HOMEABOUT USCONTACT   LAURA JOINES TOM DI SANTO LAURA JOINES, AIA M:OME and MOMElife is architect Laura Joines-Novotny. The M:OME mission is simple: create affordable, modern design that belongs to its climate and to its region. Laura Joines-Novotny, AIA is a partner in M:OME and a Professor of Architecture at California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo. She received her A.B from Vassar College in Geography/Anthropology, studying abroad at London School of Economics. For graduate work she attended Columbia University, the Architectural Association, London, and received an M.ARCH from North Carolina State University, School of Design. Outside of sustaining an architectural practice that emphasizes earth-friendly principles and simple yet beautiful design, her main interests are her family. Laura is currently into baking spanikopita and raising backyard chickens. She wants to develop compostable furnishings. Ocean swimming and those fleeting moments of nothingness are great sources of pleasure. PHILOSOPHY The architecture office provides architectural design, watercolor renderings, furniture, and product design, all demonstrating M:OME's innovative design incorporating proven sustainable technologies. M:OME endeavors to pick up where Le Corbusier left off by creating a true 'machine for living' in harmony with its occupants and within its climactic region. M:OME responds to the American need for a house that is warm and friendly, and is an efficient machine with current sustainable technologies such as photovoltaic panels, hydrogen fuel cells, water catchment systems, solar water heaters, passive solar heat gain, sunshade devices, cooling ponds, thermal mass, passive cooling, and radiant heat. Buildings are the greatest contributor to global warming at this point. Everyone will eventually buy a new efficient hydrogen fuel cell car, but not everyone can buy a new sustainable house. As architects, we are responsible for educating our clients and incorporating these technologies into every building and product that we make. Responding to climate and site factors, as well as reducing the demand for power, water and resources profoundly affects our architecture and product design at M:OME.