Our clients often come to us as they attempt to solve a myriad of problems early on in their planning stage. Whether they come to us by way of a Zoning attorney, a befuddled contractor, a designer out of options, or we take on the project like any other, we often have extra work to do. Here is a brief sampling of such projects.
This home is designed and styled as a net-zero "off-grid" home set in one of the last wooded areas in Glenview. Strategically set between mature existing trees and a low-lands area, the home takes advantage of southern cleared woodlands to engage with the sun as a secondary heating system for the home. Employing solar PV, battery storage and solar hot water technologies, this house will use little electricity from the grid during most of the year. During extreme peaks of cold, it will use some energy from the grid, but the summer surplus would sell electricity back to the grid to be a Net-Zero energy consumer.
This northwest Chicago home expands the existing 2-bedroom, 1-bath home with dilapidating 1-story rear addition, into a solid 3-bedroom, two-bathroom home with integrated "in-law" suite and addition of a great room for family time while preserving the formal living and dining for entertaining. The overall renovation will exceed current energy codes - ensuring comfort and efficiency into the future.
This work is in collaboration with lead design architect Robin A. Johnson (robinaj9988@gmail.com, 231.326-3637) - a local architect to northern Michigan, whom clients approached with the desires of a mid-century feel while being net-zero in climate zone 6. Challenge: Accepted. This house, while being expansive, light and airy, is also slated to be net-zero with the help of the sun and battery storage. Meticulous attention to detail, the thermal envelop and orientation of windows and roof planes combine ample amounts of south-facing roof slopes with Solar PV panels and hot water panels. The entire slab that the house sits on is essentially a radiator in the heating season and a heat sink in the cooling season. No boiler required. Daytime through early night, the slab is warmed by solar hot water panels, with excess storage in thermal tanks fed through a sub-slab thermal retention field where daytime-heated water is stored to offset the first sunless hours of the day. Overnight heating is compensated with an air-to-water heat-pump system, powered off of battery storage from the large array of PV panels. Open mid-century can really meet modern energy efficiencies.
