ALPINE MEADOWS

This 2,500 square foot house is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on a south-facing view site. Per the client, the home was designed to maximize the alpine views from all rooms, and also to be a ‘solar home’. The building’s shape and room configurations attain this by its east-west axis resulting in a large south facing roof and all rooms hugging the south walls, which have the views.

The ‘active’ solar system that covers the south roof is a 600 square foot array of photovoltaic and thermal panels, which generate electricity, heat air, and heat the domestic hot water. The top floor of the house is the main ‘living level’, with all rooms gaining ‘passive’ solar heat from direct sunlight that is used to warm the rooms during the winter. The interior temperature is stabilized and maintained from the thermal mass of the concrete floors. During the summer, the house is kept cool thru the use of natural ventilation that enters the house low and exits up high.

The house is built into the hill so that the upper floor ends up with a cantilevered deck on the south aimed at the views, and the north side being level with grade so there is a yard off the main living space. The main living space, with open beamed ceilings is a loft-like room that has the kitchen, dining, and living room. A custom fireplace, television, and bookshelf wall framed by blackened plate steel is the centerpiece of the living room. The first floor is partially built into the landscape with concrete retaining walls and a concrete slab on grade to act asa thermal mass to maintain a temperate environment year round.

Architecturally, the design could be described as ‘alpine-modern’ with its simple geometry and overall restraint.  The exterior of the house is sided with western-red, tight-knot cedar, while the interior has concrete floors, hardwood cabinets, Douglas fir beams, blackened steel, and painted sheetrock.

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On the solar system and its operation:

Typical for houses in the area, there is no connection to natural gas, so propane or electricity for heating are the options. This house is grid-tied to use electricity, but uses very little due to the active and passive solar systems. During days when the house is empty, electricity is created and ‘pushed’ back into the electrical grid, and then when the house needs electricity, it is ‘pulled’ back from the grid. The goal is that the system pushes more into the grid than it pulls resulting in a net energy usage of zero. In addition to providing electricity, the panels also power an electronic hot water heater which in turn heats the house through radiant floor heating. Hot water for domestic use is heated from the thermal panels, and is controlled from an electronic transfer module located in the attic. Additionally, the house has forced air heating which is captured from the 130degree trapped air between the panels and the roof. This process can also be reversed and used to cool the high ceiling spaces on the second floor. 

ALPINE MEADOWS

This 2,500 square foot house is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on a south-facing view site. Per the client, the home was designed to maximize the alpine views from all rooms, and also to be a ‘solar home’. The building’s shape and room configurations attain this by its east-west axis resulting in a large south facing roof and all rooms hugging the south walls, which have the views.

The ‘active’ solar system that covers the south roof is a 600 square foot array of photovoltaic and thermal panels, which generate electricity, heat air, and heat the domestic hot water. The top floor of the house is the main ‘living level’, with all rooms gaining ‘passive’ solar heat from direct sunlight that is used to warm the rooms during the winter. The interior temperature is stabilized and maintained from the thermal mass of the concrete floors. During the summer, the house is kept cool thru the use of natural ventilation that enters the house low and exits up high.

The house is built into the hill so that the upper floor ends up with a cantilevered deck on the south aimed at the views, and the north side being level with grade so there is a yard off the main living space. The main living space, with open beamed ceilings is a loft-like room that has the kitchen, dining, and living room. A custom fireplace, television, and bookshelf wall framed by blackened plate steel is the centerpiece of the living room. The first floor is partially built into the landscape with concrete retaining walls and a concrete slab on grade to act asa thermal mass to maintain a temperate environment year round.

Architecturally, the design could be described as ‘alpine-modern’ with its simple geometry and overall restraint.  The exterior of the house is sided with western-red, tight-knot cedar, while the interior has concrete floors, hardwood cabinets, Douglas fir beams, blackened steel, and painted sheetrock.

‍

On the solar system and its operation:

Typical for houses in the area, there is no connection to natural gas, so propane or electricity for heating are the options. This house is grid-tied to use electricity, but uses very little due to the active and passive solar systems. During days when the house is empty, electricity is created and ‘pushed’ back into the electrical grid, and then when the house needs electricity, it is ‘pulled’ back from the grid. The goal is that the system pushes more into the grid than it pulls resulting in a net energy usage of zero. In addition to providing electricity, the panels also power an electronic hot water heater which in turn heats the house through radiant floor heating. Hot water for domestic use is heated from the thermal panels, and is controlled from an electronic transfer module located in the attic. Additionally, the house has forced air heating which is captured from the 130degree trapped air between the panels and the roof. This process can also be reversed and used to cool the high ceiling spaces on the second floor. 

