Page 102 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2018

welcome home | build

Speaking about the original concept
for the tasting room, Bill Steele says,
“We wanted something that was con-
sistent with the brand, the way we live.
This biodynamic farm is really just an
extension of the way Barb and I have
lived for 30 years. So, she started doing
research on what a living building is
and found Living Building Challenge.
LBC is in my words the biodynamic
equivalent of construction.”

If this is not the usual quote you’d
expect from an ex-Wall Streeter, that
is only the beginning. Bill often drives
around the vineyard and estate on a
quad, his shoulder length hair glinting
like a comet’s tail behind him. But Bill
is a numbers guy, so when they were
presented with the option of choosing
up to seven challenges that make up
the petals (place, water, energy, health
+ happiness, materials, equity, beauty)
of LBC certification Bill says, “It’s in
my personality to, well, say, really, we
can do seven, let’s do seven. Why not,
why not try? We didn’t know we could
do it because no one had ever done it
before in a tasting room. And it was
65 local subcontractors worked on the building. only the 63rd building worldwide and
22nd in US. We were in uncharted
territory. In our infinite wisdom we
went after all seven, which we have
achieved. The materials thing—who
knew it would take 18 months of con-
stantly trying to source everything.”

From start to finish it was a three-
year process. The LBC certifica-
tion program and sustainable design
framework is currently the most rig-
orous and dynamic construction avail-
able worldwide. Core components
to a living building are—the building
gives more than it takes, certification
requires actual performance demon-
strated over 12 consecutive months,
creative site-specific design solutions,
and visualizes the ideal for a built envi-
ronment. Every material used must be
sourced and certified—including reci-
pes for paint and adhesives—down to
the last screw. There was one person
dedicated just to sourcing materials.

100 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2018