Director: Systems Design

Hurricanes and Blizzards Don’t Stand a Chance

 

Snow-capped Mountains to Windswept Prairies and Tropical Desert Islands

Very few building systems designers have experience in literally all climates. From Washington to Vermont and Colorado to Key West, designing and building everything from World-Class Ski Resorts to Amusement Parks, Shopping Centers and Multifamily Apartment Complexes to Boutique Hotels, even museums and luxurious single family residences, his 30-plus years of experience at energy efficient design and innovation helps to further distinguish Abide Systems from any other company.

Master Architect Chris Liddle is our Director of Systems Design. He may not be able to walk on water, but fusing our high-efficiency, high-performance structural and comfort systems into any building designer’s aesthetic vision is a “walk-in-the-park” for him.

No Competition

“There’s not a company on the planet that’s doing what Ecolific Technologies and Abide Systems does,” remarks Chris Liddle sitting in his Key West, FL office.

In front of him is a 40 inch hi-def screen displaying a 3D model of an apartment building in the main window, and several different projects in a sidebar.

Among those other projects on the display is a shopping mall, a 126 unit hotel, a very nice looking home and a cut-away perspective of an amusement park ride inside a futuristic building.

“I like to work this way. I mean, I take multitasking very seriously. When I get an idea or discover a solution that may apply to other projects I’m working on, I can just integrate it on the fly. See?” Chris click a mouse button and slides a detail-panel over to one of the buildings on the sidebar. “All of these projects will be getting the ecolific-treatment, and an Abide Systems envelope of one kind or another is the end-result.”

Ecolific means “environmentally nurturing and engineered to thrive”. Click here for a more detailed definition of “ecolific”.

“Once they’re built, or retro’d, like this one,” he says pointing to the apartment building in the middle of the screen. “They’ll only be using a small fraction of the energy they would have used… before I got to ‘em, that is,” Chris smiles. “These are very cool buildings. I actually designed this one. But these other architects know what they’re doing,” he says, nodding his head towards the buildings in the sidebar.

“What we do is tweak the cores so they can become Abide Certified. That way our contractors can build them faster and cheaper, and we can assure the occupants of higher comfort levels and lower utility costs. That, and give ‘em a more dependable building overall, you know? By making these changes we can issue 5 year warranties on the air management systems, include two years of onsite air-seal inspections and equipment maintenance, and lifetime warranties on the insulated structures.”

Background

Chris Liddle’s first degree, a Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Design and Energy was earned in 1980 – long before building green became “chic” – from the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He followed that up with a Master’s of Arts in Architecture from the University of Colorado at Denver in 1984.

Since then, and living in Vermont for nearly two decades, he has practiced his craft and provided consulting services in over dozen states, including all of New England and New York – finally “setting-up shop” in his beloved, adopted hometown of Key West, Florida.
 

Chris also provides related services including:

• Feasibility & Master Planning Studies

• Architectural Renderings & 3D Computer Presentations

• Community Development & Related Services

CIVIC MINDED

A part-year Florida resident, Chris is member of the Key West Sunset Rotary, the Key West Lions Club and a founding member of the Brattleboro, VT Area Community Land Trust.

He created the funding grant design renderings for the Brattleboro Transportation Center and Parking Garage, as well as presentation drawings for Brattleboro’s Whetstone Brook Pathway (bike and pedestrian path) and Main Street Bridge. He aided in the development of Brattleboro’s 20-year Master Plan and the Downtown Historic District Planning Guidelines, creating the renderings for the historic train station, the downtown streetscape and waterfront development parking and transportation, boating and recreation facilities.

IF YOU CAN’T HAVE FUN, THEN… WHAT?

Not one to miss having a good time at least once a year, Chris is also owner of Pirate Tours of Key West, a Major Sponsor of TDC Supported Pirates in Paradise Festival in Key West.

Want to Know More? If you would like to see one of Chris’s portfolios or make an appointment to discuss your Abide Systems project, please click on “Set a Meeting” or “Send a Message” in the sidebar to make your request.

 
Look for Chris’s original signature over the Abide Systems Certified Seal of Approval for your building’s envelope plans – and save them. Perhaps they’ll be worth as much as FLW’s someday. Maybe not – but then again you never know.
 

Among My Favorite Projects

Southern Vermont Museum of Natural History in Marlboro, Vermont
 

 
Planning and design to create a new museum housing a vast collection of Animal Bird and Rare Taxidermy from a major collection dating to the previous century. The entire collection was conserved and cleaned by a team of experts and installed in a new facility designed to interpret the rare specimens. Animals, birds and wildlife were grouped according to critical habitats of the northeastern ecosystems. Giant Computer generated backdrops depicting each habitat were designed to enhanced the display of wildlife specimens.

The educational and informative exhibits are a popular venue for both tourist and school groups travelling to this scenic mountain vista. Check it out – if you ever get to Marlboro, Vermont.