Passive House-A Home for an Architect

Willow Glen ground up construction of Energy Efficient Sustainable Home

I am honored to design this new home for a fellow architect! Full implementation of techniques of Passive House design, this home will have clean indoor air, be quiet and protected from outside noise, have highly efficient mechanical systems that barely need to run due to their heat-pump technologies for heating, cooling and laundry. This home will be well-insulated and not leak out it’s stored energy. This home will also be powered by the sun instead of fossil fuels and will decrease its reliance on the grid…and related utility bills. I am thrilled to give this architect the gift of an incredible living experience. She is an avid cook and entertainer, has a sporty family, and is joyous and thoughtful. Wishing her many years of smiles and happy exhales in this new home.

An important consideration in the design of this home is the client’s Swedish heritage. I understand that Sweden embraces both the Bauhaus design movement of the early 20th century as well as the modernist look of the 1950s. Combine this with ideas from writer Ellen Key’s 1899 book Skönhet För Alla (Beauty For All), which advocated for homes decorated in simple, light colors with functional furniture. She believed that the way we live in our homes has an undeniable impact on our health and wellbeing. While many of us understand this now, it was a ground-breaking concept at the end of the 19th century. The interplay of these ideas have brought forth the interiors that we know today as typically Swedish: light, airy, functional and accessible to all.