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“This is my first attempt at architecture. I’m a math teacher,” was the first line of Jamie York’s acceptance speech on April 2 of this year at the Good Design Award ceremony in Athens, Greece.
Jamie, a Boulder-based author, math educator, and founder of Jamie York Academy Waldorf online homeschool programs, built his 420-square foot geometric house, the Phi House™, on land he owns in Paonia on Colorado’s Western Slope.
Preceded and followed by representatives from across the world, including Ferrari automobiles and engineers connected with NASA, York thanked the organizers of what is the oldest and most prestigious design competition in the world.
The Good Design award ceremony at the Divina Palace hotel across from the magnificent Acropolis brought together elite designers before whom York explained that for twenty years, he had dreamt about building, “a house in the shape of a rhombic triacontahedron,” (a geometric form with 30 rhombuses or diamond shapes).
The Phi House™ is no geodome of the kind most people associate small geometric dome structures. As a form, it is unique because it allows for vertical walls that are perpendicular to the floors, in contrast to the slanting walls of the common geodome. The name Phi is the Greek letter, Φ, which represents the so-called golden ratio. The golden ratio describes a relationship where a line is divided into two parts, and the ratio of the longer part to the shorter part is equal to the ratio of the sum of the parts to the longer part. In the Phi House™, the ratio between the diagonals of the individual facets, as well as the floor dimensions, is equivalent to the golden mean, or Phi.
But aside from the structure’s wondrous incorporation of the concept of Phi, the Phi House™ construction costs come in at less than $140k, making it surprisingly affordable. The onsite assembly of pre-made panels is a relatively simple process. York worked with Steve Clisset and Brian Fazio of Clisset LLC to conceive of and complete the construction process. The building’s exterior aesthetic is accentuated by a covering of Dragon Armor multi-colored metal shingles, an award-winning creation of Clisset.
As a scalable design, York hopes that other Phi houses pop up as unique, economical, yet highly aesthetic housing options. He is currently looking for partners to license the design in the hopes of taking the Phi House™ to a broader market.
SCROLL DOWN FOR LINKS TO AWARDS AND PHI HOUSE™ CONSTRUCTION VIDEO To schedule an interview with Jamie York, call Karen van Vuuren at 303-520-1759
Email: karenvanvu@gmail.com.
Link to the Good Design Award: https://gooddesignawards.org/project/phi-house-2024/
Video about the Phi House™ construction process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbXNHgrBHY
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