0:00:00 - (Colin Johnson): It is actually a beautiful January day here in Johnson City, Tennessee. Best place in the whole daddy world. And I am excited for our you guys, our listeners, who I dearly care about and love to meet my new friend, Polly Horn. Welcome to the podcast, Paul.
0:00:17 - (Polly Horne): Thank you, Colin. It's great to be here.
0:00:18 - (Colin Johnson): Now, have you done tons of podcasts?
0:00:20 - (Polly Horne): This is my first podcast. Awesome.
0:00:22 - (Colin Johnson): Well, this is my second. So what we do, we'll figure it out together. First things first, what do you love most about Johnson City?
0:00:31 - (Polly Horne): The mountain.
0:00:32 - (Colin Johnson): Ah, the mountains. What do you love about the mountains?
0:00:35 - (Polly Horne): They are my home and my heart.
0:00:38 - (Colin Johnson): Oh.
0:00:38 - (Polly Horne): I am from here.
0:00:40 - (Colin Johnson): Okay. Yeah, I. I love the mountains too. They're just great. I don't live in them like you do, but I live near them and I'm a mountain adjacent. And we. But I love anywhere you drive, you get to see this beautiful landscape.
0:00:53 - (Polly Horne): Well, I actually live in downtown Johnson.
0:00:55 - (Colin Johnson): Okay, so you don't live in.
0:00:56 - (Polly Horne): I'm from Unicoi county, so my family is still out there, and I go and visit and let my dog run on the weekends and. Yeah, so I get a little bit of both the mountain landscape and then the city. You know, I can walk to work and walk to downtown, which is great.
0:01:14 - (Colin Johnson): It is super great.
0:01:15 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:01:16 - (Colin Johnson): How's your family doing on Unicoi? Any damage from the flood?
0:01:19 - (Polly Horne): They're fine. They're. So we live in Limestone Cove or just above Limestone Cove on Stone Mountain. So it's a high elevation. They have a spring. So they didn't, you know, have damage to their well water or the power wasn't, you know, the power was cut off, but it didn't cut off the water supply. There's just a lot of trees down. But there. The flooding, you know, didn't really reach up there.
0:01:46 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. My wife Carly and I drove up there and we went through. Right through Limestone Cave because our son was up there helping cut trees and stuff. And I was just blown away. Not. No pun intended really, to about just a number of trees that are like, just.
0:01:59 - (Polly Horne): Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. I. I don't know if this is accurate. You can fact check me here, but I heard that Buncombe county in North Carolina lost 50% of its trees.
0:02:10 - (Colin Johnson): I would think that's probably.
0:02:11 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:02:12 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, it's nuts.
0:02:13 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. And driving 107 over to North Carolina, it's just you go over the, you know, state line and over the ridge there, and it's just really horrifying. Ye.
0:02:24 - (Colin Johnson): It's crazy. And then you get down in that next gorge I don't know what that little town is. And it was just devastating. Yeah. So we're still healing and hopefully. And Irwin and unicoi got.
0:02:36 - (Polly Horne): Yes.
0:02:37 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Devastated. So hopefully they'll. They'll rebuild and.
0:02:41 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:02:41 - (Colin Johnson): Do well there. So. But we're not here to talk about that.
0:02:44 - (Polly Horne): Well, I hope so. I mean, part of what I'm. What I'm doing as an architect.
0:02:49 - (Colin Johnson): You are a principal architect and owner of Polyarc Architect and Design.
0:02:53 - (Polly Horne): Yes, Polyarc Architecture and Design.
0:02:56 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:02:58 - (Polly Horne): And. Yeah. So you want me to talk a little bit about Valerie? That's why I'm here. Right. Okay. So I am a licensed architect in Tennessee, North Carolina and New York. I studied architecture at University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
0:03:19 - (Colin Johnson): Dovals. I went to UT and I had a bunch of architecture student friends and so.
0:03:25 - (Polly Horne): Okay. Yeah, I graduated 2009.
0:03:28 - (Colin Johnson): Little. Little after me.
0:03:32 - (Polly Horne): And then I moved to New York City. So I received a. A large portion of my training as an architect in New York. I worked for a couple years in Knoxville with Goss Piercy Group. Who Buzz Goss's and Sheree Piercy. They were doing a lot of adaptive reuse, like loft conversions, like this kind of space.
