Sustainable & Environmental Design Architect — Bainbridge Island & Kitsap County

A responsible home. Without the compromise.

A sustainable home and a beautiful home aren't competing goals — they're the same goal, designed well. Russell Hamlet has spent over 35 years proving it on Bainbridge Island and throughout Kitsap County: when environmental thinking is built into the design from the start, the result is a healthier home, lower energy costs, and a deeper connection to the land around you.

Eco Farmhouse exterior with solar panels, deep roof overhangs, and Pacific Northwest trees.

I contend you can affect up to 90% of a home's environmental impact with the first conceptual design ideas for a home. And most of these early design decisions are opportunities or liabilities that will last for the life of your house.”

Russell HamletPrincipal Architect

Green building is a design discipline — not a shopping list.

Most homeowners planning a sustainable home think first about what to add: solar panels, a heat pump, better windows. Those things matter. But they come after the decisions that do the most work — how the building sits on the land, which direction it faces, how the roof overhangs work with the sun's path, how light and air move through the rooms across the seasons. The architect you work with at the very start may be the most important environmental decision you make.

Why work with Studio Hamlet for your environmentally designed home?

Most people assume sustainable design means giving something up aesthetically. Russell's work consistently shows otherwise. The same care that makes a home beautiful is what makes it perform — sensitivity to light, proportion, and how a building meets the land. A roof overhang that shades summer sun and admits winter light looks like good architecture. Because it is.

Sustainable design is climate-specific. Russell has been designing for the conditions of Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula for over 35 years — which passive strategies work here, which certifications apply, how to navigate local environmental regulations, particularly on waterfront and sensitive sites. That knowledge takes years to build. It's not something you can bring in from outside.

Sustainability isn't something added to a design after the fact — it's part of how the design is generated from the very beginning. How the building faces the sun, where the roof overhangs fall, how light and air move through every room. These are not questions you answer by choosing products. They're answered by the design itself, in the first weeks of the process. This is where real environmental design begins.

Russell Hamlet holds LEED Accredited Professional credentials for both residential and commercial building design, plus Certified Sustainable Building Advisor (CSBA) designation. He's a member of the US Green Building Council, the Cascadia Chapter of the USGBC, and the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild, and works with BuiltGreen and Energy Star programs. What does that mean for you? You get informed guidance on which green building approach fits your goals and budget — without the guesswork.

A warm dining room and kitchen interior with wood floors, tall windows, and pendant lighting.

Sustainable Design in Practice

Eco Farmhouse

The Big Small House

Indianola Sandspit Home

Kitchen Remodel

Kliest Farm ADU

Office & Guest Studio

Montessori Country School

Hyla Middle School

Koura Meadow House

Farmhouse Remodel

Manitou Beach House

Rolling Bay Cottages

Portland Home

Floating Guest House

Bathroom Remodel

View More Projects

Hear From Homeowners We've Worked With

“Our project became better than we ever expected and realized our intentions completely.”

“Russ. It's easy to sing your praises! “When we wanted to do an environmentally thoughtful, historically accurate remodel of our 80 year-old home, we chose Russ Hamlet. He was able to take the simple ideas that we had and give them a shape and a vision that we could not have imagined. We were the kind of customers who knew what we wanted to achieve, but had no idea of how to get there. With Russ gently but expertly leading the way, our project became better than we ever expected and realized our intentions completely. Our home has become a perfect reincarnation of itself: it looks and feels like our old home, yet it is super energy-efficient and has the new space we needed. And it's absolutely beautiful! We would recommend Russ to anyone.””

Mike Derzon and Robin Supplee | Bainbridge Island, Washington

Mistakes to Avoid When Planning for Your Construction Project

Free resource

Budget surprises. Costly delays. Decisions you can't undo. Every year, homeowners run into the same avoidable problems — simply because no one warned them in advance. This free guide walks you through the most common planning pitfalls so you can sidestep them early, protect your budget, and keep your project on track from the start.

