Michael was born in New York City in 1946. He attended the New York Institute of Technology from 1964 to 1969, toward a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree. He has since studied many esoteric and alternative concepts such as: Sacred Architecture and Geometry, Feng Shui, Permaculture, Bau-Biology, renewable energy technologies and alternative building modalities, as well as environmental design, community planning and indigenous wisdom. He is the principal of Architectural Harmonics, in Boulder, Colorado and is currently a licensed architect in Colorado and New Mexico.
His desire to become an architect was prompted by witnessing the typical 'rape and plunder' approach to development that built thousands of box-like homes in sub-urban N.Y.C., destroying most of the woodlands and tidal marshlands that he loved to play in and as a child. This experience left him with the drive to seek life alternatives and an underlying philosophy that the Earth is sacred, that the natural cycles and systems on our planet are perfect examples of completely sustainable and self-regenerative ecosystems that need to be protected and used as a model for any and all of our plans and thoughts for development. Michael realized that the apparent perfection in a pristine natural environment is our best temporal example of Divine Order and indicative of our Planet's sanctity.
This gave rise to what is now called 'Biome Design'. The Biome Design approach to building and development takes into account all of the natural forces and systems acting on the site, regionally available resources and technologies and indigenous wisdom and geometry and then integrates it all into the design criteria so as to create a healthy and harmonious blending with the natural environment. Biome Design regards a building or build environment as a living entity unto itself, a congruous part of its local ecology, interactive with its particular climate, which can provide for all of its current necessities and future growth needs.
This is the primary focus of Architectural Harmonics.
Michael Bertin, Architect
Architectural Harmonics
PO Box 867
Crestone, CO 81131
Phone: (719) 256-4854
Email: mbertin@fairpoint.net