0:03:54 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:03:54 - (Polly Horne): Renovations. So that was a good foundation for me. And then in New York, I worked at several, several firms and also with craftspeople and artisans. So custom metal. Metal fabricator.
0:04:11 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:04:12 - (Polly Horne): And bronze sculptor. And Elizabeth Roberts architects. Clement Hallsband. And right before I went on my own, Doug Romines, who's actually from Bristol and went to UT and moved to New York City before I did. He's 15 years older than me, so he was a great teacher as well. So that's. Yeah. And then I ended up going off on my own. You know, I was taking projects. 2016, I took my first independent project, but I was still working under Doug at that time.
0:04:50 - (Polly Horne): And. And then I got licensed in 2019 and decided to go off on my own right before the pandemic, which was interesting, but actually a lot of changes happened in New York at that time because there was this huge exodus to out of the city. So people were moving around and things were changing. And um, my focus really is high end residential, but also that has been expanding into, you know, middle and lower income affordable housing as well.
0:05:23 - (Polly Horne): Um, but so that was a fruitful time actually. So I have a community in the Catskills. I'm a. I'm a Zen Buddhist student. And the monastery where the, the order that I practice within is the seat of that order is in The Catskills. So I have a lot of friends in the Catskills. So I was starting to take projects up there, which was great. And so that kind of helped my business flourish in 2020. And then, you know, the pandemic kind of lingered on and we stayed and I got engaged.
0:05:58 - (Polly Horne): My husband's from Buffalo, and we met up there, Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn, which I lived recently, really close to. The temple is like the city center of the Zen Mountain monastery.
0:06:10 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:06:11 - (Polly Horne): So, you know, all that time in New York, I was practicing architecture, practicing Zen, and, you know, met my husband, we got engaged, decided to move back down here in 2022. I finally convinced him. It took a while. Eventually came, yeah, I just. I was so homesick for the mountains and I knew that I needed to be here, and I'm really glad that I made the shift. And so 2022, we moved down here in March, and I established PolyArc Johnson City.
0:06:54 - (Polly Horne): So PolyArk New York is still open. You know, we're working remotely and I have some team members up there. You know, it's slowed down, obviously, since the move, but we're like, trying to find ways to, you know, continue to take projects in New York while we're doing work here in Johnson City as well. And I'd love to branch into North Carolina. I know there's a lot of need there, so I feel like I'm well situated here.
0:07:22 - (Polly Horne): So the practice is, you know, we focus mostly on residential, but there's also, you know, focus on smaller scale commercial adaptive reuse, high performance construction, new construction, and renovations. Passive House standard is the standard that I basically work with to, you know, ensure that the building is functioning as efficiently as possible. And, you know, regardless if you're not going for certification, most people don't right to be Passive House certified, but the principles are something that can be applied to any project.
0:08:03 - (Polly Horne): Okay. And interior design, landscape design, you know, it's all kind of like the same animal. So, you know, I'm just one person and I have a small team. You know, I have a couple people, three people here on my team, and then one in New York. So. Yeah. Yeah, that was a lot. It's got a lot. It's happening. Yeah, it's all happening. Yeah.
0:08:28 - (Colin Johnson): How did you choose to go from Knoxville to. I mean, there are a lot of places you could have gone. You chose New York City.
0:08:35 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. So I had a mentor in, in, in college. He was a architecture professor, Mark Schementi, and he helped write the plan of Nashville, which was a really important urban Design project that really kind of put him out on the map. He also worked with the reconstruction of after Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and other things, but bigger.
0:09:12 - (Colin Johnson): Bigger.
0:09:12 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:09:12 - (Colin Johnson): He was in land use.
0:09:14 - (Polly Horne): He was more of, like, a plant, like a. An urban planner than an architect, but he was a licensed architect anyway. He was like, you have to go to New York. Like, even if it's just for a little while, you have to go and experience it. And, you know, because architecture there is beautiful, right? It's, you know, the best in the world. Yeah.
