June 18, 2021

Welcoming Amelia Klos to the BrightBuilt Team!

June 18, 2021

Welcoming Amelia Klos to the BrightBuilt Team!

Welcoming Amelia Klos to the BrightBuilt Team!

Tell us a little about yourself! Where are you from, where have you been, and how did you get here?

My roots are in Michigan.  I was born and raised in West Michigan then studied architecture at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  After graduating during the height of the recession I moved to Central America for a year to teach 5th grade at a bilingual school in rural Honduras.  I caught the travel bug while living abroad and am now on a lifelong mission to see all the places and do all the things.  So, I’ve been to a lot of places but I haven’t been everywhere yet.  There is so much to see in the world!  Fast forward to 2016, my “year of adventure.”  At the time I was living in Cleveland, Ohio, working for a real-estate developer and had driven out to Maine to climb at Acadia National Park.  I stopped at Portland Headlight on the way and, upon stepping foot on Maine soil for the very first time, instantly fell in love.  After being in the state for all of 5 minutes I knew I wanted to live here.  That was almost exactly 5 years ago and here I am!

Why is Net Zero building important to you?

Well, the health of our home planet is important to me.  And Net Zero design is one way in which I can contribute to a healthier planet.

If given the option, which BrightBuilt design would you build and move into tomorrow?

One of the ADUs.  I love thoughtfully designed small dwelling spaces that both encourage and enable us humans to live with less “stuff.”

If the BrightBuilt Home team were to become stranded on a remote island, what role would you take on to ensure everyone’s survival?

That largely depends on the geographic location of said island.  However, in broad terms, I have years of backpacking and backcountry camping experience so I would probably assemble some sort of expedition team and set out to explore the island, its resources and potential escape or rescue routes.

You have figured out how to place a BrightBuilt home anywhere; not just in terms of geographic location, but rather, on, under, over, inside, on top of, or beside anything. Where is the first place you set one?

I am really curious about how a BrightBuilt home would perform on Mars, but that opens up a whole new can of worms.  Here on Earth, I would keep it relatively simple.  I would like to design my future BrightBuilt home to be completely off-grid so that it could be nestled near the shore of some remote pond in northern Maine.  

And most importantly: What fashion trend did you use to rock that you now wish you could delete from your past?

Never in my life do I recall having the confidence to “rock” any fashion trend.  Also, I have always dreaded shopping for clothes.  If I could rewrite my fashion choices of the past though, I would choose to ROCK whatever I felt like wearing at any given time and burn every teen fashion magazine that ever arrived on my doorstep.

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