EcoNest Architecture Inc

As an Interior Designer specializing in custom window treatments and healthy textiles, I have been working with Paula and EcoNest Company for several years. Paula has become a friend, mentor and motivator. She never tires of teaching about building natural spaces that promote health and well-being. You may want to consider taking the classes that Paula and her husband Robert offer, then build a (sleep) sanctuary for your body to rest and recover. Paula and her team are authentic and a wonderful resource! Gratefully, Marlys Wiegand Adrette Designs West Linn, Oregon

Paula is a pioneering Architect who has created a very significant body of work through the EcoNest principles that she founded with partner, Robert Baker Laporte. Their work is seminal in the Natural Building Movement and Paula is a revolutionary healthy building expert and teacher. I trained with both Paula and Robert in the EcoNest design and building techniques and it was a profound and pivotal experience in influencing both how I now choose to live more self-sufficiently, as well as how I design and build myself. The EcoNest buildings are not only beautiful, they are extremely well considered in terms of spatial planning as well as building science technology. Paula has a compassionate heart, is engaging and truly walks her talk with great integrity. I highly recommend Paula and the EcoNest team to design and build you the healthiest, most energy efficient, attractive and ecologically sustainable building you could imagine!

We learned about Paula Baker-LaPorte from an article in Natural Home Magazine as we were realizing that the new home we had purchased and just moved into was making me sick. Immediately following this discovery I was diagnosed as being chemically sensitive. Paula's expertise in building healthy homes was a fortuitous because I couldn't live in our new house. It was making me too sick. With Paula's help we immediately began planning and then constructing an Eco-Nest. The experience of building a home that supports health is something i wish for everyone. The finished product, our new home, helped me recapture my health and we lived there for 7 years. Then we moved to the East Coast and a few years later, when we were ready to build again, we knew that we wanted/needed Paula to be part of the process. Incidentally, we sold that home right away in the depths of the real estate crash for a profit.....to a husband and wife who were both doctors! We are midway through building a second home and while Paula is geographically far, she is an integral part of the process. Our choices of a local builder and architect were greatly influenced by their willingness to include an expert on healthy building, Paula. We now consider Paula a friend. Her knowledge and expertise allow us to build homes that are not just healthier for me but safer for my whole family. We have worked with numerous architects and feel that many are as interested in their style ( and fees ) as in the style and needs of their clients. Paula is a refreshing departure from that. I feel that her calling is to help people build healthy homes that are sanctuaries for the inhabitants.

I have known and admired the work of Paula Baker-Laporte of EcoNest Architect Inc since I met her ten years ago. Paula is a creative, committed, intelligent and talented architect, who is a pioneer in natural building. Her designs are as beautiful as they are healthy for their owners to occupy. Her book "Prescriptions for a Healthy House" has been an invaluable tool in my own quest for ways to build life-supporting homes. Paula is also adept at listening to her clients and working with them to co-create homes that works on all levels - budget, space, energy conservation, light and delight. I feel privileged to know and to recommend Paula to anyone looking for an architect who cares deeply about the health of the planet and in inhabitants.

Paula worked with us on our new healthy home outside Boston, completed in 2014. She acted as a consulting architect, advising us and our local architect (the local architect did the heavy lifting on site issues, working with the town, doing the actual drawings etc.) She is an amazing professional - always knowledgeable, highly responsive, eager to learn more along the way, always asking just the right question, listening intently, great at working as part of a "team," and often coming up with creative workable solutions on how to build a house that supports health without breaking the bank or driving the builders and subs crazy. She was a resource for all of us and we felt infinitely better that she was at the other end of the phone in our times of need, when tough decisions had to be made. I highly recommend Paula to anyone embarking on a building journey.

Paula Baker-Laporte was my architect for a complex remodeling in Santa Fe, NM, where she designed and guided the building of an environmentally green, healthy addition (2 bedrooms, 2 baths, meditation room, dining room, art studio and attic) to my lovely little log cabin. Her design skill is extraordinary. She communicates very well, always seeming to understand what I was wanting (usually sketching it before I was through describing it!). Her attention to detail in design and execution was superb. She's an easy-going person but of the highest integrity and truly understands my ethic of building the smallest possible space that works for my needs. I was included on every decision (unless I didn't want to be!). She guided me to the perfect contractor, whose attention to detail matched hers, as well as his easy-going personality. And I have the most beautiful house I have ever seen, much less lived in....and it was built without petroleum. The whole process was wonderful. I would recommend her highly to anyone!

I have the pleasure of teaching Healthy Natural Construction with Paula through the Institute for Building Biology and Ecology. I know no one who is more dedicated, passionate, thoughtful and wise in the ways of creating healthy, beautiful natural homes. Paula's passion for creating these spaces shines through in her depth and breadth of knowledge, understanding of the building science and the art of design. Spending time in her homes is an experience in healing, realizing that spaces can be this beautiful, healthful and nurturing. I am humbled by her ability to create the healthiest spaces also the most beautiful I have ever experienced.

A firm that truly understands the ecological impact of buildings and the sustainability of our future. EcoNest goes the distance in green design, building natural buildings that are healthy for the environment and for the people who live in them. I attended Robert's Straw-Clay workshop and Paula's Homing In seminar and saw first hand the passion and commitment given to natural materials, healthy homes, and beautiful space. Simple, clean green.

I have the distinction of owning the very first healthy home built by the EcoNest Company. I absolutely love my home. It is beautiful, comfortable, and totally health promoting without any toxic fumes emanating from the building materials. I have my medical clinic in a wing of the house. I often hear my patients commenting how good they feel inside my home. I'm forever grateful that EcoNext helps make our world a better place to live in. ---Erica Elliott, MD

I found Paula to be very knowledgeable in the field of ecological building. As the architect of our home, she was masterful in being able to counsel us regarding the use of green materials, in particular our design of straw/clay walls and passive solar gain. My wife and I so appreciated Paula's ability to utilize space strategically in a small home. We found Paula to be both adaptable and creative while very generous with her time and thorough in her approach.

EcoNest built a beautiful hexagon gazebo during an educational timber framing workshop at Buckhorn Springs. They were professional, very educated and made the whole experience fun and informative. We loved working with them and were blown away by the quality of their work. We look forward to working with them again in the future!

Paula Baker-Laporte FAIA and EcoNest really need no introduction. She is one of the top 10 Green architects in the nation, a knowledgable speaker and author and has created many beautiful, natural, ecocentric homes and structures throughout the US. Her book 'EcoNest' is a joy and an education, as well. As a TEDx Experience commitee member, I was proud to have invited her to speak at TEDx San Antonio and am looking forward to working on a built project.