0:09:37 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it is really beautiful. Yeah. Carly, my wife, loves going to New York, and I do, too. We're just kind of, like, looking around all the cool stuff. And so it does open your mind to a ton of different ideas and experiences, which you.
0:09:49 - (Polly Horne): Absolutely.
0:09:50 - (Colin Johnson): I think it's super cool how the Lord made our brains to just like, we'll see something or experience something, and then later on recall that for a certain project or a certain thing. But you kind of put your own spin on it. And so, you know, because, like, there's nothing new under the sun, but on the other side of it, like, there's all this different. There's, like, inner. Different tweaks and different.
0:10:13 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, it's just cool. I think architecture is amazing. I love what you guys do. If I pushed on, I would have had a degree in landscape architecture, and I just have a degree in horticulture, and so that's interesting. Yeah, I think it would have been. It would have been fun. And so I like that part of it. I like the structural part of it, too. And it's just. It's a lot of fun. And so seeing houses being built all the time, it's just. It's cool. And so I.
0:10:36 - (Colin Johnson): I think there are a lot of things that you guys do as architects that are behind the scenes that nobody sees. We all are like, oh, you made, you know, a building that looks like a pyramid or the Shard in London or whatever it might be. That's super cool. Right? And then. But there's a lot of ton. Tons of stuff where you have to stamp off on everything around town. Anything being built needs an architectural stamp a lot of times. So, yeah.
0:10:58 - (Colin Johnson): Talk to us a little bit about polyarc, which you guys like. What is a. Like, projects that you're working on or other things that you like for? Maybe our listeners are listening. They're like, oh, I would love to have an addition put on my house. I just don't know even where to start. Something like that. Yeah.
0:11:15 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. So right now all of my projects are private residences.
0:11:21 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:11:21 - (Polly Horne): And one is a new construction spa building, which I'm very excited about.
0:11:31 - (Colin Johnson): That sounds exciting.
0:11:32 - (Polly Horne): So it, and it's out in Unicoi county. So that, you know, is kind of like, you know, dreamy type stuff for me because I, I kind of want that for myself. But it's good to offer that to others as well and learn.
0:11:49 - (Colin Johnson): Just make it spread to you.
0:11:51 - (Polly Horne): Absolutely. And also renovation of a mid century modern house on Boone Lake, which has been really fun. So it was, you know, built in the 60s and has tiny little windows, but like a beautiful lakeside view. So we blew open the end of the house and have really nice custom Marvin fiberglass, high performance windows there. So it's nice and insulated, but the view is spectacular and it, it looks really good.
0:12:25 - (Colin Johnson): What were you thinking building, you know, small windows on a lake? Right.
0:12:29 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:12:30 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:12:31 - (Polly Horne): It's okay. So those are just a couple examples. And.
0:12:50 - (Colin Johnson): So maybe I forget where we're exactly at, but go ahead. Half performance windows.
0:12:55 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. So. And I've done some consulting on Muncie across the street, which was great. They were looking at, doing some work on the melting pot and we were kind of doing some feasibility study for them, which was really nice to offer that to them. Yeah, we love it.
0:13:16 - (Colin Johnson): It's such a neat spot. Sort of a new.
0:13:18 - (Polly Horne): So much fun. Well, that building is really an important part of Johnson City's history. It's the original public library. So I hope over time Muncie will be able to take good care of the facade and do some restoration and really offer that to the community. And yeah, just like I did some work on a, a building that was built by Ken Ross, which is, he's a well known local architect. There's an, an eye clinic there that needed a interior renovation.
0:13:51 - (Polly Horne): So yeah, that was nice to work within a building that he's done and to kind of have that connection. So, yeah, we're kind of like, you know, putting down our roots and making connections here. So I look forward to.
0:14:05 - (Colin Johnson): If you can pick like your next job, what would it be?
0:14:08 - (Polly Horne): Ooh, locally, obviously. Yeah, well, I'd love to be involved in. I mean, that's a, that's a tough question. I'd love to be involved in reconstruction after the storm.
0:14:27 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:14:28 - (Polly Horne): In any way.
0:14:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, for sure.
0:14:31 - (Polly Horne): I'd like to be, I'd like to work on a new construction, passive house.
