Polished concrete floors. Exposed cypress timber beam ceiling. Big Ass Fan. Accordian doors. Indoor/outdoor design. Exposed HVAC duct work. Great room design. LEED Platinum home. Photos by Matt McCorteney.

The driving impetus for this Tarrytown residence was centered around creating a green and sustainable home. The owner-Architect collaboration was unique for this project in that the client was also the builder with a keen desire to incorporate LEED-centric principles to the design process. The original home on the lot was deconstructed piece by piece, with 95% of the materials either reused or reclaimed. The home is designed around the existing trees with the challenge of expanding the views, yet creating privacy from the street. The plan pivots around a central open living core that opens to the more private south corner of the lot. The glazing is maximized but restrained to control heat gain. The residence incorporates numerous features like a 5,000-gallon rainwater collection system, shading features, energy-efficient systems, spray-foam insulation and a material palette that helped the project achieve a five-star rating with the Austin Energy Green Building program.

The modest, single-floor house is designed to afford spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Set in the idyllic Virginia countryside, distinct “pavilions” serve different functions: the living room is the center of the home; bedroom suites surround an entry courtyard; a studio/guest suite sits atop the garage; a screen house rests quietly adjacent to a 60-foot lap pool. The abstracted Virginia farmhouse aesthetic roots the building in its local context while offering a quiet backdrop for the family’s daily life and for their extensive folk art collection. Constructed of concrete-filled styrofoam insulation blocks faced with traditional stucco, and heated by radiant concrete floors, the house is energy efficient and extremely solid in its construction. Metropolitan Home magazine, 2002 "Home of the Year" Photo: Peter Vanderwarker

Photo credit Michael Partenio This new home takes advantage of a beautiful hilltop site. The outdoor spaces function as an extension of the house and support the family’s casual, sports-oriented lifestyle. The design, for a family of seven, provides spaces for individual privacy and family gatherings. The design challenge was to incorporate a number of sustainable features into the design. The south-facing roof is integrated with a 5-kilowatt photovoltaic system, generating electricity for the home and furnishing emergency backup power. The heating is exclusively radiant with high efficiency boilers partially burning biofuel. Measures taken to produce an efficient building envelope include a drainage plane behind the siding, spray foam insulation, and high performance, insulated window glass.

Casey Woods Photography

Norman Sizemore

Nestled into sloping topography, the design of this home allows privacy from the street while providing unique vistas throughout the house and to the surrounding hill country and downtown skyline. Layering rooms with each other as well as circulation galleries, insures seclusion while allowing stunning downtown views. The owners' goals of creating a home with a contemporary flow and finish while providing a warm setting for daily life was accomplished through mixing warm natural finishes such as stained wood with gray tones in concrete and local limestone. The home's program also hinged around using both passive and active green features. Sustainable elements include geothermal heating/cooling, rainwater harvesting, spray foam insulation, high efficiency glazing, recessing lower spaces into the hillside on the west side, and roof/overhang design to provide passive solar coverage of walls and windows. The resulting design is a sustainably balanced, visually pleasing home which reflects the lifestyle and needs of the clients. Photography by Andrew Pogue

Greg Hadley

(c) steve keating photography

photo credit: Jim Tetro

Level one powder room with "chalk board" painted walls

This waterfront home features an open, carefully day lit interior in a very compact shell. The openness to the beach guided the process of the design and selection of materials and finishes. A concern for the permanence and maintenance of the house led to a careful selection of ground-face concrete block, natural concrete floors, and metal windows and door systems and to the raising of the house on a solid base formed of stepping concrete terraces.

Perfect kitchen for entertaining!