Background: Greg Madeen's evironmental roots began to take shape before he was born. Being a craftsman and windmill builder, his great great grandfather moved from Europe to America to work with the superior woods available in order to build a better wind mill. Greg's architectural endeavors began at an early age as he built tree houses, earth tunnels, snow caves and hay bale forts in the early 1960's. Greg spent his high school summers on a survey crew. In the 1970's he became assistant to the city engineer and learned about water, sewer and other civil engineering practices. In 1977 Greg lived in the Virgin Islands and incountered numerous climate zones and cultures. In 1978 & 1979 he installed dozens of solar hot water systems, built solar collectors, plus constructed a production greenhouse. These early experiences led to a strong conviction toward site analysis and environmental design. Greg attended architectural school in Bozeman, Montana from 1981 through 1986. There he studied indigenous, vernacular and regional styles of architecture. He was interested in the ways in which each style fit its landscape, climate and functional requirements along with developing ways to incorporate local materials. In order to fund his education, he did drafting on mid-scale cellulose ethanol plants, designed passive solar office buildings, and helped Bozeman and surrounding communities with their municipal water and sewer systems. His thesis project was a hot springs resort that utilized the sun and the naturally occurring hot water to their fullest potential. Upon graduation, he moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and interned with two well known solar adobe architecture firms. In 1991, after two years as a self-employed environmental designer, Greg became a licensed architect and started his own firm that again specialized in organic design. In New Mexico, Madeen Architecture designed dozens of solar adobe projects. Greg was instrumental in making pumicecrete a viable alternative to adobe and actively involved in getting strawbale approved as an alternative building material. He also helped plan a 500-unit neo-traditional village, as well as a 28-unit environmental subdivision. In 1996, Madeen Architecture and Construction moved back to Southwest Colorado and opened a professional office in the heart of downtown Durango. For about two years a second architectural office was successful in the center of historic Telluride. In the Spring of 2014 an office was opened in historic Aspen, Colorado. In 1988, Greg conceived of an unplastered rammed earth wall system with sandwiched mid-wall insulation. In 2003, his idea was utilized on a 3,000 square foot residence with exciting color bands. Greg and his staff continue to work not only as enivornmental architect/planner/interior designer/lanscape designer, but also as construction administrator for many of the projects taken on by the firm. Over the past 35 years, Greg has worked on projects using environmental design in Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, California, Utah, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arizona, Panama and Canada. His conviction for alternative and natural architecture has only amplified over the years while he strives to generate architecture that not only respects its surroundings, but also finds a way to give back to the environment. Back to top