Members’ Corner
The Treehouse A VERTICAL CRAFTMANS STYLE HOME BY PIPPIN HOME DESIGNS
The homeowners desired a multilevel 4-story home, designed to take advantage of their lake views from numerous heights on their property, due to it being heavily tree lined, and the lake environmental requirement that no trees can be removed in the designated lake buffer. They desired a modern Craftsman style home that would not look too tall or out of place in its surroundings. The wife desired a 4th Floor Library that feels like a Treehouse with maximum height views of the property and surrounding lake, as well. This was accomplished with the interior rustic finishes of wood walls, ceilings and bookshelves, which includes a rolling ladder. This is also their retirement home, so it needed to have an Elevator to access all 4 Floor’s and a wheelchair ramp hidden in the Garage. The clients like to use the stairs for the exercise it provides, and the Elevator gives them the ability to move large items easily from floor to floor. Their Laundry Room is located near the Kitchen, which she preferred, although the Master Bedroom is located a level above, we included a niche in the Master Suite Closet area to store a mobile rolling cart for transporting the Laundry via the Elevator, rather than the stairs. They also desired a home that is very energy efficient and utilizes solar PV panels on the roof top for generating electricity, as well. We designed the roof structure in a way to maximize the amount of south facing roofs for the PV panels, along with strategic window locations to maximize lake views and work with the path of the sun and we provided 2’ overhangs on the roof to work with the sun locations and provide ample rain protection for the structure. They installed energy star windows and doors, and appliances, used spray foam insulation, an internal thermal house wrap that makes it look like a futuristic spaceship, and utilized a HERS rating company to verify the performance of the sealed structure. They hired a Team of professional HVAC designers to design the high-tech thermal envelop around the entire structure, including a sealed attic space, a custom designed extremely energy efficient heating and air conditioning
56 - AIBD magazine
system, with its own dedicated electric meter to monitor the actual electric usage of the HVAC equipment, separate from the rest of the main house electric usage, and this company provides a guarantee on the total amount of electric usage from the HVAC system, with a money back guarantee if it ever exceeds the guarantee, for the life of the home. The company, Energy Innovations, also includes features in the HVAC system, which improves the quality of the indoor air, and the clients couldn’t be happier with the results! Our goal was to design the home in a way to not look like a towering structure from the street side, while being a 4 full level home, which works for their lifestyle, and gives them all the rooms they desired in the home with maximized lake views. The Treehouse level, the 4th Floor, needed to be centrally located on the home, to maintain a balanced look to the structure and tie in with the central location of the Elevator, as well. They also wanted the home to be handicap accessible, to allow for aging-in-place and the ability to have a Master Suite on the First Floor, as well as, a larger Master Suite on a private level to themselves, which was designed as the entire Second Floor level. The home only has the two finished Bedroom suites, with the ability to finish a third Bedroom suite in the Basement level, if needed in the future. There is also a fold-out sleeper chair in the Library, when needed for additional guests, which includes a full Bathroom and a Closet, to function as a Bedroom, when / if needed in the future. There is also a Man Cave in the Basement with access to a full Bathroom and a Hall Closet, so it could potentially function as another Bedroom, as well. They currently own the home next door, as the Guest House, so there was no need to have more finished Bedrooms in the home at this time. The current monthly heating and cooling bill for this home is less than $100 per month, for a conditioned space over 5,000 sf. Photos by: Wes Stearns Website: www.pippinhomedesigns.com