Spark Side Passive House
Merit Award // Excellence in Architecture Design - Residential
Architect // Kaplan Thompson Architects
GC // Haven Hill Builders
Structural Engineer // Trillium Engineering Group
Landscape Architect // Soren DeNiord Design Studio
Description
An outdoorsy couple moved to Durham dreaming both of a classic New England farmhouse adapted for modern living and a Passive House, futureproof in its sustainability. Kaplan Thompson Architects married their vision for aesthetics and performance in a simple, fossil fuel-free structure with a detached, barn-like garage and connecting breezeway. The gabled volumes are inspired by the architecture of the region but offer contemporary spaciousness – and a bit of adventure! – inside. Certified as PHIUS+ 2018 Source Zero, Spark Side requires 90% less energy to heat and cool than a code-built home of the same size and offsets 100% of its annual energy demands with a rooftop solar array.
Jury Comments
“A great example of what we should be doing more of in these passive houses.”
The jury lauded the refined, thoughtful design sensibility at work in the project, noting a well-proportioned design of form and spaces, both outside and inside; a generous and useful porch; a clarity of interior rooms (with an appreciation for the “playfulness of the loft”) and an uplifting sense of interior light; a superior external envelope (12” cellulose insulation) coupled with an ambitious energy management plan (3 heat pumps); and an approach to detailing both inside and outside that is consistent, clear and simple – in particular the resolution of the exterior corner conditions. There was universal admiration for the achievement of both high performance metrics – and the attainment of COTE aspirations – with a simultaneous demonstration of an enhanced quality of life through the quality of the architecture.
Photo credit: Irvin Serrano