In Boulder's aptly named Wonderland Hill neighborhood, deer and even mountain lions occasionally come down from the woods to scout the domestic scene, but the most common wildlife sighting on the tree-lined streets is a profusion of toddlers in off-road strollers. To make space for the local baby boom, many older one-story homes have had their pops topped. When Rob Pyatt and Heather Kahn were ready to expand on their 900 square feet, however, their foundation couldn't support a second floor, so Pyatt, an architecture student with a green building background, devised an alternative. His box-shaped addition is the modern kid on the block, with distinctive corrugated-metal and wide-plank cladding. Behind the facade, uncommon materials share a common story with the neighborhood: Of design decisions driven by a desire to keep the next generation—and the planet—healthy and safe.
The Greenest Home by Julie Torres Moskovitz is out now from Princeton Architectural Press; buy it on Amazon here.
Moskow Linn Architects of Boston tackled this ground-up renovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a client who wanted to maximize efficiency. Photo by Eric Roth.
The exterior was clad with LP SmartSide in alternating bands of textured and smooth siding and basement areaways are constructed of site-salvaged brick-filled gabions.
Photo by: Eric Hausman Photography
Find out how Passive House standards are being integrated into affordable housing projects in the United States.
WORKac designed a teaching classroom at Brooklyn’s P.S. 216 elementary school that channels runoff rainwater from its roof for reuse in its mobile greenhouse.
