While nothing in the design brief said “ranch” it is no coincidence that it has an elongated single-story profile and flowing open plan layout. I do have ranches on the brain. Here are some of my sketches from the Schematic Design phase.
The house is just a single bedroom, compact and, I hope, cozy. Its oriented to the south with maximum window exposure in that direction. A Passive House, certified by Passive House Institute US, or PHIUS, has a number of qualities which all add up to a very well insulated and sealed building that takes very little energy to live in.
In this case we will be aiming for an R-60 insulation value for the roof, R-40 walls – both above grade and in the basement – and even R-20 under the basement floor slab.
We’ve moved forward now into the Construction Documents phase so the plans have become much more detailed. Here’s the plan and the cross sections to give a fun idea of the project.
Stay tuned for future updates!