Return to Nature

This home was envisioned to both reflect and connect with the natural setting. To pursue this vision, the home was designed with simple forms and natural finishes and settled into a landscape reestablished with native meadow species. Pathways emerge from the meadow grasses as you approach the home, drawing visitors closer. Inside the home, the connection to the outdoors is maintained through expansive window sightlines, spacious rooms, and clean, uncluttered ceilings. Plain-sawn wide plank flooring and exposed timber-framing express the natural variation in materials that is reflected in the adjacent meadows and forest.

The natural ideal in the visible finishes is further embodied in building envelope and exterior material selections and system design and performance. The exterior is clad with a heat-treated wood that resists rot and insects. The use of plastics is minimized in the structure through the use of dense-pack cellulose insulation to fill wall cavities and rigid wood-fiber insulation to wrap the home. This combination results in a high-performance thermal envelope that keeps the interiors comfortable – and quiet – throughout the seasons. This performance also reduces the energy, and cost, required to keep the home comfortable, allowing for on-site solar to provide the energy to power the all-electric home. The all-electric systems have the additional benefit of eliminating the indoor air quality issues that result from combustion gases in the kitchen and elsewhere.