A small home prototype
Periodically we develop prototype green home plans of various kinds. This one we call ZigZag House2. Its name comes from its simple floor plan with zigzagging small volumes at the entry and at a built-in seating alcove area. It's designed to be net-zero ready, simply conceived, and easy to maintain. A small home with livable spaces suited for a couple with a small family, empty nesters seeking to simplify, with interior and exterior spaces for daily living and entertainment of friends and family. We planned it so there are easy ways to expand it to adding bedrooms or other needed spaces.
Southeast view at night
Exterior view from southwest
Comfort and efficiency
Designed for high energy efficiency, comfort, and performance, this small home design can be further tailored to your budget, objectives, aesthetics, and project delivery approach. If you're curious about the specifics of the exterior building enclosure, insulation levels, types of windows, and building systems for heating and cooling to further maximize performance and value for you, it's certainly worth a conversation. The design can be tailored to fit your specific climatic region and localized conditions as a climate-positive home design.
Ground floor plan
Shown here as a modest 1,000 sq. ft. house and 700 sq. ft. garage on a relatively flat site, the overall building and its site features can be adjusted to your own site, your budget, and living needs. Consider what you see here as a " beginning take" in a yet-to-happen collaboration between us. Here we conceive an ideal relationship between building and land, aesthetics, and function. But it takes your insight, wants, and dreams to make this home design idea come alive. Also, note you have options to build only the house, the house, and garage/studio space or perhaps conceive of the garage space as an open carport someday you will build out.
Exterior enclosure design
For the building construction features, we propose a cold climate-responsive solution with minimally R40 walls, R60 roof, R20 foundation, and R10 for insulation levels along with a mix of clear and Low-E argon-filled triple insulated fiberglass windows for comfort and performance. Double stud walls filled with dense-pack cellulose with up to 2" of rigid foam outsulation could make up the wall with a drainage screen behind. Exterior finishes shown here range from cedar shakes to cement board or cedar siding, some steel columns near the entry, Ipe or Trex decking for recyclability, painted wood trim around doors and windows.
We propose a fully vented cathedral-style roof helping to create a sense of openness with loose-packed cellulose insulation and rubber (EPDM) roofing due to the low roof slope. A light EPDM color is chosen to reduce the heat island impacts from the sun glancing off of the roofing, helping further mitigate global warming impacts. Also, the roofing would be mechanically fastened rather than glued down (also known as fully adhered) to allow for ease of future replacement and upcycling 20 to 30 years into the future. The lower roof at the entry could even be designed to take a green roof.
Long-term resilience and off-grid living
Rooftop solar panels could be installed on top of the garage roof providing ample renewable power for the home and garage. To increase resilience from power outages, and weathering increasingly intense weather events, one or two Tesla Power Wall battery storage units could be installed and located in the garage. Having battery backup electricity would help keep the home powered up for two or so days, and when combined with a super-insulated building enclosure would really reduce exposure to storm risks.
Off-grid living would also become more easily possible with such batteries where that get charged during the day, with minimal power usage due to great interior daylighting, and minimal power needs due to insulation levels resulting in relatively small-sized internal heating and cooling systems. During the evening electric vehicle charging could take place or at least be available with the power to spare to provide electricity for appliances, heated water, electronics, and more.
Eastern view during the daytime (Note the juxtaposion of forms and materials)
The interior environment
We show simple, health-focused interior finishes and interior lighting to meet your design and budget objectives. To enhance indoor air quality we propose using easy-to-clean, durable flooring finishes such as polished concrete, stone or porcelain tile, and sustainable wood flooring. Area rugs can be used selectively in high-use living spaces such as the dining table, and seating group in the living area. We show light-colored wood trim for the wood base, doors, and windows which could be in Birch, Maple, Ash, or some other species that come from local sawmills. Base wall finishes include potentially low or no-VOC paint. However, focus areas like the backsplash or other spaces could be further enhanced with hand-plastered or tiled areas.
Common kitchen / dining / living area
We place elegant modern inspired furniture with clean lines and simple but durable materials to show the use of the space to be elaborated by the homeowner adapting this prototype plan. Along with helping you with furniture selection and sourcing, we would be happy to work with you on the specifics of your kitchen and bath design carrying on design elements from common areas or other themes. We are skilled in interior color and finish selection as part of our overall architectural design services.
Viewfinder interior showing window nook
We bring the angled Zig volume into the interior of the seating area showing the interconnectedness of the interior and exterior with great views and ample daylight. A built-in nook shows upholstered cushions that support curling up with a good book in the window or great conversations with others sitting in nearby furniture. Attractive window coverings could be installed on the interior to reduce unwanted glare or special glazing could be specified to help as well. Exterior planting of deciduous trees nearby could also help reduce glare with mature of the tree canopy, yet in the wintertime when the leaves fall off, bring in bright daylight to cheer up days when there is less sun.
Daytime view back towards the kitchen and dining area
Connect with us
Located in Vermont or looking for land to build on here? If so we can help guide you to talented talented realtors, builders, artisans, and makers. We can also connect you with Efficiency Vermont and work together with you on the path to Energy Star Certified or higher performance levels verified by other third-party performance verification systems like Passive House, or LEED for Residential Design and Construction.
View of kitchen from sleeping area doorway
Remember, this prototype design serves merely as a departure point for more detailed conversations and design work together focused on realizing your dreams, lifestyle aspirations, budget, schedule, and desired delivery approach. We thrive on the creative collaboration process with you, the builder, and other subcontractors working together to realize your home design.
Whether you live locally or not, we can easily work together virtually and or in person. If you'd like to learn more about how to adapt ZigZag House 2 or other design ideas you have, feel free to contact us below for a free initial consultation. We work with Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. We easily can share our screens, collaborate in real-time with our interactive 3-dimensional design software (RevitLT), review look books, and vision boards on Houzz or Pinterest.
Rear of the house showing the entry porch and interplay between the garage and the house.
Drop us a line
Tell us a little about yourself, if you have property, what's your timeframe, if you have a budget for construction and what it might be, family composition, life stage, and any major goals for your project. Click the learn more button below. If you want to receive a blog post or in the news updates, click to opt-in when filling the brief, easy to fill out the contact us form.
Meanwhile, check back soon for more prototype house designs! We recently launched a new one we call Wing House available here.
Back to our project portfolio
To see more examples of recent home design project work, go check out our project portfolio by clicking on the button below. There you will find a mix of recently completed built residential work, new builds, renovations, or home design projects now in progress. Here in this section of our site, you can also find examples of our growing collection of customizable net-zero ready prototype and spec houses. Our portfolio awaits your visit. Welcome home!
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