0:14:38 - (Colin Johnson): So tell listeners. Passive house. Yeah, it's what. Explain it from top to bottom to us. Because we don't know what passive House is. Okay, so has lots of houses, but we don't know what a passive house is.
0:14:50 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. So we're exceeding building code and here that's not saying much, but in regards to energy performance and like the quality of the construction. So essentially you're creating a really well insulated, airtight building envelope.
0:15:15 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:15:16 - (Polly Horne): So and then you have a high performance mechanical system and ventilation system to run your.
0:15:22 - (Colin Johnson): Because it's a super tight.
0:15:23 - (Polly Horne): Right. But the, the way that the, the, the air barriers and the weather barriers, you're using these smart barriers that have the ability to breathe to allow vapor to pass through, but not air. And it also changes depending on the temperature of this, you know, depending on the season. So you're basically building a really well controlled thermal envelope for the building and it allows for the mechanical system to be very efficient.
0:16:01 - (Polly Horne): It's said that you could heat and cool a house that is built with passive house standards with the energy it takes to run a hairdryer.
0:16:07 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, wow.
0:16:09 - (Polly Horne): And there's other like, you know, passive design approaches that you can implement early on when you're planning the layout of the building. So obviously you're not going to have like a huge wall of windows facing south unless that's intentional to like, you know, heat the house, heat a, you know, thermal mass and let that. So you're, you're, you know, working with the shape of the building, you know, the, the extension of the overhangs, the way that it works with the land.
0:16:41 - (Polly Horne): But essentially it's about optimizing the, or reducing the amount of energy that you need to heat and cool the house.
0:16:50 - (Colin Johnson): Is it cost prohibitive? That sounds like it might be.
0:16:54 - (Polly Horne): Well, it depends what your priorities are. And you know, it's definitely more of an investment upfront. But you know, there are benefits long term.
0:17:07 - (Colin Johnson): You feel like it would benefit pay for itself where there's an ROI return on investment over time.
0:17:13 - (Polly Horne): Right. But you know, like I said, you don't have to go all out with that. You can just implement certain principles here and there as your budget allows. So knowing the fundamentals of the, the science behind it is important. So you can use it when it's possible. You know, when the budget allows.
0:17:32 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I think it's, it is possible. I think there's sometimes where, yeah, you gotta, it would make sense to say, okay, I'm gonna invest here for sure, but this doesn't, you know, I'm not gonna see return.
0:17:43 - (Polly Horne): Yeah, yeah.
0:17:44 - (Colin Johnson): But I think a lot of it, you know, an architect coming in because you don't only look at the house plan. You're looking at which way do we face the house? Where's the sun coming from? Where's the energy coming from? Where, what's the slope look like? Do we collect the water? I mean, you can do all kinds of different things to, you know, you can put part of it underground and that's going to be, yeah, you know, energy efficient. And so I think having, having some forethought goes a long way. I think a lot of, you know, developers are just like, how many houses can we stick on this piece?
0:18:12 - (Polly Horne): Yeah, and that's, yeah, that's the, the thing that I see a challenge that I see the most here is like the, the vision of like, what's possible is quite narrow. Like, you know, a house doesn't have to look like that. You know, like, there's so many possibilities that you're just not seeing.
0:18:34 - (Colin Johnson): Polly, how are you going to change our architectural landscape here?
0:18:37 - (Polly Horne): By doing it one house at a time.
0:18:39 - (Colin Johnson): I like it.
0:18:40 - (Polly Horne): Yeah, I like it.
0:18:41 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. I think Carly, my wife, loves modern looking houses and I am more of a traditionalist. And so, you know, it's like finding a balance there would be interesting. So, so talking about, okay, so we have a lot of traditional housing here. If you're a listener and you're like, oh, I would like to maybe modernize my house, can, like, could they engage with you and say, okay, yeah, we could maybe change these walls, do this kind of thing to the outside, the facade and like, kind of incorporate both.
0:19:09 - (Colin Johnson): Is that, are those options or.
0:19:11 - (Polly Horne): Yeah, I mean, I don't know if this answers your question specifically, but, you know, modernizing doesn't necessarily mean making it look, you know, modern, like, whatever that means, you know, contemporary or, or sleek, clean cut, minimal. You know, there's a lot of cases where it's, you know, you just need to be appropriate to the context, especially in historical buildings.
