Beginnings of the Custom Home Project
Late last year a couple approached us to adapt our Inside-Out House, a net-zero-ready prototype home design we created a few years ago to their land in southern Vermont. We enlarged and customized it to suit their family needs and design goals. Along the way, we pushed the home design in some innovative directions that we share below. We call this home design FieldHouse.
The site
Located on 60 mostly wooded acres in the Upper Valley area in Vermont, our clients selected a forested edge that spilled out onto a rolling meadow with beautiful northern and western views. We developed the design to fit either a location on a skinny wooded ridge area or located just in front of the ridge at the meadow’s edge. The location would be in the upper left hand portion of the photo below.
Overall view of the meadow and forest edge.
Close-in view of the home site area.
We coached them that the ridge location, while potentially exceptionally beautiful, was sub-optimal to build on a high point of a site like that, but rather just below it to respect the primacy of the natural landscape. Rather, we prefer the site option developed here at the meadow’s edge with the jutting peninsula of ridge and forest cup and embracing the home from behind. As the project moves ahead, we will support them with further site design services as required to fulfill their needs and work with their budget refining the eventual final home site.
The Project goals
We regularly work with our clients to develop goals that help frame the overall design process and shed light on desired end results. This project was no exception. The Boston area-based couple has one teenage child and is mid-career age. She is a professional artist that works from home. He is a technology manager at a local company who can increasingly work remotely. Together we developed the following goals:
Create a home that they can use as a second home for 3-5 years while their teenage child goes through high school, then afterward, move up full-time as use it as their forever home.
Design and build a small energy-efficient net-zero capable home with easy-to-maintain building systems and materials.
Provide two bedrooms and a bath, a flexible open living-dining-kitchen area with attention to interior storage integrated into the design, and a two-car garage.
Design a modern-spirited home aligned with their love of mid-century modern architecture, clean lines, and open interior spaces. They also asked for corrugated metal and simple wood siding, and large areas of glass framing the beautiful mountain and meadow views of the site.
Enhance inside and outside nature-near connections with walkways, entry areas, exterior terraces, planting areas, and interior spaces.
Carefully balance cost, performance, aesthetics to work with their budget.
With these goals in mind, we began to refine the floor plan and massing spaces and the forms of the entry, garage, living area, and sleeping areas. One thing none of us bargained for was the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting challenges in construction prices and labor scarcity, but more on that later.
Floor & site plan layout overview
The compact FieldHouse has 1,350 Square feet (SF) of single-level living space to be built in three (3) distinct zones. They include the following:
Zone 1: The entry and garage area greet visitors and the homeowners with an uplifting roof form that welcomes and embraces. A sky-space atrium punctures the soaring roof with exposed timber framing. It covers a small planting area and entry walkway leading to the front door and entry. A walkway leads out to the parking area. This zone acts as a hub around which the other two zones radiate.
Zone 2: We laid out the public-facing living/dining/kitchen area to be open and flexible with easy flowing spaces and visual connections both inside and out. Two doors lead out to exterior spaces, one a west-facing terrace and the other a meadow path heading south.
Zone 3: The sleeping area has two bedrooms and a large bath. One is a large master bedroom, the other is for the teenager. The master bedroom has dramatic tall vertical glass windows at the corner to accentuate views and natural connections with land and sky. The couple felt it made sense to have only one bathroom which also doubles as a powder room helping save space and construction dollars.
Floor plan with color shading.
Why single level living?
Single-level living appealed to this family because it will allow them to live in one location for longer, having the choice to age in place over the years to come. It saves money by lessening or removing the need for costly stairs, level changes and basements simplifying construction and saving time. It also reduces the level changes and trip hazards which make independent living in later years tricky.
Build all at once, or as time and budget allow? It depends.
We designed FieldHouse so the clients can build it all at once or over time as their budget allows. The primary zones of the public living/dining/kitchen area and private sleeping are essential of course. The clients could build the garage and covered the entry atria area in later phases. Similarly, the exterior west terrace and planting areas, stonework all could wait as well.
