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The Jorgensen's Menlo Park home is a model of green design with features that are smart for everyone to consider. "Every project is different, but there are some universal things that will apply from project to project," says Feldman about designing a green home. "The first—and most obvious thing—is to always try to build less, to have a smaller house and be smart about how the rooms are designed and oriented so that you can get by with less space. Smart design will lead to a smaller building, but it won't feel smaller." -
Large screens on the second story windows are a low-tech way to protect the interior from the sun's blistering rays, but still allow natural light to flow inside. In the family room, Melissa reclines on a Togo sofa by Ligne Roset with a favorite book in hand. -
Two of the must-haves for the Jorgensens were a seamless connection between indoors and out since they frequently dine and play outside, and large expanses of glass to allow natural light to illuminate the interior. The living room opens into the backyard a spacious deck constructed from Trex. -
The living room, dining room and kitchen are in one open space. The flooring is bamboo. The cabinetry is a mix of bamboo, walnut, and maple, and was fabricated by City Cabinetmakers out of San Francisco. -
The dining chairs are Arne Jacobsen's Series 7. -
The countertops in the kitchen are a mix of quartz surfaces and custom and salvaged stainless steel. "We use the kitchen all of the time, it turned out really nice," says Melissa. "It's very open, certainly one of the central focuses of the house, and is fun for entertaining." -
Feldman designed to roof to have a slope optimal for solar panels. An added benefit is the "secret" playspace above the kids's rooms. To access the space, Feldman created this cork wall with climbing pulls purchased from a local sporting goods store. -
Both of the children have access to the playspace, which has cork flooring. "Rian and Melissa thought, "How do we want to live our lives? How can the shape of the house create the backdrop for how we live and interact, and how our kids will grow up?" says Feldman. "They were really proactive and I think that's how we created this really special place." -
"We call it the design the "2 Bar House" because there's a horizontal and perpendicular bar; one of the bars really looks over the other's roof. It would be unfortunate to only look out over this shiny white roof," says Feldman. "The master suite could be this thing that was kind of unfortunate, or it could be this secret garden and so the green roof became this splurge. A green roof is never something we design when we're out of money because it costs much more than a standard roof." -
"In this project, we got so much benefit out of this "secret garden" for the master suite along with all of these environmental benefits that the residents were excited to embrace. It's one of the pieces we are happiest about," says Feldman. Read the full article here.
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