0:19:34 - (Colin Johnson): Right, for sure. That's.
0:19:36 - (Polly Horne): And it's also what the client wants, you know, what's their vision. And ultimately I'm listening to you, the client and you know, trying to respond in a sensitive way to give you the best design possible and also meet your needs and your vision.
0:19:53 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:19:53 - (Polly Horne): So there's a little bit of a collaboration there for sure, but yeah, I'm comfortable in both traditional and modern aesthetics.
0:20:00 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's cool. Tell me about your most favorite project you worked on or did and that you're like, if somebody says, what are you proud of? This is the one.
0:20:11 - (Polly Horne): So. And this could maybe be a good segue into the next into the Zen, into the next chapter. But yeah, so when I moved to New York City, I, I, I moved there to work at Clement Halls Bend, which is an off, they have an office in Chelsea. And I was like, fresh off the boat, you know, like, totally traumatized by like, you know, the turnstiles and the subways and the apartment and all that I can see. And so one of the first projects that I worked on in that office was for Zen Mountain Monastery. They were building a Sangha house or community house on the property.
0:20:53 - (Polly Horne): The abbot, the former abbot had just died and that was his vision, to build that project for the community. So my teacher, my current teacher walked in the door and I was like, oh, I love this guy. He's wearing like hiking boots and like flannel and like jeans. And I just felt like, like I felt he's like a mountain person, you know, that's my favorite people. Oh my God, thank you. So anyway, I worked on that for, you know, it was, it was 2009, so like the recession had just hit and I got laid off like six months after getting that job, which was totally scary.
0:21:37 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:21:37 - (Polly Horne): But I loved working on that project. And now when I go there, I get to, you know, use it and be in it and criticize all the things that they did. It was, it was like a really, I don't know, it's a really special project.
0:21:56 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:21:56 - (Polly Horne): And then later, so, okay, now I'm talking about architecture and Zen.
0:22:02 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:22:02 - (Polly Horne): But so when I got laid off, I was super bummed and I heard that they had a temple in Brooklyn. So I went there and my teacher was giving a talk and I was like, oh, this is it. Like I found like, I felt like an immediate connection, you know, like, I found my, my place and you know, I started practicing there. And later he hired us. So I was working at Elizabeth Roberts Architects at that time and he hired us to do a renovation of the temple.
0:22:39 - (Polly Horne): So I have this kind of like, I don't know, sequence of, I don't know, events that tie my Zen practice with my architectural practice, you know, through that community. And I continue to, to develop. I mean, I don't, I don't work for them, you know, but building this space at Studio Hum.
0:23:06 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:23:06 - (Polly Horne): Where my architecture practices. Okay. So since moving, you know, I was, I was working out of the house over on Highland. But you know, I wanted to really foster a community space. So I just by, I was practicing at the Appalachian Dharma Meditation center and I inquired about the space upstairs at 108 West 10th Avenue. And that's across the street from Open Door Coffee House.
0:23:41 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. My friend Ryan Fair is The Ryan.
0:23:43 - (Polly Horne): Fair is down there.
0:23:44 - (Colin Johnson): He's awesome.
0:23:45 - (Polly Horne): Dr. Amy Moody is on the first floor.
0:23:48 - (Colin Johnson): She's a dentist or something.
0:23:51 - (Polly Horne): So Rebecca Nunley is my landlady. She owns the building. And the building is really interesting. It was designed by Abernathy Architects, so Bo Abernathy and I have the original set. Yeah.
0:24:05 - (Colin Johnson): Cool.
0:24:05 - (Polly Horne): And, like, in the hallway going upstairs, I have a rendering that Bo did of.
0:24:09 - (Colin Johnson): He also did some houses. I sold an Abernathy house to the end. And they still live there.
0:24:14 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. So we're on the top floor, and it's huge space, like 303,000 square feet. So it's like, I can't fill all that. But I. So I took the. I took the President Suite. She's awesome. Like, little corner.
0:24:27 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:24:28 - (Polly Horne): So all this wood paneling. It's very retro. I love it. Yeah. And beautiful mountain views. So I have my mountain connection. And.
