I grew up near New Castle, Delaware, not far from the delaware river. I know the historic buildings and streets in my hometown like the back of my own hand. We lived in both of these houses on Garfield avenue a few years apart.
My mother, Dorothy Peckham, taught me to care about mother earth. Mom led by example: everywhere she walked, she would pick up litter. Her earnestness inspired me to consider the world we live in and my role in it.
Dorothy Peckham
My father, Herbert Peckham, counseled me: “find a job you really like, because your’e going to be doing it for a long time.”
Herbert Peckham
As a young man, I traveled the globe while attending the U.S. Merchant Marine academy.
seeing how people lived outside of the United States made me think about resources differently.
ensign, U.S. Navy Reserve, 3rd Engineer License
B.S. Marine Engineering, 1962
U.S. merchant Marine academy, 1958
Diane and I married in 1963 and moved around the country for more than a decade.
During that time, I studied architecture at UC Berkeley and penn and worked among world-class architects at Edelman & Salzman; Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker; and Lawrence Halprin & associates.
Me on the far left, With colleagues at Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker
As a master’s and ph.d. student at Penn, I was fortunate enough to be mentored by Lou Kahn and advised by Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller.
Lou Kahn studio
When self-doubt loomed, These relationships cemented my commitment to the environment.
In the mid 1970s, I lamented to Fuller that I’d thrown my life away spending a decade in school.
Courtesy: The Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller
letter of recommendation from Buckminster fuller to the university of southern california on my behalf, February 1982.
I considered my profession’s troubling disregard for the environment and dedicated my work to the sustainable principles I learned from Kahn, Fuller and other professionals.
In 1975, I received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to research solar energy in architecture. My findings launched my career in deep green design and inspired multiple award-winning Passive solar projects. I became a fellow in the american institute of architects in 2010.
Me in the 1970S
Our work is aesthetically impactful, functional, sustainably built and economical. I have built three deep green homes for my own family.
Diane and Me at our Leed Platinum, Phius Certified Home OFfice.
LEED Platinum Home Office
Westwood Trombe Wall House
Come talk to me.
Tell me what you want to build. Let me do for you what you would do for yourself if you had been an architect as long as I have.
