Consists of side by side 2 story, 3 bedroom dwelling with 1 car garages.

Designed for passive solar and with extensive eco-roofs, planters, and balconies. From the secon story of the front unit a spiral stair leads to a roof top patio and garden.

Designed for Geo-Thermal Ground Source Heat Pump, tankless gas hot water heaters and all storm water to be handled on site.

The garage is accented with cultured stone. Siding applied in a rain screen application, consists of fiber cement panels on the left and stained fiber cement lap siding on the right hand back unit. Eco-roofs and planters face the street at the second story.

The flat roof of the front unit provides a roof top patio and garden space. Sloped rear unit roofs are standing seam metail and the back unit faces south and is pre-wired for future solar electric pansl.
Decks and trellis on the south side of the house are calculate to provide passive solar shading. Providing direct solar exposure to doors and windows in the winter and shading during the summer.

The job consists of converting the attic space into a master bedroom suite with walk in closet and bathroom.

To gain additional headroom and usable space the attic was raised with a new room addition which incorporates the extension at the rear of the house. This utilizes the existing footprint and house features.

The home located on a sloped lot on the North side of the Columbie River in Washington. the home is designed for a geothermal ground source heat pump. This is augmented in the living room with a soap stone fireplace backed by a wall of cultured stone to provide thermal mass.

Balconies and a window seat face the South and East to take advantage of the sun and views of the river and the ravine.

Future use as a bed and breakfast is taken into account by the ability to separate the downstairs and upstairs suites.

A cultured stone thermal mass wall behind the soap stone wood stove extends up the cooling tower. The tower provides natural light to the interior and allows the escape of hot air in the summer.

Exterior posts are constructed of on site second growth Douglas Fir poles and the roof is framed with exposed traditional timber frame trusses.

Cultured stone gives the building a base in the hillside. Fiber cement vertical board and batt siding and the vertical poles mimic the trees. The roof is finished with metal shake shingles by Interlock Industries.

The home located in a clearing on a hillside is to include a wrap around deck. The timber frame is to give it a rustic farmstead look.

In an area of extreme seasonal conditions radiant floor heat provides winter warmth. Doors on opposite sides of the home oriented with the slope take advantage of morning and evening breezes up and down the mountain slope to provide natural cooling in the summer.

A spiral stair leads to a second floor balcony. The balcony is separated from the master suite by a glass wall leading to a hall and window seat which separate the Master Bedroom from the Master Bath.

Exposed timber frame provides a warm and rustic feel to the interior.

A cooling tower with two electrically operated awning windows is aligned above the spiral stair. The tower provides natural light to the interior and allows the escape of hot air in the summer.

Located on farmland in the Southern Oregon mountains exterior materials provide fire resistance.

Metal shingle roofing mimics natural cedar shakes providing a rustic look.

Stained cement fiber shingles and cultured stone veneer complete the look of an old world farm building.

Including walk in closet and new bathroom. Winter 2004 – 2005

We filled in the foundation at the existing garage doors. We filled in the wall providing new windows and added new wall lights.

The new private entrance into the studio can be seen from the front porch .

The entry from the front porch leads into the new studio revealing the built in bookshelves and computer hutch. The wall niche was sized to fit the hutch which the owners wished to use.

The concrete slab was painted with a moisture barrier paint and then new floor joists were installed to bring the floor level with the rest of the house and allow the floor to be insulated. The exterior 2×4 wall was furred out on the inside to allow enough depth to install insulation up to residential code.

The new bathroom included a corner shower and new wood storage cabinets.

The closet included the installation of a new pull down ladder for access to attic storage.

Post and beam infill straw bales are becoming more commonplace however local building officials had refused to recognize the straw bale and plaster walls when dealing with seismic codes. This meant that structures needed to use expensive hardware and steel cross bracing to meet seismic codes in the area. The Ecological Building Network Straw Bale Structural Testing Program allowed them to use a government grant to hire Tipping Mar to design structural testing and led to new developments with governmentally recognized tested building methods which eliminated internal bale pinning and the need for structural cross bracing. This affords many advantages to the straw bale and the elimination of much of the steel hardware saves costs. Consultation with Bruce King and David Mar and access to the publicly available testing results made this project possible. This building method is now being used in Jacksonville’s Straw Bale Village development.

The house was built to be small, compact and affordable to the owners. The second floor joists act as ties across the building helping to hold the roof in place. The large overhangs were calculated to provide shading to the glass areas and walls in Summer while allowing the sun to warm those same surfaces in the winter. An open second floor serves two functions allowing the rising warm air to be vented through the second story dormer windows as well as allowing the masonry heater to heat the entire house.

The contrast of the Cement Plaster over the straw bale walls, the metal roof and the wood siding on the dormers adds character to the exterior of a simple, small and affordable farmhouse.

Instant hot water eliminating the need for the traditional hot water tank and a spiral stair were used as space saving methods. Instant hot water also eliminates the largest energy consumer in the house – the hot water tank.

A reversible direction ceiling fan over the living area helps to provide air flow during warm and cold months. Either pushing warm air down or pulling it up and out.

In addition to the passive solar design the only source of heating in this strawbale house is the Tulikivi soapstone masonry fireplace. When a fire isn’t burned in the fireplace a thermostat runs two electric heat coils embedded on either side of the masonry.

Featuring concrete tile roofing and hardiplank horizontal siding the residence is built in two sections bookended by stucco walls. The center of which contains the fireplace chimney.

The master bedroom opens with french doors onto a partially enclosed second floor deck providing a view of the orchards and gardens.

The entry foyer opens onto a two story vaulted space featuring a chandelier and the stairway to the second floor. A hallway connecting the master bath with the master bedroom features a dormer with a window seat.

Built on an existing single story foundation, the second story is supported on a post and beam system resting on new post footings.

The upstairs master bedroom has a majestic view of the gardens and orchards through a bank of french doors opening onto a semi-enclosed private deck.

Built in 1995 this 1,500 S.F. project consists of a small 2 unit cottage with a third upstairs loft unit above a storage space for use by an Ashland Bed and Breakfast.

Nestled between stands of mature trees, a garden laced with intimate paths and the main house. The cottage was designed to blend in with it’s natural environment preserving the existing trees and utilizing the existing gently sloping grade. The outside incorporates architectural characteristics of the existing main house

The main units include full baths with jacuzzi tubs looking out on the gardens behind the cottage and gas fireplaces.

The original one story house was old and had suffered a fire. We saved 3 of the exterior walls, floor joists and the original foundation.

A complete interior remodel included the living room, bathroom and guest bedroom. Window seats were provided overlooking a private patio and garden at the back of the house.

We then added a new entry, garage and a two story addition. The addition included the laundry, kitchen and dining area on the first floor. The second floor includes an office/bedroom and the master suite with a deck over the garage.

Built on a narrow lot, the original house overlapped the setback at the street.

Because of the closeness of the street the owners requested leaving out all street side first floor windows. We bumped out two niches to maintain architectural interest on the outside elevation and provided 3 new skylights in the living room to provide daylighting.

High ceilings on the first floor provided a challenge in meeting local solar codes. To meet this challenge it was necessary to cut the corner off of the second floor at the master closet.

French doors from the master bedroom overlook the deck and provide spectacular views over the tops of the trees of Mount Ashland and Pilot Rock.

Originally designed with Horizontal and shingle siding. The owner changed to T1-11 in order to save money.

From the dining room looking past the entry can be seen the formal living room. Niches with storage below provide a space to display the owners pottery collection. Ample light is provided by the three skylights above.

The stairway was designed to provide a recess to house the owners existing sideboard. A stepped wall provides a space to display pottery and a painting.