A small house with a living room, kitchen, and dining room, designed by an architect.

Press

2024: Palo Santo Designs’ home build project, ‘Far Niente’ was featured in Su Casa Magazine’s Autumn Issue. Check out the Autumn Season Issue (The Far Niente feature starts on page 64) HERE or read the blog on Far Niente HERE.

2024: Palo Santo Designs’ Leslie Giorgetti was featured on Build Together: Santa Fe Area Homebuilders Assoc. Radio Hour discussing he importance of understanding local markets and challenges and opportunities to creating sustainable, community-oriented developments. Listen the to replay HERE.

2023: Palo Santo Designs was featured in press such as Home, the monthly home and real estate magazine put out by the New Mexican. Read the article HERE.

2021: Palo Santo designs was featured in the National Association of Home Builders annual Virtual Green Home Tour with The Modern Farmhouse. Watch the Youtube video HERE.

2021: Palo Santo Designs was featured in Su Casa Magazine with The Green Farmhouse

2021: Palo Santo Designs was featured in BuildwithRise.com with “A minimalist farmhouse in Santa Fe goes deep green with Net Zero Energy and LEED.”

2020: Palo Santo Designs was named the Best Contemporary Home Builder in New Mexico by Home Builder Digest.

2013: Santa Fe New Mexican, “Indoor Air Quality Is a Priority”

2013: Santa Fe New Mexican, “Are Green Building Attributes Properly Valued?”

2012: Su Casa, “Badge of Honor”

by Stephanie Pearson, Photos by Kate Russell, page 134-137.

“Spaces like Spandaram’s are highly intentional…Her [Wendy Borger] vision was to design a studio that honored the Hindu roots of Anusara yet incorporated the best local and sustainable building practices…A fellow Anusara practitioner, Mark Giorgetti, who is a local green-building contractor and principal of Palo Santo Designs, jumped on board and pulled in project manager Kevin Long and architect Courtenay Mathey of Mathey and Associates.”

“Inside the studio Giorgetti broke down walls to create flow wherever possible. The imitation-tin ceiling tiles are made from recycled gypsum, the storage cabinets are built from formaldehyde-free materials, the pin floors came from a sustainable source through Santa Fe’s Plaza Hardwood, and the glues are non-toxic.

Text by Douglas Fairfield, Images by Blair Clark and Efrain M. Padro

“…the Tesoros collection is for sure a collection of exquisite pieces. Each artisan’s work has a special meaning for so many of our visitors.” “Due to its sheer size, the Larry Frank Collection presents curatorial challenges. To display everything in a respectable manner within the limited space must have been daunting.”

Text by Kathryn Eaton, Images by Kirk Gittings, pages 51-57

“For its ecological approach to design and construction and its use of environmentally sound materials, they chose Palo Santo Designs LLC as their general contractor. Owner Mark Giorgetti clearly shares the Mangs’ green philosophy. ‘Construction is one of the main environmental impacts on earth,’ he says. ‘To ameliorate this impact, all of our projects are green in one aspect or another.’”

“For now, though, their home embodies the classic lines of a double adobe while exemplifying principles of green design and construction. Reflecting on the improvement of the remodel, Pamela says, ‘everywhere you stand or sit there is something [the angle of the light, the curve of a wall, the layering of color] that is soul satisfying. Sometimes, standing quietly in the living room, I can almost hear the old house saying thank you.’”

Fast Trackers 2007, Number Four Small Company, by Megan Kamerick, page 19

“Just because your house didn’t start out green doesn’t mean it can’t become green.”

“That’s the idea behind Mark Giorgetti’s company, Palo Santo Designs LLC, in Santa Fe. Giorgetti has become an expert at retrofitting homes with environmentally sustainable building features.”

“Palo Santo specializes in residential remodels and home additions. It integrates non-toxic materials into a variety of designs, including timber frame, adobe and straw bale, and also works with solar water heating systems, photovoltaics, permaculture concepts, water catchment and gray-water recycling.”

Wayne J. Bingham and Colleen F. Smith, Published by Gibbs Smith, 2007, Pages 126-133 and 167

“The hacienda-style layout of the art studio and house in Santa Fe, the natural surroundings, and clients who really knew they wanted to be as green as possible made for a great opportunity for a great sustainable project. The original buildings included a strawbale home with a conventional guesthouse with attached garage built in 1997. The remodel project was a wonderful opportunity for Palo Santo Designs, LLC, to push the envelope in green design for a historical Santa Fe territorial-style frame with parapet roofs. Though the original residence was only eight years old, it blended perfectly with the historic adobe homes in the neighborhood. The owners approached Palo Santo Designs for renovating and expanding the compound while maintaining the straw bale construction.”

“The interior of the house is beautifully finished using nontoxic, natural, and green products. The floor and the overhead beams of the bedroom are recycled antique wood salvaged from demolition projects.”

Wayne J. Bingham and Jerod Pfeffer, Published by Gibbs Smith, 2007, Page ix

“Building with natural, locally available materials feels like an ideological leap in an age of chipboard and vinyl. Yet this book is really a continuation of the job started with the first human shelter and developed by millennia of trial and error into the modern timber frame and straw wall. We owe a great debt to our ancestors for the accumulated knowledge turning trees, stones, and mud into durable and beautiful shelters.”

“Mark Giorgetti of Palo Santo Designs gave new meaning to the phrase above and beyond by giving generously of their time, ideas, and good company. Many of the homes presented in this book are products of their fine craftsmanship.”

Text by Gussie Fauntleroy, Images by Ben Tremper, Pages 82-89

“Through some craftsmen they knew, the homeowners were introduced to Mark Giorgetti, owner of Palo Santo Designs, LLC, a Taos and Santa Fe-based design-build company that specializes in ecologically conscious construction and remodeling, working solely in green and nontoxic methods and materials. Among its clients is the Lama Foundation north of Taos, which lost numerous buildings in the 1996 Hondo fire. The transformation of Joan and Margeaux’s home was a collaboration effort between the artist-homeowners and the design-build team.”

“For homeowners considering a remodel or expansion of a home in Santa Fe’s historic district, Giorgetti contends that going green can be surprisingly simple. Straw bale, for example, already is a well-known construction method in Santa Fe, requiring no additional steps for approval beyond what would be needed for standard construction.”

“His [Giorgetti] strongest advice for those who want to go green: Work with an experienced, eco-aware architect or designer-builder from the very start. And don’t let living in the historic district dissuade you. ‘People are afraid it’ll be too hard and too expensive,’ he says. ‘But really, so much of what we’re doing is so simple. In terms of permitting codes, and costs, it fits right in to the parameters of mainstream building.’ For Joan and Margeaux, their green remodel fit right in to their vision of a better world. As Joan puts it, ‘I think Santa Fe is becoming an incredible green destination.’”