Exterior design discovery
Last winter we were collaborating online with our clients in an interactive design session one-night refining the floor plan and other details. At one point in the session, we were puzzling together how to further refine the garage roofline when I hit the “wrong” roof slope command and it jutted up in the opposite sawtooth manner you now see in the final design. We all found this “mistake” very appealing as it in fact resolved the garage roof slope which had not been not working out 3-dimensionally. This unexpected discovery highlights the entry with an dramatic uplifting welcoming roof angle.
Overall view of the home from the proposed driveway.
Closeup rendering view of Northeastern corner of the house
The roofline design discovery also helped to clearly differentiate the western elevation as well between the living area and garage. The soaring uplifting roofline indicates the open living area where the downward sloping garage roofline is secondary and much lower. Extending the garage roofline also provides a covered walkway from the south of the home. Without the covered area, water and snow would cascade on to door and walkway requiring another a secondary roof cover. The sawtooth geometry supplies an easy-going solution. It also further clarifies the exterior design theme.
Western elevation side of the home.
The private bedroom zone slips behind the open living zone helping emphasize the functional differences between the two areas. Dramatic vertical windows slots at the master-bedroom and exterior siding change compared to the other zone increase the difference in massing and geometry. The large corner glazed area in the living area also adds drama to the both the exterior and interior spaces as well as sets the stage for the west-facing terrace opening off it.
View of master bedroom and living area corner and exterior terrace area.
Spirit of place
Stone walls weave throughout the forest edge fronting the meadow. Masons can easily harvest stone from them to reuse around the home like at the west-terrace and entry area as shown in the design and renderings. Doing so will further help to connect this home to the land, connecting the new to the old accentuating its spirit of a place or genius loci. In our opinion building, the home near the forest edge will help gather together the land and new home helping unify the site.
Interior design and layout
The exterior design and saw-tooth alternating roofline also set up a sequence of experiences inside the home. The underside of the sloping entry roof leads to the entry door and a lower ceiling in that space. This ceiling low point complements the uplifting angled ceiling of the main living area and beautiful views beyond. There is compression and then expansion spatially.
Interior rendering showing the open kitchen, living and dining area with views beyond.
The interior continues the minimal yet dynamic exterior material palette. It begins with warm grey stained hardwood doors, wall trim, built-ins, and cabinets, and light wall paint tones, here shown as white. A colored polished or integral color cast in place concrete slab balances the grey. Colored concrete countertops with a glass tile backsplash further coordinate with other finishes in the kitchen and bedrooms. Accent wall paint colors will tie it all together, but they have yet to be selected.
Rendering view from the dining area looking back to the kitchen.
The open flexible living area shows classic modern furniture for the living room and dining areas with Herman Miller and Haworth pieces. Low-profile energy-efficient LED surface ceiling-mounted fixtures to light up the spaces. Arne Jacobsen table lamps provide pops of accent light by the sofa. We selected brushed stainless-steel finishes for the mid-range appliances and the range hood. The wood stove has a black finish with a satin finish metal stove pipe. The family can rearrange the furniture in their open, flexible living space in infinite ways in the years to come.
Hallway view back towards the main living area and window wall.
Climate positive solutions matter
With climate change, thinking differently today about how we design, and our clients build forever homes like this with energy efficiency and whole systems approach increasingly matter. The sense of urgency today is unmistakable and so is the need to follow a whole-house systems approach to design and construction.
A whole-house systems approach
Whether designing a new house, a major renovation, or a major addition, optimizing energy efficiency and sustainable design requires holistic design thinking. Starting early guarantees we consider all variables that impact energy use, durability, and comfort. Increasingly, attention to energy efficiency and green performance reap positive benefits in later resales. Besides occupant behavior, site-design factors, and climate, the things we consider include:
Construction delivery method, whether all custom site-built, modular pre-fabrication, and or a hybrid of the two approaches.
Orientation of the home on the site for solar as possible while also attending to views, existing treelines, and other site constraints.
