A House Kissed by the Sun

Most couples plan their future dream house to compose a list of their favorite architectural details and lifestyle amenities. Few, however, are likely to draw up a plan for construction game plan as complete as the document drafted by Carol and John Harkness. At their meeting with the architect Kevin Burke, an architect associated with Carney Architects in Jackson, Wyoming, to discuss building their retirement home in Teton Village, Wyoming, they arrived with a six-page (single-spaced) project "brief" detailing the precise requirements for the home. And these are not even notes on the usual aesthetic concerns for facilities and finishes; their very detailed punch list explored all passive solar heating to the specifications of handicapped accessible elevators and doors.

Although John and Carol have both environments technical curiosity outweighs the construction of many customers at home customers do. He worked as a chemical engineer at the prestigious Argonne National Laboratory, it is a software developer. In addition, John had already equipped their home in a suburb of Chicago with passive solar features. Now they were in Wyoming retirement, the couple asked even more energy efficiency and adaptability at home, they were based on a half-acre lot at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

One of the objectives of the couple was to make the house thoroughly for the disabled, especially because John has a brother with muscular dystrophy. They also agreed that it should be heated and cooled with the active and passive systems to the fullest extent possible, both for energy conservation and long-term financial benefits.

The 4,300-square-foot house is on a steep meadow near the base of the station. Avid skiers and mountaineers, John and Carol selected a batch that allow them to walk easily on slopes and near a music festival.

Despite the Harknesses list of mandates for home, ironically, its architectural design was also influenced by restrictions set by the former owner of the property. Clad in cedar siding copper bump-outs, the house has a sloping roof metal which does not obstruct the neighbor's point of view of the mountains. A wall of windows on the rear of the house opens to the views of the valley.

The Harknesses provided at home easily accommodate changes in lifestyle May they face as they age. With Burke, the couple has charted the three-house in areas with a self-contained ground floor serving more than their daily work needs, including a bedroom, living room and dining room bath and kitchen. A suite on the top floor, which can be reached by an elevator, most of the characteristics of accessibility for disabled occupants accessories, including hand rails in a bathroom and wide doors. The lowest level features another room, study, workshop, and two bathrooms.

Technically, the house is more efficient and more environmentally friendly than anything can recall Burke building, "he says. Most building materials were selected for their environmental sensitivity and sustainability, such as flooring inside-based cork, a renewable resource. The crossing outside is made of recycled plastic.

The "super-insulated" building envelope goes far beyond typical standards for houses in the region. An air-to-air heat exchanger introduced fresh air using hot air at home to preheat the fresh air outside its entrance.

Equipped with technical features, but the transmission of warmth and intimacy with a generous use of natural materials, the house Harkness makes a strong case for owners to take charge of their "domestic engineering."

An editor of Architectural Record, New York, William Weathersby, Jr. has also written for Elle Decor, Metropolis and the Robb Report ...