Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Another Abode Built Home




 A beautiful addition to its neighborhood, this recently completed home with gorgeous views of a ski mountain nestles snugly into a challenging site.

Working with Abode and the architectural firm Misiaszek-Turpin, the homeowners were able to view program sketches and various options for rough layouts of their idea's, which progressed to this final plan.




  Addressing square footage requirements and keeping a close eye on the budget are typically at the forefront of any new home and were closely monitored to successfully meet both.

The lovely character maple flooring  gives a unique degree of interest and the green design principle of using  locally sourced and milled wood not only helps sustain local small businesses but minimizes the carbon impact.


The living room focal point-the fireplace was designed by our Project Manager and former masonry artist Gerald Fransen. 




The kitchen being the hub of the homes has an open and easily accessible floorplan allowing multiple work stations, not to mention the ease of accomodating a good flow for entertaining with dual access points to the adjacent dining area.

The entrance and "landing area" to this  home is bright, open and has plenty of space for gear in the closet on the right, but is also close to the laundry/storage area on the right.  Wood wainscotting helps keep the inevitable bumps and bruises from ski gear from damaging the walls and provides a continuity throughout the hallway space.  Carpeted stairways (left) keeps footseps muffled whether going up or down .


   Insulated and sealed the ICF basement provides an R-24 value that allows no outside air or water infiltration into the lower level basement.   Cozy & warm, the walkout family room will experience no musty odor that a standard grey concrete foundation usually engenders.
For HVAC a Unico System was installed that uses less than one-fourth of the space in the built environment than a traditional system.  It can deliver up to 12 tons of air conditioning in the same space as a 3-ton traditional unit.
   air is delivered quietly and seamlessly into the room using a 2" or 2.5" outlets or an 8" x ¾" slotted diffuser .You feel the comfort of the system, but you won't hear it.
The air handler is designed to isolate noise and vibration. Each module is insulated such that the unit itself is quiet. The supply tubes are lined with sound-dampening, spun-bond nylon, giving quiet comfort. Through an air principle called aspiration, air enters a room  and creates a gentle suction around itself that draws the room air into its stream of air. Aspiration creates an even, draft free environment which has the net affect of lowering the effective room temperature by 2 to 3 degrees.

From room to room, floor to floor, and floor to ceiling, the temperature differential is no greater than 2 degrees from where you set the thermostat. This provides greater humidity removal through the efficient design of the cooling coils that are two times as thick as traditional HVAC cooling coils, moving air from the conditioned space slower through the thicker cooling coil. This allows the hot air from the space to stay on the super cold Unico System cooling coil longer. This results in up to 30% greater humidity removal. Lower indoor humidity creates an indoor environment that is perfectly comfortable.
These are just a few items incorporated into this house to help make it energy efficient (in the form of lower fuel and utility costs)  aethetically pleasing without sacrificing comfort, and addressed the homeowners needs for their family but for the entertaining that will occur when extended family and friends are lucky enough to visit.