowa.
   Since the building was built, the trio has also received an honour
   award from the American Institute of Architects, the professional
   organization for architects in the United States. The design was also
   the winner of a Progressive Architecture Design Award Citation.

The Western White House

   Bush and Putin by a limestone fireplace at the Western White House
   Enlarge
   Bush and Putin by a limestone fireplace at the Western White House

   Heymann was selected by George W. Bush and Laura Bush to design a
   10,000 ft² (930 m²) honey-colored native limestone
   environmentally-friendly single-level home on the Prairie Chapel Ranch,
   which serves as their home away from the White House. The property has
   been referred to as the Western White House and as the Texas White
   House.

   According to Heymann, the four-bedroom home was planned so that "every
   room has a relationship with something in the landscape that's
   different from the room next door. Each of the rooms feels like a
   slightly different place." In order to help the house blend in with its
   surroundings, Heymann selected limestone quarried very near the
   location of the house. The pieces used are left-over pieces from other
   cuttings, making an environmental statement about conserving resources.
   "They cut the top and bottom of it off because nobody really wants it,"
   Heymann says. "So we bought all this throwaway stone. It's fabulous.
   It's got great colour and it is relatively inexpensive."

   Both the main house and the guest house use geothermal energy for their
   heating and cooling and require 25% less energy usage than a
   conventional heating and cooling system. The main residence, including
   the kitchen, dining room, and living room/family room use a two-speed,
   6-ton water-source heat pump designed to handle up to 75 guests. The
   president’s office, master bedroom, and bathroom use a 3-ton
   water-source heat pump. The guest house uses a separate 2.5-ton unit.
   These heat pumps circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet (100 m)
   deep in the ground. Underground, the water remains a constant 67
   degrees Fahrenheit, meaning that pure water can be used without the use
   of antifreeze.

   The passive solar house is positioned to absorb winter sunlight,
   warming the interior walkways and walls of the residence. A 40,000 US
   gallon (151 m³) underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from
   roof urns; wastewater from sinks, toilets, and showers cascades into
   underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The
   water from the cistern is then used to irrigate the landscaping around
   the four-bedroom home.

   "One thing we wanted was to make sure the house fit into the
   landscape," Laura Bush says. "I think it does, with the low house and
   the native limestone that looks very natural. It also takes advantage
   of the landscape with all the views." The view played an important role
   in situating and designing the house, as did the breezes and the
   direction of the sun. During the design process, Heymann would outline
   potential layouts in the ground and the Bushes would stand there
   visualizing what the house would look like in each setting.

   The final design takes maximum advantage of the breeze by being long
   and narrow - most of the house is only one room wide. The house is
   surrounded by a porch, which shades the house from direct sun in the
   summer and provides a seamless transition from indoors to outdoors.
   Most traffic between rooms goes via the porch, although there are some
   interior doors. There are no stairs or thresholds, Laura Bush points
   out. "We wanted our older parents to feel comfortable here," she says.
   "We also want to grow old here ourselves." Heymann says, "The house
   doesn't hold you in. Where the porch ends there is grass. There is no
   step-up at all."

   President Bush has said Heymann "did a fabulous job" with the house.

Personal

   Heymann lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Sandra Fiedorek, and
   their two children: Walrus, and Hen.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Heymann"
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