Choose high-efficiency appliances and electronics
Insulation, and air-sealing performance levels
Space heating and cooling strategies
Water heating
Choices in high-performance windows, doors, and skylights
Choices in materials and finishes for improved indoor air quality
When developed this way, homes like FieldHouse when completed will be more comfortable, energy-efficient, and long-lasting than when built to bare minimum code requirements. Doing so does not add huge cost-premiums, especially with the choice of an experienced green building team which we can help you with. The high-performance base building enclosure includes the following systems:
The enclosure and building systems
Below we summarize key aspects of FieldHouse’s systems:
R-40 Walls - (Insulation performance) – double wood stud advanced framing walls, energy and money-saving advanced wood framing wall construction with dense-pack cellulose, and 2" of foil-faced rigid exterior insulation with a rainscreen drainage mat and siding.
R-60 Roofing System - The roof is built from 18" roof trusses, loose pack cellulose, with a fully vented zip-sheathing, 30-year rubber (EPDM) roofing system. Our base ceilings are gypsum drywall attached to wood furring with optional upgrades for wood veneer ceilings.
R-20 Floor Slab - The 4” cast-in-place concrete floor slab is designed to be insulated with 4" of recyclable Expanded Polystyrene Foam (EPS) foam. The slab is polished concrete with beautiful stone aggregate strewn in for decorative impact with color(s) added. Or can be done with integral colored concrete, and or covered with other flooring finishes like wood and tile in strategic areas.
R-5 or R-10 windows - Triple insulated Low-E argon-filled wood and fiberglass windows or lower cost R-5 but high-value double insulated Low-E argon filled. The windows shown here are narrow frame profiles with a clean modern appearance.
Exterior Siding – On the design, we show a mix of corrugated steel metal and wood siding over a rain screen of wood furring or drainage matt.
Air-sealing details – Wen advocate in this design to use advanced framing wall construction that is to detail and then builds tighter buildings and air sealing when combined with high-performance insulation and air barriers. All together they reduce air leakage increasing home comfort and cost-savings. It also reduces the wood material quantity and costs saving money.
+/-10,000 KW Solar system – We estimate, with this 1,350 SF design plus garage and a little extra capacity, clients may need up to 10,000 kilowatts of solar panel capacity. (Note, this is an estimate only and requires detailed integrated design by a professional engineer with a solar company or as part of our design team.)
Tesla Powerwall – A wall-mounted residential-scale battery system providing solar energy system storage to power the home throughout the day in off-grid living, and/or provide backup power during outages.
Heating and cooling systems - Air source heat pumps , and or in combination in some cases with radiant floor heating in living areas for added comfort and warmth.
Integral LED Whisperlite fans or similar - in the bathrooms to assist with whole-house ventilation.
Simple durable interior finishes - locally sourced wood trim, low or now volatile organic compound paint or stain finishes. We encourage the use of products with recycled content. We like to help our clients select finishes appropriate for their budget, lifestyle, life stage, family usage, health, and durability.
Optional sealed wood stove - a small modern minimal design high-efficiency wood or pellet stove in the living room, with through wall venting to help with fresh air intake.
Let’s continue the conversation
All that systems and construction information aside, want to learn more about FieldHouse and want to adapt this design to your needs? Or do you have detailed questions? If you are looking for general planning help and not a specific design yet, do not worry. Ask for our intake and planning questionnaire.
We will email it to you to fill out and return to us to begin. Either way, click on the contact us below button, share your details and send the form. With COVID-19 concerns, or not we can set up an online call to continue the conversation or come visit you at your home or site. If online, we can take you on a virtual tour and show you around the home and others like it. It is lots of fun!
Or if you want to continue checking out recent projects either recently completed or in the design phases, please click on the below.
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Arocordis Design, a custom home architect and planner, has served Vermont families since 2010. We provide licensed architectural services throughout Central Vermont, including Waterbury, Stowe, Montpelier, Calais and beyond. We also serve the Burke, St. Johnsbury, White River Junction, Tunbridge, and the Woodstock regions. We specialize in modern-inspired home design that connects to Vermont’s past while providing a creative climate positive vision for the future.