New Shade of Green

When many of us think about “green” homes, we imagine über-contemporary architecture, replete with horizontal lines, minimalist décor and an open floorplan. But the truth is that eco-friendly design/build strategies apply to all kinds of architectural styles. Case in point: a Craftsman-inspired bungalow in the Boulder area that blends traditional elements with eco-friendly practices and a whimsical art collection for a result that’s far from typical.

In early 2004, the home’s original owner approached Boulder-based Barrett Studio Architects to design a custom-built, urban-infill project in a historic neighborhood. According to architect David Barrett, principal and owner of the company, it was important to unify the home’s exterior aesthetic with the historic bungalows and Victorian homes of the neighborhood. “It’s a more traditional home than we normally design, but we feel strongly that things should have a sense of fit,” he says. “Instead of the open-plan house that we often design, this is a series of interlocking rooms with large, cased openings between them. It communicates from room-to-room really nicely, but there is still [a defined] dining room, living room, kitchen and office.”

Stationing a livable-sized home on a difficult, steep lot with poor soil—all while adhering to the city’s strict ordinances regarding height and solar shadow allowances—posed a bit of a challenge. As a result, the architectural team designed the home with a footprint of only 950 square feet with a main level above ground and a finished basement below

“It looks small from the street, but it does have a significant amount of area to it,” says Sam Nishek, principal at Barrett Studio Architects. “By making a small envelope, and [adding as many south-facing windows] as we could for solar gain, while still shading those windows, we were able to minimize the energy use and still have a house that fit in a historic neighborhood,” he says. “It’s not a completely modern house, nor a faithful reproduction of something from the ’20s; it lives between [the two sensibilities].”

By using passive-solar strategies, the architects were able to design a home where form and function successfully converge. For example, a curved balcony above the main-level porch serves as an iconic architectural element while shading the south-facing windows in the summer and allowing the rays from the low winter sun to enter the windows below in the cold months. Additionally, each room in the house has windows on at least two sides for cross-ventilation and natural daylighting.

The architects also integrated an array of 16 photovoltaic panels on the detached garage for active solar gain. According to Nishek, the 2.5-kilowatt system produces up to 350 kilowatt-hours per month–or about half of the home’s energy needs throughout the year. “It allows us to collect solar energy [while maintaining] the traditional roof forms of the main house,” Barrett adds.

The current homeowners, who purchased the bungalow in 2008, originally were looking for a contemporary home. However, once they entered the foyer of this warm and comfortable space, they realized that the traditional interior actually would showcase their furnishings and large folk art collection better than a contemporary home could. The homeowners then turned to Ryan Batch, studio proprietor at San Francisco-based Design Within Reach’s Boulder store, for help with the interior design.

Batch worked within the space to develop cohesion between the traditional architecture and the couple’s collection of antique furniture, folk art and more modern pieces. For example, tray ceilings, heavy molding, plantation shutters and wood floors in the living room pair nicely with modern Barcelona chairs, a contemporary rug, antique New England furniture and turn-of-the-century objets d’arts. Batch also helped the homeowners choose contemporary light fixtures for a pulled-together look. “The home fits them,” he says. “The old things speak for themselves, and mixing in modern elements keeps the home simple and clean.”

This combination of old and new–both in the interior design and in the green architecture–shows that it’s possible to incorporate eco-friendly building practices in any style home. “You don’t have to build an energy laboratory to be a responsible steward,” Barrett says. “You can go about it in these more constrained, frugal ways.”

DESIGN DETAILS

Architecture: Barrett Studio Architects, Boulder, (303) 449-1141, barrettstudio.com
Interior Design: Ryan Batch, Design Within Reach, Boulder, (720) 564-1234, dwr.com
General Contractor: Chris Doran, Boulder Built Homes, (303) 641-3504