Passive Solar and Sustainable Design From the Ground Up

Project Details

Project Description

The homeowners of this 50-year-old house purchased the property with renovation in mind. However, remodeler Stephen Roche says that the home was poorly built and not ideally located on the site to give the homeowners the sustainable house of their dreams. “It was not the kind of structure that would take these homeowners into the future,” he says.

The clients were enthusiastic about replacing the existing 1,000-square-foot home with a new, sustainable house and hired SALA Architects because of the company’s dedication to green design. The siting of the new 2,050-square-foot house is based on passive solar requirements.

Roche says that the project came together right as the state’s GreenStar program began seeking participants for its pilot program. “It gave the homeowners more incentive to really step up to do the things necessary to make [the home] sustainable,” Roche says.

Though he had previously used many of the green practices and products that he included in this project, “this was the best of everything — the total package,” he says. He estimates that the green elements added $40,000 to $45,000 to the cost of the project.

The judges praised architect Bryan Anderson’s design as a “real gem” that is “consistent throughout the house.” “It combines quality design with green elements, which in any type of building should be a standard,” said one judge.