Elizabeth Di Salvo, founding partner of Trillium Architects in Fairfield County, CT, has been actively designing sustainable, ecological and energy efficient buildings since 1992. She first attended NESEA in 1994, and formed Trillium Architects in 2004 with the sole purpose of producing small, beautiful, green houses.

Elizabeth grew up in the industry, has a five year professional degree in architecture from Rensselaer, and a master’s degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. She has spent time working in large architecture firms in Los Angeles, CT and NYC, designing and managing projects from high-end residential, to multi-family, to high profile institutional buildings.

Living off the grid in Colorado in the early 90’s, she learned a very grass roots approach to making shelter and incorporating local and environmentally sound products and technologies into buildings that occupants could fabricate themselves. While there she designed and physically built many ‘alternative’ structures (Straw bale, rammed earth, adobe, pumice, earth ships, passive solar, etc). This hands-on experience revealed the many possibilities of alternative construction methods, however it also revealed many limitations for their incorporation in the technologically evolving world of the mainstream American building industry.

In the 1990s, Elizabeth’s began to focus her practice on bringing green, energy efficient buildings to more mainstream clients in the northeast. Over the years, Elizabeth and Trillium Architects have refined their approach to getting a green home built. In doing so they have also learned how to prioritize and meet clients expectations for creating a home that is energy efficient but is also sophisticated, beautiful, practical and affordable. Trillium believes one can construct peace and joy, as well as comfort and efficiency.