The client for this project appproached me with an unusual request. They wanted to have me design a new, sustainable house for a property that had an old, hand-built house on it. This house had lots and lots of code issues, rot issues, and neighborhood issues. It was not something historic or significant and could not be saved. But the lot was great, and the owners were game to live in the old house while the new one was built. The owners, an innovative software engineer and a very skilled potter, were active participants in the design and building of the house. Where one partner had artistic skills, the other had wiring skills. It was a complimentary relationship that helped the house develop a very personal touch, and a house of which the owners felt very proud.
The house is about 3,200 square feet, with a very deep front porch facing the western sunsets. It sits high on a hillside, with wonderful granite boulders around it. The house was built as a sustainable house. It used 2 x 6 exterior framing, with a horizontal metal 2 x 3 inside. Icynene insulation filled the entire cavity and provided the R-value of about an R-40 or so, and R-50 or so on the roof. The house has a soapstone woodstove, by Tuli-Kivi, and this woodstove, sometimes called a “Russian” woodstove, burns very hot and completely. The heat doesn’t just go up the flue after the burn, but is recaptured by the thermal mass of the soapstone unit in a series of “contra-flow” flues. The house is heated, given the great tightness of the outer envelope as well, very efficiently.
The exterior is red cedar shingle and cedar trim, so these materials should need hardly any maintence through the years. The windows are clad units, and very high efficiency value. The south side has lots of windows for maximun solar gain. Deciduous trees will provide a canopy in the summer, however, and shade the extra gain that is not wanted in that time of year.
The owner who is a potter made almost all of the ceramic tiles we used on the interior of the house, and they are quite beautiful. The floor on the first floor is ceramic tile, with a radiant heat system in the floor. This is definitely a comfortable house in all seasons, with the toasty floor, warm fireplace, and lovely sunshine in the winter; and the very deep, very liveable outside room of the front proch, the rear sreened porch, and the ample shade for the summer.
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South and west elevations in winter
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Soapstone fireplace and living area
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Long and deep front porch with view of sunset
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Kitchen and breakfast bar
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Foyer and staircase