ALPINE MEADOWS

This 2,500 square foot house is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on a south-facing view site. Per the client, the home was designed to maximize the alpine views from all rooms, and also to be a ‘solar home’. The building’s shape and room configurations attain this by its east-west axis resulting in a large south facing roof and all rooms hugging the south walls, which have the views.

The ‘active’ solar system that covers the south roof is a 600 square foot array of photovoltaic and thermal panels, which generate electricity, heat air, and heat the domestic hot water. The top floor of the house is the main ‘living level’, with all rooms gaining ‘passive’ solar heat from direct sunlight that is used to warm the rooms during the winter. The interior temperature is stabilized and maintained from the thermal mass of the concrete floors. During the summer, the house is kept cool thru the use of natural ventilation that enters the house low and exits up high.

The house is built into the hill so that the upper floor ends up with a cantilevered deck on the south aimed at the views, and the north side being level with grade so there is a yard off the main living space. The main living space, with open beamed ceilings is a loft-like room that has the kitchen, dining, and living room. A custom fireplace, television, and bookshelf wall framed by blackened plate steel is the centerpiece of the living room. The first floor is partially built into the landscape with concrete retaining walls and a concrete slab on grade to act asa thermal mass to maintain a temperate environment year round.

Architecturally, the design could be described as ‘alpine-modern’ with its simple geometry and overall restraint.  The exterior of the house is sided with western-red, tight-knot cedar, while the interior has concrete floors, hardwood cabinets, Douglas fir beams, blackened steel, and painted sheetrock.

‍

On the solar system and its operation:

Typical for houses in the area, there is no connection to natural gas, so propane or electricity for heating are the options. This house is grid-tied to use electricity, but uses very little due to the active and passive solar systems. During days when the house is empty, electricity is created and ‘pushed’ back into the electrical grid, and then when the house needs electricity, it is ‘pulled’ back from the grid. The goal is that the system pushes more into the grid than it pulls resulting in a net energy usage of zero. In addition to providing electricity, the panels also power an electronic hot water heater which in turn heats the house through radiant floor heating. Hot water for domestic use is heated from the thermal panels, and is controlled from an electronic transfer module located in the attic. Additionally, the house has forced air heating which is captured from the 130degree trapped air between the panels and the roof. This process can also be reversed and used to cool the high ceiling spaces on the second floor. 

ALPINE MEADOWS

This 2,500 square foot house is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on a south-facing view site. Per the client, the home was designed to maximize the alpine views from all rooms, and also to be a ‘solar home’. The building’s shape and room configurations attain this by its east-west axis resulting in a large south facing roof and all rooms hugging the south walls, which have the views.

The ‘active’ solar system that covers the south roof is a 600 square foot array of photovoltaic and thermal panels, which generate electricity, heat air, and heat the domestic hot water. The top floor of the house is the main ‘living level’, with all rooms gaining ‘passive’ solar heat from direct sunlight that is used to warm the rooms during the winter. The interior temperature is stabilized and maintained from the thermal mass of the concrete floors. During the summer, the house is kept cool thru the use of natural ventilation that enters the house low and exits up high.

The house is built into the hill so that the upper floor ends up with a cantilevered deck on the south aimed at the views, and the north side being level with grade so there is a yard off the main living space. The main living space, with open beamed ceilings is a loft-like room that has the kitchen, dining, and living room. A custom fireplace, television, and bookshelf wall framed by blackened plate steel is the centerpiece of the living room. The first floor is partially built into the landscape with concrete retaining walls and a concrete slab on grade to act asa thermal mass to maintain a temperate environment year round.

Architecturally, the design could be described as ‘alpine-modern’ with its simple geometry and overall restraint.  The exterior of the house is sided with western-red, tight-knot cedar, while the interior has concrete floors, hardwood cabinets, Douglas fir beams, blackened steel, and painted sheetrock.

‍

On the solar system and its operation:

Typical for houses in the area, there is no connection to natural gas, so propane or electricity for heating are the options. This house is grid-tied to use electricity, but uses very little due to the active and passive solar systems. During days when the house is empty, electricity is created and ‘pushed’ back into the electrical grid, and then when the house needs electricity, it is ‘pulled’ back from the grid. The goal is that the system pushes more into the grid than it pulls resulting in a net energy usage of zero. In addition to providing electricity, the panels also power an electronic hot water heater which in turn heats the house through radiant floor heating. Hot water for domestic use is heated from the thermal panels, and is controlled from an electronic transfer module located in the attic. Additionally, the house has forced air heating which is captured from the 130degree trapped air between the panels and the roof. This process can also be reversed and used to cool the high ceiling spaces on the second floor.