Affordable Homes

A beautiful and highly sustainable home that requires a third of the cooling and half the heating of similar homes, the Thomas Home, set on an 11 acre site in the Cascade foothills and overlooking Mt. Rainier and Everett City in Washington state is a perfect example of passive house design.

This comes partly simply from the cube-like shape, putting a compact four stories on a relatively smaller footprint. But the Thomas Home, designed by Designs Northwest Architects, also boasts very high thermal insulation due to the construction with ICFs – two layers of rigid foam insulation into which concrete has been poured.

Thomas Home

In addition, the use of lots of glass also contributes to the home’s energy efficiency. Warming the Thomas Home in winter, and creating a solar chimney in hot weather, the glass rooms are not just beautiful but an intrinsic part of the design.

The Thomas Home employs a variety of strategies that reduce its energy use; 33% lower for cooling, and 44% lower for heating. Most importantly, a geothermal heat exchange brings up temperate air in pipes from underground to cool the house in summer.

The temperature underground hardly varies from a constant 55 degrees, summer or winter, and the pipes running through the house are able to cool the house to nearly that even in 100 degree heat outside. This means in summer, the house needs much less cooling.

Likewise, in winter, it is much easier to heat a house from a starting point near 55 degrees, than starting from the frigid temperatures outside. Materials selected are sustainable, low VOC, low maintenance materials like this flooring and durable steel banisters. But it is not all practicality and sustainability. An amusing touch in the house is a firemans’ pole. One last element of sustainable design is less tangible, but important too: the house is solidly constructed. It has been built to last. That is about the epitome of sustainability of this Thomas Home.

via homedesignidea.org

Designed by Berlin-based Studio Aisslinger, this incredibly attractive modular home was created almost 4,000 ft above sea level. Located near Bozen in Northern Italy, it features magnificent views of the Dolomite mountains, yet can be easily taken apart and rebuilt in a new location. This makes the structure perfect for the travelling nomad, all while leaving a minimal CO2 footprint.

Dubbed Fincube, the home is made entirely of local wood and the design is minimal, material-orientated and in close touch with nature. A 360-degree triple glazing is furnished with a second facade layer, giving the building a very elegant, yet modern shape.

The modular aspect of Fincube allows it to be embedded into a variety of landscapes including forests, meadows and mountainsides. The combination of long-lasting design and the option of changing its location make the Fincube a flexible home or hideaway, and a lifetime companion. To top it off, Fincube is a smart house, with all vital functions being controlled by a central touch panel.

Studio Aisslinger’s website
via [Homedsgn]