0:24:37 - (Colin Johnson): And I think that view, right, of the mountains where the runes just like. Like where you are every time Carly and I are coming down, like, if we're going to mount, you know, open doors or whatever, that view is awesome.
0:24:47 - (Polly Horne): It's. It's a beautiful view.
0:24:49 - (Colin Johnson): Like, the mountains are just, boom. You got downtown. It's just beautiful.
0:24:52 - (Polly Horne): And it's almost panoramic on that floor because there's windows all around. Yeah.
0:24:56 - (Colin Johnson): Because we have buildings only two stories tall around here.
0:24:59 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. Yeah. Let's keep it that way. I mean, I'm cool with high rises. Fine. Just not in my view.
0:25:05 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:25:05 - (Polly Horne): But anyway, so there's the architecture practice, and so that floor, it's like. It's a square, basically. And there's private offices all around the perimeter. And in the center space, there's a big open. It's a big open space, so it seemed perfect for a zendo. So that's what we have. In the center is a meditation hall. And I also have a little tea room off to the side with tatami mats and a floor table. So I also practice Japanese tea ceremony, another thing I picked up in New York. And now I have a teacher at Sumi Matsuda who lives in Knoxville, and she comes from time to time. She's coming in April to the Philosopher's House to kind of get the word out about us.
0:25:52 - (Polly Horne): But she'll give lessons at Studio Hum as well. That's pretty cool. And I do monthly tea ceremony there as well. So Sendo tea ceremony. We have library and an art room for the communities face.
0:26:08 - (Colin Johnson): That's.
0:26:08 - (Polly Horne): And then I have the architecture practice, and we have Brian. Federico is a physical therapist. He's also on the floor. And we have two vacancies for either artists or healing arts folks. And I'm. I'm kind of like, figuring out, you know, I'm gathering names, but not trying to jump on anything right now. So if anybody's interested, they can email info studiohome.org and I can talk to.
0:26:40 - (Colin Johnson): You about the space.
0:26:41 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:26:41 - (Colin Johnson): Being a part of that.
0:26:42 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:26:43 - (Colin Johnson): For the. The Zen do.
0:26:46 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:26:46 - (Colin Johnson): Like, dojo is that short for.
0:26:48 - (Polly Horne): Yeah, I mean, dojo, I think is. It's like a place of practice. The Zendo. It's. It's specifically for meditations.
0:27:00 - (Colin Johnson): Is that open to anybody?
0:27:01 - (Polly Horne): It's open to anybody. So we have a regular weekly schedule Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. If you're new to Zen practice, I would recommend coming on Sunday morning where we meet from 9am to noon. And I'll give beginning instruction in the style of meditation that we practice in the specific lineage of the mountains and rivers order of Zen Buddhism. And so that, you know, Sunday morning is, you know, we do some liturgy chanting and with instruments, and then we'll do two periods as zazen. So that's. They're each 25 minutes long with a walking meditation in between.
0:27:44 - (Polly Horne): And then I stream in a dharma talk from Zen Mountain Monastery. So every Sunday, I'm basically following their Sunday schedule. So they're doing the same thing up on Mount Tremper. And I stream in the talk as well. So they. People get, you know, access to, you know, true Dharma teachings, which I cannot offer. I am not a Zen teacher. I am a student. But I am facilitating this. This group. And I'm very excited to figure out when my.
0:28:20 - (Polly Horne): My teacher, Sugar Roshi is coming. But I believe he's coming this year. So.
0:28:25 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:28:26 - (Polly Horne): Yes, that'll be me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:28:28 - (Colin Johnson): So there's a lot going on.
0:28:29 - (Polly Horne): Young life. I know it's a lot. So I'm. I'm just trying to, like, streamline everything. So having the schedule, you know, the Zen practice, it's just something that I do anyway, so I'm just opening it up to folks, and it helps me grow and learn in doing that. So Wednesday evenings, Sunday mornings, half day, sits on Saturdays, once a month, and tea ceremony practice. And we're figuring out, we're doing. I'm looking at some calligraphy lesson, flower arranging, ikebana, and other tea ceremony offerings later in the year from different teachers.
0:29:08 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool. Yeah. And tell Our listeners where they can find out about what's happening and when.
