Case Study 4: Mountain View House, Owner: Donna Pace, Builder: Wilde Construction, Architect: Visser Architects, Gallatin Gateway, Montana, USA, 2016
Mountain View House is located on a ridge overlooking a Montana ranch and the Gallatin mountain range. The small 900 square foot dwelling was built for Donna, an active, petite baby boomer. The home was built on her son’s acreage but draws privacy from the contours of the plains.
The design concept of the home embraces views of an active working ranch and southern mountains as well as reflects the owner’s value of a sustainable and healthy environment. Universal design was a major criterion in the plan that addressed the owner’s sensitivities to indoor air quality and physical obstacles and
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What were your considerations when choosing materials and finishes to accommodate your environmental sensitivities?
I was diagnosed with an environmental illness by the Mayo Clinic. It is important that I am not further subjected to volatile organic compounds and fluorescent lighting. Some of the consequences of my sensitivities are balance, temperature and mobility irregularities. My environment needs to be warm and I need to be able to negotiate steps, manipulate levers and drawers and avoid visual obstructions such as large patterns and flickering lights.
It was important that I build my small home in this area so that I could control my exposure to typical neighborhood pesticides and fumes. Standard condo materiality and building techniques were also a problem. Some of the design solutions that were employed were radiant heat and consistent texture in the concrete flooring; no VOC’s in structural materials, furnishing, fixtures and equipment; incandescent lighting and circulation fans—without lighting; operable drawers and hardware with levers and large handles; counter top material that was not cold to the touch and passive warmth from the southeastern window exposure; appliances that are easy to manipulate such as a pull out dishwasher; and in general an environment where my body can be calm and at rest. In addition the sauna and massage table provide heat and body
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Many construction details were designed specifically for my height.
I love being in my home—I look out my windows at cattle grazing, deer wandering close to the house and the colors of the mountains at different times of day. I want to be here as long as I can.
I know that you wanted a sustainable home. How did you incorporate “green” ideas in a small house?
These are the big things for me: reclaim, re-use resource locally and use the healthiest, most natural materials possible. All these things will help the environment and will also create healthier living spaces. For example, my comfortable natural mattress was manufactured locally and is environmentally healthy.
The custom details of cabinetry, the barn door and other interior doors and woodwork were locally sourced. Steel and retaining wall blocks were produced locally.
Because the house is small I needed to incorporate flexibility and multi-functionality. For example, the moveable barn door divides the living room from the bedroom entrance as well as hides the television set and built in cupboards.
Photographs and
Roder, David, and Spielman, Fran. “Condo, town houses planned near Cabrini-Green.” Chicago Sun Times. 30 May 2002.
The family in this story has moved around a lot throughout the protagonist's life. They desire to own a house of their own someday, and the protagonist's parents have always dreamed about how it would look, and what amenities it would have. She remembers how “[t]hey always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn't have to move each year. […] And we'd have a basement and at least three washrooms so when we took a bath we wouldn't have to tell everybody. Our house would be white with trees around it, a great big yard and grass growing without a fence” (Cisneros 151). My family too, has moved around quite a bit. Her parent's dreams for the house they want to provide for their family remind me...
...hey have entered the house, and then keeps it as you pass through the disappearing walls, pivoting doors, retractable stairs, and floating floors. It incorporates architecture, interior architecture and furniture design to create a total design that can be modified for different occupants. It truly is functional space.
The old Native American proverb that states, “We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” really makes me think about my lifestyle and how it is benefiting the Earth. Being sustainable not only means to take care of the planet for my generation but also for future generations. It is my job to care for the planet as best as I can and to help pass on these good habits to my children. The best ways that I can help my environment are composting uneaten food and old vegetables, donating or reusing old clothes, and recycling plastic and paper products.
Upon renovating the quaint little house on the hill with my mom, my own feelings toward the house changed dramatically. Before the project took off, I hesitated to step foot inside the building. The odor and dim lighting made it difficult to envision a successful result, but once we finished I was tempted to move in myself. This is the goal. Taking on this second project, I’d do my best to make the house one I’d love to live in while not allowing myself to implement my personal style preferences. The result is a home both move-in ready and open for visitors.
The sustainable interior design has a different main guideline; before esthetics, there is ethics. It has as main objective the healthy, the beneficial or harmful for the health of the people who live in the homes and to preserve the natural environment that surrounds it.
... reduce natural gas consumption. Long-term I am committed to installing new energy efficient windows to truly reduce energy consumption. To help reduce the family’s water consumption we recently installed an energy efficient washing machine that uses over 60% less water than the previous model that was installed. As an additional means in which to help conserve water I will be installing a rain barrel in the summer to water our outdoor plants. While these actions might not seem significant, they can make a significant difference. According to Energy Star, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, if every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star qualified CFL, in just one year it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes. That would prevent the release of greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of about 800,000 cars.
Little, B., & Morton, T. (2001). Building with earth in scotland : Innovative design and sustainability. Retrieved from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/156686/0042109.pdf
the house I am surrounded by four columns leading to the most elegant doors I
The feeling of security that was so pure. It became a reminder of a time when everything was simple and it was so easy to find happiness in the most unexpected ways. I remember considering myself lucky whenever my mother would indulge in my pleas to play the piano. Never would have I thought that listening to the notes of “Send In the Clowns” or a song from Forrest Gump could give me so much joy. Another fond memory was our parents allowing my siblings and I to play in the rain. Being given permission to do so was already a big thing for us. To be able to enjoy such a simple act is something I hold unto. This house is the symbol of my childhood innocence and a life unmarred by worries. This is the place where I 've felt contentment in its most basic
Prevent dangerous climate change by phasing out fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) and replacing them with clean renewable energy such as solar.
A green building (also referred to as sustainable building or green construction) is a structure that employs an approach that is responsible for the environment besides being efficient in regard to resources all through its life cycle: This is from selecting the site to designing it, constructing, operating, maintaining, renovating and demolishing it. To achieve this, the client, the engineers, the architects and the entire design team closely cooperate at all stages of a project (Yan and Paliniotis, 2006). Practicing Green Building complements and expands the conventional building design areas of comfort, durability, utility and economy.
"A Renewed Commitment to Buildings and Their Social Benefits." U.S. Green Building Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. .
The beginnings of today's green revolution can be traced back to the environmental awareness of the 1960s and European design. New construction techniques have lead to the development of innovative materials and design concepts. Green buildings are designed, constructed and commissioned to ensure they are healthy for their occupants. Successfully designed green projects can involve an extensive array of factors, ranging from the resourceful use of materials, to careful consideration of function, climate, and location.
One fairly simple way that people can immediately contribute to the green movement is by recycling. “Recycling is the process of turning one products useful part or parts into a new product; this is done to conserve on the consumption of resources, energy and space used in landfills.” (Recycling Facts and Benefits) Most household paper, plastic, glass, aluminum, and cardboard products are recyclable. Many towns in the United States offer recycling services that will pick up your recyclables and transport them to a recycling facility. These facilities reuse the materials that the recyclables are made from and make new products.