Get the Free Guide

Mistakes to Avoid When Planning for Your Construction Project free resource guide mockup on a wooden table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is building a sustainable home more expensive?

It depends on which decisions you're comparing. The design decisions that have the greatest environmental impact — orientation, form, window placement, roof geometry — cost nothing extra. They are design decisions, made in the first weeks of the process. Some elements do carry a cost premium: triple-glazed windows, high-performance mechanical systems, and certain certification processes, for example. But those costs need to be weighed against lower operating costs over time, greater comfort, and often superior durability. Russell's approach is to be direct about those tradeoffs early, so clients can make decisions that make sense for their budget and their goals.

How early in the design process do sustainability decisions need to be made?

As early as possible — and some of the most impactful decisions happen before the first design sketch is drawn. The orientation of the building on the site, for example, affects solar gain, natural ventilation, and daylighting for the entire life of the structure. These decisions cost nothing extra to get right. They only cost something — in comfort, performance, and sometimes expensive retrofits — if they're gotten wrong. Russell integrates environmental thinking into the very first design ideas on every project, not because it's required, but because that's where most of the leverage is.

Can an existing home be made more environmentally responsible through a remodel or addition?

Yes — and in many cases a remodel is an excellent opportunity to address the things that most affect comfort and energy performance: improving insulation and air sealing, upgrading windows, switching to a high-efficiency heating and cooling system, and improving ventilation. Russell brings the same environmental lens to remodel projects that he brings to new construction. A remodel also offers the chance to rethink how the home's layout relates to natural light and cross-ventilation — which, as with new builds, often yields the most significant improvements for the least additional cost.

What is a LEED Accredited Professional and why does it matter for my home?

A LEED Accredited Professional has been independently tested — not just trained — on building science, energy performance, indoor air quality, water efficiency, and construction documentation. It's one of the few sustainability credentials in architecture that requires you to prove what you know, rather than simply completing a course. Russell holds LEED AP in two separate specialisations: Homes and Building Design & Construction. In practice, it means the environmental goals in your project are shaped by someone who understands how performance is actually verified — not just how it's described. And it means someone on your team knows the certification process from the inside, so that knowledge works for you rather than around you.

What is a Zero Net Energy home, and is it realistic for a residential project?

A Zero Net Energy home is one that produces as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year, typically by combining an exceptional building envelope — insulation, airtightness, high-performance windows — with on-site renewable energy, most often solar. Russell's Valley Road House achieved Zero Net Energy status alongside 5-Star BuiltGreen certification, one of the most demanding residential performance standards in Washington state. Whether Zero Net Energy is the right goal for a given project depends on budget, site conditions, and client priorities. But the design principles that support it — passive solar, a well-detailed building envelope, efficient systems — are valuable at any level of ambition.

How does an environmentally designed home affect long-term operating costs and maintenance?

Well-designed, well-built sustainable homes typically have meaningfully lower energy bills, more consistent comfort across seasons, fewer moisture-related maintenance issues, and more durable material choices. A Zero Net Energy home, like Russell's Valley Road House, produces as much energy as it consumes over the year — meaning annual energy costs approach zero. The specifics depend on the strategies employed, but the long-term direction is consistently positive. A home that is well-oriented, well-insulated, and well-detailed from the start also tends to age better — requiring less remedial work over time — because the underlying decisions were made carefully.

Get Expert Guidance on Your Project With Architect Russ Hamlet

Principal Architect Russ Hamlet, AIA, is offering a limited number of initial consultation calls for people with plans to build or renovate in the next 12 months. Gain confidence about your project's feasibility, budget expectations, and clear path forward.

You'll work directly with principal architect Russell Hamlet from day one — with deep expertise across both design and construction, a warm and focused approach, and a gift for turning even your vaguest ideas into a clear, buildable plan that just "feels right".

Apply for an Initial Consultation

Russ Hamlet smiling in a portrait. — Russ Hamlet | Principal Architect