Patagonia Architecture

Yvon Chouinard is founder and owner of Patagonia, Inc. based in Ventura, California. He began his business by designing, manufacturing, and distributing rock-climbing equipment in the the late 1950s. In 1964 he produced his first mail-order catalog, a one-page mimeographed sheet containing advice not to expect fast delivery during the climbing season. In 2001, Yvon co- founded 1% for the Planet, an alliance of businesses that contribute at least one percent of their net annual sales to groups on a list of researched an approved environmental organizations. If you have the opportunity to work for a company where the founder and owner has written a book entitled - - Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman (2006) -- it might be a good thing to consider.

Patagonia believes that the philosophy of clothing design is really no different from that of other products, including buildings. The following are guidelines that are utilized by Patagonia in creating a new retail store or office building that will optimize aesthetics, functions, and responsibility.

1. Don't build a new building unless it is absolutely necessary. The most responsible thing to do is to buy used buildings, construction materials, and furniture.


2. Try to save old or historic buildings from being torn down. Any structural changes should honor the historical integrity of the building. We rectify misguided "improvements" made by previous tenants and strip away fake modern facades, ending up we hope with a building that is a "gift to the neighborhood."


3. If you can't be retro, build quality. The aesthetic life expectancy of the building should be as long as the physical material's life span.


4. Use recycled, and recyclable, materials like steel girders, studs, remilled wood, and straw bales. Install fixtures from waste materials like pressed sunflower hulls and agricultural waste.


5. Anything that is built should be repairable and easily maintained.


6. Buildings should be constructed to last as long as possible, even if this initially involves a higher price.


7. Each store must be unique. The heroes, sports, history, and natural features of each area should be reflected and honored.

Designing for sustainability should produce images of Thoreau - - "Simplify, simplify." Sustainability may boil down to understanding that good design is as little design as possible. Patagonia and others may have the right equation - - Simplification + Substance = Sustainability.