Project Details
- Project Name
- Pennsylvania Farmhouse
- Location
-
Lakewood ,Pennsylvania
- Project Types
- Single Family
- Size
- 3,200 sq. feet
- Year Completed
- 2016
- Awards
- 2017 AIA - National Awards
- Shared by
- Greig O'Brien
- Team
-
James Cutler, FAIA
Meghan Griswold
- Consultants
-
Breig Bros,Structural Engineer: Madden & Baughman Engineering
- Project Status
- Built
Project Description
This project is a winner in the 2017 AIA Housing Awards in the One and Two Family Custom Housing category.
FROM THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS
This 3,000-square-foot home is on a 283-acre family farm of rolling hills in rural Pennsylvania. Care was taken to minimize disturbance to the land and leave it in its natural state, including old rock walls found throughout the property. The stone used at the base of the house is Pennsylvania bluestone/field stone. The house features large moveable shutters which cool the house while allowing excellent daylighting, and lowers the ambient temperature by as much as 20 degrees during summer months. Heat is provided via a ground source radiant heating system that is backed up with a wood-fired boiler. The wood for the boiler is collected from ‘deadfall’ in the surrounding woods on the farm. A tertiary back up heating system is provided by the wood stove which circulates warm air throughout the house. The house is pre-wired for a future solar array to be installed on the white metal roof.
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Located on an 93-acre family farm in northeastern Pennsylvania, this 4-bedroom residence was designed to function for a large family with a limited budget. The owners wanted a residence that was sustainable for the long term with a strong desire to fit into the cultural context of the Pennsylvania farming community. Farmhouses in this region are simple boxes, often painted white because it was the least expensive paint.
To that end, the architects attempted to design a building with a low surface area-to-volume ratio in order to keep costs low, and that from a distance, appeared to be a typical Pennsylvania farmhouse ‘box’. The building was designed with large rolling screens that cut 80% of the solar gain from the two-story south facing windows, while still allowing good daylighting. Currently, the building does not have air conditioning, but the owners found these shades have cut the interior summer temperatures by as much as 20 degrees F.
All interior lights are LED and the primary heat source is a deep-well heat exchanger backed up with a wood-fired boiler that is fueled with ‘deadfall’ from the forests on the farm. Heat from the wood stove in the living room is captured by ducts in the ceiling and recirculated to other downstairs rooms. The building itself is highly insulated and the Low-E glass reduces radiant heat loss while allowing substantive solar gain in the ‘low sun’ winter months. The white metal roof was pre-wired for future solar arrays.