Sycamore House

Project Statement

This home embraces simplicity and nature with stacked geometric forms that harmonize with the surroundings. Designed for a family of four, it is strategically situated on an urban lot, optimizing its prospect over the site and its ability to open to nature while also achieving privacy and retreat.

A refined palette draws influences from the limestone bluffs found throughout the region. The home’s composition takes inspiration from Scandinavian and Japanese design principles, creating a healthy, inspiring living environment closely linked to nature. The plan is organized around a central courtyard, flanked by interlocking solid and glazed volumes, creating a seamless flow between indoor and outdoor spaces, capturing breezes, and framing views.

The design integrates a 9-kW solar array on the high roof and a green roof over the lower wing, which harvests rainwater from all roofs and directs it to a 5,000-gallon cistern, where it is used for non-potable irrigation. The HVAC system is fully geothermal, exchanging heat through nine 300-foot-deep wells in the front yard. A high-performance envelope with foam insulation, low-e glazing, and exclusively LED lighting minimizes the home’s energy consumption. Radiant-heat flooring further enhances performance in the winter months. Locally sourced, VOC- and formaldehyde-free materials contribute to a healthy interior environment.

The interior palette complements the exterior materials with white oak flooring and walnut trim. Expansive sliding doors, abundant glazing, and an outdoor-focused axial arrangement reinforce focal points and the connection to nature. In essence, this home represents a blend of contextual response, restrained modernism, and environmental responsibility, resulting in an example of sustainable residential design.

Framework for Design Excellence Narrative

1. Design for Integration: Seeking not only design excellence but also to embody advanced sustainable thinking, the home addresses many aspects of sustainability and works to minimize overall lifecycle costs. Features such as 100% rainwater harvesting for irrigation, a 7-kW roof-mounted PV array, geothermal HVAC, 100% LED lighting, white TPO roofing, foam insulation, local and regional materials, construction waste recycling, and passive design combine to elevate the project and minimize its environmental impact for generations.
2. Design for Water: 100% of the home’s roof area is used for harvesting rainwater. The rainwater is captured within a 5,000 gallon, below-grade cistern for non-potable irrigation. Civil and Landscape design, guided by the Architect, solved previous issues of directing groundwater to an adjacent homeowner’s site.
3. Design for Energy: The home aims to be highly energy-efficient through a holistic approach to energy consumption, a high-performance building envelope, and roof areas designed for solar photovoltaic arrays. The site was carefully studied to determine the optimal building orientation to enhance both design and sustainability goals. The combination of a white roof, high-performance envelope, solar energy, geothermal HVAC, low-E glazing, passive and active shading devices, and LED lighting all work together to minimize energy consumption from the grid.