This new residence in Lincoln Park is designed for maximum efficiency of room-to-room layouts and floor-to-floor circulation. With an abundance of natural light, the main floor of kitchen-dining-living is set 10’ above street level and cantilevered out over the ground floor entry. This provides a comfortable separation from the busy activities below, while still connecting the home to the neighborhood.

Color and artwork brighten up this lower level. Previously an unfinished basement, the focus was to provide an engaging space for this family to enjoy a range of activities such as reading and movies. Photo by John Swee of Dodge Creative.

Designed for an active family, this exceptional, welcoming Lake Minnetonka home features main level living with lower-level walkout for easy access to the lake, firepit, and sand beach. Amazing views are captured from nearly every main level space, including a unique center kitchen with built-in banquet. The main level opens fully to a screen porch for dining, grilling, and relaxing by the fireplace.

This residential landscaping job included a newly sodded backyard along with a newly paved driveway. This yard and driveway is more efficient for the homeowner with daily activities.

Mark Meissner
Example of a small mountain style home design design

A three level terraced garden with a spa, waterfall and patio at the top, a mid level pool and fireplace lounge, and a lower level sport court for basketball and synthetic turf field for soccer and lacrosse. Perfect for an active family who wanted outdoor entertainment and a multi-use sports field on a relatively steep hill.

Mark Meissner
Inspiration for a small rustic kitchen remodel

Mid-sized arts and crafts beige one-story mixed siding house exterior photo in Atlanta with a clipped gable roof and a shingle roof

This residential landscaping job included a newly sodded backyard along with a newly paved driveway. This yard and driveway is more efficient for the homeowner with daily activities.

Mark Meissner
Inspiration for a small rustic kitchen remodel

This modern green home offers both a vacation destination on Cape Cod near local family members and an opportunity for rental income. FAMILY ROOTS. A West Coast couple living in the San Francisco Bay Area sought a permanent East Coast vacation home near family members living on Cape Cod. As academic professionals focused on sustainability, they sought a green, energy efficient home that was well-aligned with their values. With no green homes available for sale on Cape Cod, they decided to purchase land near their family and build their own. SLOPED SITE. Comprised of a 3/4 acre lot nestled in the pines, the steeply sloping terrain called for a plan that embraced and took advantage of the slope. Of equal priority was optimizing solar exposure, preserving privacy from abutters, and creating outdoor living space. The design accomplished these goals with a simple, rectilinear form, offering living space on the both entry and lower/basement levels. The stepped foundation allows for a walk-out basement level with light-filled living space on the down-hill side of the home. The traditional basement on the eastern, up-hill side houses mechanical equipment and a home gym. The house welcomes natural light throughout, captures views of the forest, and delivers entertainment space that connects indoor living space to outdoor deck and dining patio. MODERN VISION. The clean building form and uncomplicated finishes pay homage to the modern architectural legacy on the outer Cape. Durable and economical fiber cement panels, fixed with aluminum channels, clad the primary form. Cedar clapboards provide a visual accent at the south-facing living room, which extends a single roof plane to cover the entry porch. SMART USE OF SPACE. On the entry level, the “L”-shaped living, dining, and kitchen space connects to the exterior living, dining, and grilling spaces to effectively double the home’s summertime entertainment area. Placed at the western end of the entry level (where it can retain privacy but still claim expansive downhill views) is the master suite with a built-in study. The lower level has two guest bedrooms, a second full bathroom, and laundry. The flexibility of the space—crucial in a house with a modest footprint—emerges in one of the guest bedrooms, which doubles as home office by opening the barn-style double doors to connect it to the bright, airy open stair leading up to the entry level. Thoughtful design, generous ceiling heights and large windows transform the modest 1,100 sf* footprint into a well-lit, spacious home. *(total finished space is 1800 sf) RENTAL INCOME. The property works for its owners by netting rental income when the owners are home in San Francisco. The house especially caters to vacationers bound for nearby Mayo Beach and includes an outdoor shower adjacent to the lower level entry door. In contrast to the bare bones cottages that are typically available on the Cape, this home offers prospective tenants a modern aesthetic, paired with luxurious and green features. Durable finishes inside and out will ensure longevity with the heavier use that comes with a rental property. COMFORT YEAR-ROUND. The home is super-insulated and air-tight, with mechanical ventilation to provide continuous fresh air from the outside. High performance triple-paned windows complement the building enclosure and maximize passive solar gain while ensuring a warm, draft-free winter, even when sitting close to the glass. A properly sized air source heat pump offers efficient heating & cooling, and includes a carefully designed the duct distribution system to provide even comfort throughout the house. The super-insulated envelope allows us to significantly reduce the equipment capacity, duct size, and airflow quantities, while maintaining unparalleled thermal comfort. ENERGY EFFICIENT. The building’s shell and mechanical systems play instrumental roles in the home’s exceptional performance. The building enclosure reduces the most significant energy glutton: heating. Continuous super-insulation, thorough air sealing, triple-pane windows, and passive solar gain work together to yield a miniscule heating load. All active energy consumers are extremely efficient: an air source heat pump for heating and cooling, a heat pump hot water heater, LED lighting, energy recovery ventilation (ERV), and high efficiency appliances. The result is a home that uses 70% less energy than a similar new home built to code requirements. OVERALL. The home embodies the owners’ goals and values while comprehensively enabling thermal comfort, energy efficiency, a vacation respite, and supplementary income. PROJECT TEAM ZeroEnergy Design - Architect & Mechanical Designer A.F. Hultin & Co. - Contractor Pamet Valley Landscape Design - Landscape & Masonry Lisa Finch - Original Artwork European Architectural Supply - Windows Eric Roth Photography - Photography

Landed Gentry's Sinclair Model at Twin Brooks Active Adult Community. 3 bedrooms, den and 2 bathrooms. 1950 square feet with open layout. photo credit: Meggan Carrigg Davidson

Luca Sforza of Lensit Studio
Example of a 1960s formal and open concept light wood floor and beige floor living room design in Seattle with white walls and no fireplace

Designed for an active family, this exceptional, welcoming Lake Minnetonka home features main level living with lower-level walkout for easy access to the lake, firepit, and sand beach. Amazing views are captured from nearly every main level space, including a unique center kitchen with built-in banquet. The main level opens fully to a screen porch for dining, grilling, and relaxing by the fireplace.

bruce damonte
Example of a minimalist home design design in San Francisco

This Master Bath is knotty alder wood. The door style has bead board in the panel. The homeowner wanted a furniture look, so we added legs and pushed the toe kick back under the vanity. The contractor added toe kick lighting.

Different levels allow for different activities. Lower fire pit area
Patio - mid-sized traditional backyard concrete paver patio idea in Chicago

Who doesn't love a sliding barn door? These clever mechanisms are space savers that add interest to a long hall. The open design offers a great lookout spot to keep an eye on first level activity.

Custom built-in boat bar featuring sculpted artwork of the clients' own discovery. Lower level opens to water for family activities.
Inspiration for a large coastal single-wall wet bar remodel in Cleveland with medium tone wood cabinets and solid surface countertops