Posts Categorized: Blog
No More Fried Eggs
by Timothy Lock Building orientation has always been a critical part of ecological design. Even ancient and pre-civilization structures show evidence of careful siting—responding to sun, wind, slope, or seasonal migration patterns. Orientation could enhance comfort, ensure safety, or even...
Great Design is Regenerative Design
by Timothy Lock “Regenerative design” is having a moment. It’s the new aspirational label in architecture and planning circles, showing up in panel titles, consultant pitches, and design awards. It’s urgent. It’s abundant. It’s…very poorly-defined. What’s troubling isn’t the...
All Wood, All the Time Receives Thermory Design Award
We are pleased to announce that our lakeside Connecticut project “All-Wood, All the Time” has won the Tiny & Private House Category of the Thermory Design Awards! With a cross-laminated structural system and wood fiber-based products making up all of...
All Wood, All the Time Receives Honor Award
Double awards this year! Our All Wood, All the Time project was also selected for an AIA Maine Honor Award. This lakefront residence in Connecticut capitalizes on the carbon-sequestering nature of wood to minimize its carbon footprint. With a cross-laminated...
AIA Maine Honor Award for Davis Center for Human Ecology
We are thrilled to announce the selection of the College of the Atlantic’s Davis Center for Human Ecology as a recipient of an AIA Maine Honor Award for excellence in architecture. We are proud of this collaboration with Susan T...
Part One: Why Sustainability Won’t Be Enough
More than a buzzword, an ideal, or a solution, sustainability is simply a concept of maintaining. It implies stasis, without movement forward or back, in an effort to maintain the status quo. While it has its merits when applied to...
Matt O’Malia Interviewed in Maine Home + Design and Architecture, Design & Photography
OPAL founder and principal architect Matt O’Malia recently sat for two interviews, with Maine Home + Design magazine and the Architecture, Design & Photography podcast. There was a lot to catch up on. The pandemic of 2020-21 has dramatically...
Forbes Magazine Interviews Matt O’Malia
Forbes Magazine Interviews Matt O’Malia Forbes magazine has published an extensive interview with Matt O’Malia, in which the OPAL founder and executive partner explains how his work at the intersection of building performance and the architectural experience led to his...
Building The Bridge
Construction proceeds briskly on The Bridge, OPAL’s new central building for the Waring School, a private liberal arts middle and high school school in in Beverly, Massachusetts. The structural framing is complete, and work is underway on the building’s electrical,...