This is a total renovation and addition to a small A-frame home. We added a beautiful new high end kitchen, garage, and a spa room. We also expanded the second floor and added a deck. This is a Zero Energy Grid Independent home with solar power and batteries. We also installed a geothermal heat pump. The house has no utility bills and never loses power.

Mantell-Hecathorn Builders lived up to their signature "Personal Attention to Detail, One Home at a Time," by working daily with the clients to redesign and build the retirement home of their dreams on time and on budget. 3,300 sq ft custom home with incredible views of Mesa Verde National Park. Qualified for the Builders Challenge The first NAHB Green Building Emerald certification in Southwest Colorado. Homeowners will enjoy 72% utility bill savings and increased comfort as a result of the added energy efficiency measures designed into the home

Mantell-Hecathorn Builders lived up to their signature "Personal Attention to Detail, One Home at a Time," by working daily with the clients to redesign and build the retirement home of their dreams on time and on budget. 3,300 sq ft custom home with incredible views of Mesa Verde National Park. Qualified for the Builders Challenge The first NAHB Green Building Emerald certification in Southwest Colorado. Homeowners will enjoy 72% utility bill savings and increased comfort as a result of the added energy efficiency measures designed into the home

Example of a cottage chic shed design in Chicago

This is a total renovation and addition to a small A-frame home. We added a beautiful new high end kitchen, garage, and a spa room. We also expanded the second floor and added a deck. This is a Zero Energy Grid Independent home with solar power and batteries. We also installed a geothermal heat pump. The house has no utility bills and never loses power.

Photograph by Neil Alexander
Large elegant white two-story wood gable roof photo in Boston

Inspiration for a large transitional brown three-story wood gable roof remodel in San Francisco

Rodwin Architecture and Skycastle Homes Location: Boulder, Colorado, United States This sunny, simple, contemporary Prairie-style home achieves HERS 45 with no renewables. Silver Mesa Ranch blends quietly into the surrounding hills, and takes full advantage of the stunning views, carefully shielding out neighboring development and capturing foothill and plains panoramas. It includes passive solar design, an off-the-shelf mechanical systems, HRV, high performance windows, and a uniquely camouflaged rooftop Colorado evaporative cooler (in the chimney). To view other projects by Rodwin Architecture visit www.rodwinarch.com.

The Parker Vaughan home is a blend of country farm house and contemporary architecture with state of the art energy efficiency and solar power. The home is 3,000 square feet on a little over 5 acres with 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths, screen porch and 2 car garage. The master suite features a spectacular spa like bath with roof top deck free standing tub and a fireplace. The home is a custom new home by Sustainable Design Group designed to be completely energy independent, charge the owners 2 electric cars and have no energy bills. It is also designed to provide the most healthful indoor environment for the occupants.

Griffins Gate is a beautiful 3,200 square foot energy independent passive solar home with a separate 1,200 square foot studio built on 5 ½ acres in Montgomery County, Maryland. The home was designed to be energy independent and in complete harmony with nature; to be all natural, non-toxic, and organic for the health of the owners. The walls and roof are insulated with recycled newspaper. The home faces south to maximize the passive solar benefit, with engineered overhangs shading the windows all summer to minimize the cooling load. In tandem with an energy efficient high mass fireplace, a geothermal heat pump warms the radiant floor in the winter. In the summer, cool water is circulated from the well through the radiant floor and a fan coil unit cools the air in the home.

Architect: Michelle Penn, AIA This barn home is modeled after an existing Nebraska barn in Lancaster County. Heating is by passive solar design, supplemented by a geothermal radiant floor system. Cooling will rely on a whole house fan and a passive air flow system. The passive system is created with the cupola, windows, transoms and passive venting for cooling, rather than a forced air system. Here you can see the inside of the cupola. The ladder leads down to the access platform below that you can see in another picture. The silver piece on the wall is actually a fold-down seat. From there you can sit and birdwatch! The silver backing is to reflect daylight down to the lowest level. All the windows are operable to create a chimney effect. They are part of the passive cooling system of the home. The paint is Devoe Industrial Enamel White High Gloss DevGuard 4308-0100. Photo Credits: Jackson Studios

Our clients requested an energy-efficient escape home on a 16-acre site in rural Elgin that would be maintenance friendly, age-in-place adaptable, and whose sculptural quality could harbor for their expressive family. With its dominant east-west axis, the maximizes control of solar gain control; its placement was carefully adjusted to allow all of the nearby trees to thrive. The standing seam roof’s pitch and azimuth provide optimal solar PV and fills a 20,000-gallon rainwater cistern. The age-in-place, step-less interior provides an expansive view at the south terrace. The cantilever of the board-formed foundation is a structurally expressive solution resolving an otherwise imposing mass. The curved prow of the north-pointing entry is a nod to local Elgin brick. A bowed and formally jubilant thermal chimney faces south for efficient passive ventilation. Photo credit: Chris Diaz General Contractor: Native (buildnative.com)

Mid-sized craftsman green one-story wood gable roof idea in San Diego with a shingle roof

The seamless addition looks like it has always been part of this home. Photo Credits: OnSite Studios
Large elegant blue vinyl flat roof photo in Boston

This profile shot shows off the beautiful lower trellises, rain barrels, exterior led lighting, hardi shingles on the chimney, triple pane south facing windows and the edge of some stylish fencing.

Inspiration for a mid-sized modern gray two-story stucco flat roof remodel in New York

Lakefront cape cod style home. Photos by: Philip Jensen Carter
Large beach style gray two-story concrete fiberboard exterior home photo in New York

Photograph by Neil Alexander
Example of a large classic white two-story wood gable roof design in Boston

Our clients requested an energy-efficient escape home on a 16-acre site in rural Elgin that would be maintenance friendly, age-in-place adaptable, and whose sculptural quality could harbor for their expressive family. With its dominant east-west axis, the maximizes control of solar gain control; its placement was carefully adjusted to allow all of the nearby trees to thrive. The standing seam roof’s pitch and azimuth provide optimal solar PV and fills a 20,000-gallon rainwater cistern. The age-in-place, step-less interior provides an expansive view at the south terrace. The cantilever of the board-formed foundation is a structurally expressive solution resolving an otherwise imposing mass. The curved prow of the north-pointing entry is a nod to local Elgin brick. A bowed and formally jubilant thermal chimney faces south for efficient passive ventilation. Photo credit: Chris Diaz General Contractor: Native (buildnative.com)