0:29:12 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. So Studio Hum is you can check out the calendar on the Studio home website, which is studiohum.org which is hum. Yeah, studiohum.org and you can find the email address there where you can access me. And if you want to talk about design, interior design, architecture, you can contact me at. You can find our website at Polyarc studio or infoyarc studio studio not.com doc studio.
0:29:47 - (Colin Johnson): Where is it? Is it Doc Studio?
0:29:49 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. And Polyarc is P O, L Y.
0:29:51 - (Colin Johnson): A R, C, H, your name and slash architecture.
0:29:55 - (Polly Horne): Well, my name's. Okay, so my name's Margaret Paula Horn, technically, but I've gone by Polly since I was like, I can't even. I don't remember ever being called Margaret. So. But Polly is spelled P O L L Y. So I don't know. My sister helped me figure out that name. Polyarch. I wasn't sure but we decided that it's actually a word. Yeah, it means like a state of many rulers. Oh, like a monarch. A polyarch.
0:30:26 - (Polly Horne): There's some other meanings, but yeah, I like the way it sounds.
0:30:29 - (Colin Johnson): I like it. It works and people will find you.
0:30:32 - (Polly Horne): I hope so.
0:30:33 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, we'll. Anything I haven't talked to you about that you'd like to share? Because I think you covered a lot of bases.
0:30:41 - (Polly Horne): Well, so there's one other thing. I'm so as a architect here in Northeast Tennessee, I'm a member of the American Institute of Architects, East Tennessee chapter.
0:30:54 - (Colin Johnson): Cool.
0:30:54 - (Polly Horne): And I am joint chair of the Regional Resilience Subcommittee, which is a subcommittee of the Committee on the environment of AIA East Tennessee. So Jay McCusker is the other joint chair. He works at Clark Nexon, which is, you know, the top firm in Johnson City. They're much bigger than me. I think they're their other closest offices in Asheville. So they have many offices. But their Johnson City office I think is like really picking up, which is great.
0:31:31 - (Polly Horne): But. So the two of us are chairing this subcommittee, Regional Resilience, that is basically responding to the storm damage and potential future damage from climate disasters and working to engage with the public and local governments and you know, the construction community to bolster resilience in our community through planning, through improving construction and education and outreach.
0:32:12 - (Colin Johnson): So better construction to weather the storm.
0:32:14 - (Polly Horne): Kind of that and planning infrastructure.
0:32:17 - (Colin Johnson): Right. To handle.
0:32:18 - (Polly Horne): So yeah, I mean, not one of us is an expert that knows all of these things. Spoke. The effort is to come together and raise awareness and work towards, you know, designing towards a better future. Sure. You know, we can make a impact on what is happening with our climate and we have to. So I really, you know, want to make a plug for the Regional Resilience subcommittee. The American Institute of Architects will be holding tech sessions here which is to train our local architects.
0:32:54 - (Polly Horne): We're going to have a kind of storm related theme this year and you know, we get continuing education credits from joining those things. But we're also trying to do happy hours and more of like public outreach events. So we're looking for a venue for that right now, but working on that.
0:33:14 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. All right. What gets you super fired up? Like you're just like, let's go or being a Zen meditation or like excited about staying. Yeah.
0:33:29 - (Polly Horne): Things that are positive.
0:33:30 - (Colin Johnson): Yes.
0:33:33 - (Polly Horne): So positive. I mean, I love my dog.
0:33:38 - (Colin Johnson): What kind of dog do you have?
0:33:40 - (Polly Horne): She's from the Elizabeth and Pound, so we don't really know. I love it, but they said that she is a schnauzer mix and she's just.
0:33:49 - (Colin Johnson): We have a mini schnauzer.
0:33:50 - (Polly Horne): She's wonderful. I love her so much.
0:33:53 - (Colin Johnson): She gets me fired up too. So I think that's a great, a great one. So. Yes. Well, cool. Well, thank you. I'm hoping that our listeners enjoy the conversation. I hope they reach out to you for architectural stuff. What is that? I mean, we can just do a quick one minute, like, what does that process look like? And if you want to throw some fee ideas out there because I think people are like, oh, architects, they build big buildings. It's going to cost a million dollars to engage with one.
