The judges loved the inviting entrance to this LEED-Platinum home and were impressed by how it is sited among the existing live oak trees. “This is a Texas design that would be welcome anywhere,” one jury member said. Spaces wrap around a small courtyard to maximize natural lighting and ventilation distributed throughout via tall glazings and high ceilings.
High-performance features that contributed to the jury’s decision include details like the variety of floors made of polished fly-ash-content concrete, locally sourced stone, and engineered wood; energy features like bio-based open-cell foam insulation, U-0.34 windows, a five-zone high-efficiency HVAC system, a wireless GreenSwitch system to reduce “vampire” plug loads, and solar thermal and PV collectors; water efficiency measures like WaterSense-certified plumbing fixtures and a 6,000-gallon rainwater catchment irrigation system; and building science details like the locally sourced wood siding installed as a rainscreen system.
