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ZeroEnergy Design
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Contenu sponsorisé
Pro Spotlight: 3 Tips for Designing a Sustainable Home with Style
A Boston architect explains how building green can be not only practical, but also beautiful
Contenu sponsorisé
Who: Stephanie Horowitz of ZeroEnergy Design
Where: Boston
In her own words: “We incorporate energy performance and sustainability into our design process. These features don’t hinder the aesthetic but are transparent design elements.”
Sustainable design has come a long way in the last few decades. “In the early 2000s, a lot of firms were doing lip service to sustainability,” says architect Stephanie Horowitz, managing director of ZeroEnergy Design, an architecture and building design firm in Boston.
“Energy performance and sustainable building materials were viewed as bells and whistles a client could choose to add on,” she says. “We decided to found a firm where the practice of sustainability is ingrained in the design process and makes the house function better overall for the owners.”
Where: Boston
In her own words: “We incorporate energy performance and sustainability into our design process. These features don’t hinder the aesthetic but are transparent design elements.”
Sustainable design has come a long way in the last few decades. “In the early 2000s, a lot of firms were doing lip service to sustainability,” says architect Stephanie Horowitz, managing director of ZeroEnergy Design, an architecture and building design firm in Boston.
“Energy performance and sustainable building materials were viewed as bells and whistles a client could choose to add on,” she says. “We decided to found a firm where the practice of sustainability is ingrained in the design process and makes the house function better overall for the owners.”
Parallel passions. From a young age, Horowitz has had a love of nature and architectural design. “I figured out in college that I could combine my two passions and help to preserve the environment,” she says. “Our clients tend to have the same appreciation of natural beauty and environmental ideologies that we do. Their homes are a reflection of their lifestyles.”
Performance and design. “We do our own mechanical design and specifications in-house, which is unusual for an architecture firm,” Horowitz says. “We get into the nuts and bolts of performance — heating, cooling and ventilation — as well as traditional architectural design. Understanding the link between the two informs our design process.”
Her partners at ZeroEnergy Design are Adam Prince, business development principal, and Jordan Goldman, engineering principal in charge of mechanical design, energy modeling and building science.
Below are Horowitz’s tips for making performance and design work hand in hand.
Her partners at ZeroEnergy Design are Adam Prince, business development principal, and Jordan Goldman, engineering principal in charge of mechanical design, energy modeling and building science.
Below are Horowitz’s tips for making performance and design work hand in hand.
1. Conserve Energy While Maximizing Views
Homes with expansive windows also need to take comfort and functionality into consideration. For example, the living room in this modern Cape Cod home has stunning ocean views, with the horizon wrapping around two sides of the house. The design challenge is that it’s located atop a bluff with extreme exposure to the elements.
The ZeroEnergy team took measures to help prevent energy loss. “Thermally broken windows sealed with aluminum trim have high resistance to the wind and ocean water,” Horowitz says. “The thickness of the interior wall that separates rooms creates an extremely well-insulated, cozy space to watch the storms roll in. The wall also has a depth and scale that pairs with the form of the house.”
See more of this project
Homes with expansive windows also need to take comfort and functionality into consideration. For example, the living room in this modern Cape Cod home has stunning ocean views, with the horizon wrapping around two sides of the house. The design challenge is that it’s located atop a bluff with extreme exposure to the elements.
The ZeroEnergy team took measures to help prevent energy loss. “Thermally broken windows sealed with aluminum trim have high resistance to the wind and ocean water,” Horowitz says. “The thickness of the interior wall that separates rooms creates an extremely well-insulated, cozy space to watch the storms roll in. The wall also has a depth and scale that pairs with the form of the house.”
See more of this project
2. Integrate Green Elements
Your desire to go green won’t limit your design choices. “Energy-efficient features can easily be integrated into any style of home,” Horowitz says. She and her team designed this modern home in Brookline for energy efficiency using streamlined solar panels on the roof. The traditional wood-frame construction is wrapped in insulation for what she calls a “winter jacket” that heats the house more efficiently in cold weather and keeps the interior cooler in the summer.
See more of this project
Your desire to go green won’t limit your design choices. “Energy-efficient features can easily be integrated into any style of home,” Horowitz says. She and her team designed this modern home in Brookline for energy efficiency using streamlined solar panels on the roof. The traditional wood-frame construction is wrapped in insulation for what she calls a “winter jacket” that heats the house more efficiently in cold weather and keeps the interior cooler in the summer.
See more of this project
3. Work With the Environment
Your home design should take into consideration the area’s environmental factors, whether that means solar panels that take advantage of the sun or rain barrels to collect water. Horowitz and her team designed horizontal rain barrels that slide below the elevated deck of this home in the coastal town of Margate, New Jersey. “The water collected during rainstorms is used to irrigate the planters and green perimeter of native plants that lines the driveway,” she says.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Stephanie Horowitz and examples of her work, visit ZeroEnergy Design’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
Your home design should take into consideration the area’s environmental factors, whether that means solar panels that take advantage of the sun or rain barrels to collect water. Horowitz and her team designed horizontal rain barrels that slide below the elevated deck of this home in the coastal town of Margate, New Jersey. “The water collected during rainstorms is used to irrigate the planters and green perimeter of native plants that lines the driveway,” she says.
See more of this project
More: For more information on Stephanie Horowitz and examples of her work, visit ZeroEnergy Design’s Houzz profile.
This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.
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Avis par Jeff Goodman :
ZED did an outstanding job designing our home. It is not only beautiful to experience, but is engineered to the highest standards of environmental efficiency. That is a perfect combination !
Grateful for his not using black windows - so tired of seeing them on so many new houses. Classic white (or wood) windows are always a good choice, especially in New England.