0:34:21 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:34:22 - (Colin Johnson): Not the case. Right.
0:34:23 - (Polly Horne): Yeah.
0:34:24 - (Colin Johnson): You do little stuff and.
0:34:25 - (Polly Horne): Yeah. So you know, it's relative to the scale and the scope of the project. Sure. If we're looking at residential, I can kind of walk you through the process of, of what we like the services and then that can kind of help, you know, you gauge how much time we're spending and stuff. So like schematic design is the first step. So if it's an existing building, like an existing house, we will go and measure the building by hand. I go and my team goes and we spend like half a day measuring and taking those dimensions back and putting them into the computer, drawing the existing conditions plans.
0:35:09 - (Polly Horne): And those plans become the base plans for any, you know, schematic design options that we create. Usually I, I offer three options as the first design meeting in, in schematic design. And this gives the owners like a chance to really explore like the possibilities. And those options are all based on an initial design meeting that we have where they're telling me they're, you know, what it is that they want. And I'm interpreting it, basically, and giving them a variety of ways to approach that.
0:35:38 - (Polly Horne): So, you know, they can pick and choose from each option, and we can, like, stitch them together ultimately into one plan, and that becomes the schematic design plan. And that plan we can run by a general contractor to get a sense of the budget, you know, just some budgetary numbers at that point for, like, you know, what. What are we working with here? So from there, we'll move into design development phase.
0:36:05 - (Polly Horne): I will hire a structural consultant if necessary. If we're doing. Yeah, structural engineer. If you're doing high performance, I recommend a mechanical engineer. Mechanical electrical plumbing. In New York, you always hire structural and mechanical electrical plumbing. If you're doing that type of work here, the GC does. Oh, you know, and it's kind of a fine line, like, depends.
0:36:29 - (Colin Johnson): The.
0:36:30 - (Polly Horne): Usually if it's structural work, I always have a structural engineer. If it's mechanical work, plumbing, usually the general contractor will get them to work with that. So. But we're integrating, you know, those consultants at the beginning of design development phase, and we are creating, you know, plans, elevations, sections, interior key interior elevations, and a draft finish schedule. And that's basically design development phase. Gotcha.
0:37:05 - (Polly Horne): If you want to go further into, like, you know, everything is, like, selected and designed and integrated specified, then we'll do construction documents phase, and that is a full construction document set with everything specified. You know, the windows, the doors, the light fixtures, the doorknobs, light switches, the. Yeah, the door stops, the flooring, everything. That's a construction document set, and that is the contract set for the contractor.
0:37:34 - (Polly Horne): Right. So they. You can bid that out to different contractors, or you can have a contractor from the start. And, you know, it's more of, like, a design build approach. And we can develop the drawing set as much as. As much as you want, you know, and then we'll do, you know, permitting is necessary, and then construction administration, if desired, a little bit during construction, you know, the, you know, highest level of service usually is, like, every other week visiting the site.
0:38:06 - (Polly Horne): Oftentimes it's just as needed. Or like, you know, sometimes there's, like, pauses in construction due to weather or whatever. So that's got some flex with it. But that's basically a full service architectural agreement. But, like, within that, we can offer a varying level of services.
0:38:30 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool. And more. Yeah, I think it'll be interesting to see if some of our listeners reach out to you because I'd love for them to and I'd love for you to continue to flourish. And we can come across lots of people all the time, so we'll definitely keep your contact handy and. And pass it out. And thank you for coming on the podcast. I love getting to know you and what you're doing, and I'm sure I'll see you over at the Dharma center when I go see Ryan.
0:38:55 - (Polly Horne): Oh, yeah.
0:38:56 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And so thank you guys for listening. Thanks for hanging out with Polly and I. Until next time, I'm Colin Johnson with the Colin and Carly Group and Keller Williams Realty. If you want to make a move here and buy a residential house and have Polly fix it up, she can design it all up for you. And I would love to help you make Johnson City home or know, towards the mountains. You could be in Unicoi or Irwin that way, too.
0:39:18 - (Colin Johnson): We go all over East Tennessee, so just reach out to us. We'd love to help. Thanks and have a great day.
0:39:23 - (Polly Horne): Thank you.