This private retreat and vacation residence located in a beautiful community on the New England coast features high performance and efficient use of space in a small package. The client sought a two bedroom, two bath home that was right sized for their family - nothing more, nothing less. They also had a goal of minimizing the home's energy use.

PASSIVE HOUSE
A sleek, simple, gable roofed structure was designed with the Passive House standard in mind - a building performance standard that yields an extremely low-energy home. A combination of exceptional insulation, air sealing, high performance windows, and solar gain reduces the space conditioning requirements to 85% less than a code built new home, and uses only a very small heating system. The clients, whose extended families owned large, drafty, energy inefficient homes, immediately latched onto the Passive House standard for both the energy savings and the increased comfort. They now have a space with no wintertime drafts and very constant temperature throughout the home.

AESTHETICS
The gable form the home was planned as the defining aesthetic feature. Its iconic shape and playful red color is carried from the eastern exterior red gable, through to the interior kitchen wall, to the living space, and back outside to the opposite western exterior gable end. Inside, a clean fresh look is achieved with minimal trim, simple polished concrete floors, and careful glazing selection.

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