Designer: John Berg
Design: Single Family Residence with Environmentally Low Impact Building Technology
Link: www.bergdesignarchitects.com
Earlier this month, at our 9th AT Offline design meetup, we featured a panel of four designers who each have a very different story and relationship to green problems and solutions. John Berg was the third to speak, and he shared with us one of his recently completed residences, built to be both luxurious and super green as well....
Location: East Hampton, NY
Program: New single family residence
Lot/Building Size: 1 acre/2200 sq. ft.
Status: Completed July 2007
Inspired by a barn on Long Island around which the client spent many summers and the clients desire to build Green, the Old Stone Highway house was conceived as a modern interpretation of the Long Island agricultural vernacular.
The buildings form stretches out along a spine of interior and exterior spaces separated by glass walls which fold open during warm weather. A subtle topography of stepped walls, volumes and roof planes anchors the house comfortably to the relatively flat site and satisfies the clients need for dramatic spaces within a quiet envelope.
Rough exterior materials, primarily western cedar siding and concrete block, both left to weather, offer a strong counterpoint to the crisp geometry of the building and are also introduced within the house, creating tension with the smooth more finished surfaces.
Environmentally low impact building systems include:
Elements that make John's latest project 'green':
• Structural: SIPS-insulated panels that create a highly energy efficient building envelope;
• Air System: radiant concrete floors that run on a 98% efficient boiler, supplemented by a geo-thermal cooling system;
• Windows/Glazing: low-e argon gas filled, dual paned;
• Roof: Kynar--a non-heat absorbing finish;
• Solar orientation: calculated to minimize solar gain in summer;
• Paints: Low voc;
• Toilets: dual-flush;
• Exterior: red cedar siding sustainable wood
• Appliances: energy star;
• Pool: saline solution (precluding chemicals)
• Furnishings: many of the elements are vintage
About:
Founded in 2001 by John Berg, Berg Design Architects is a multi-faceted design firm whose work includes furniture design, architectural design competitions, residential architecture, interior design, planning, and multi-unit residential housing. A strong firm history of close working relationships with clients and focused design, combined with an acute understanding of place, continues to lead us to unique architectural solutions. [more]
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beautiful!
view Lizzykewl's profile
great designer, cares about the environment, and a babe... nice package!
view jeffnyc's profile
Wow - what a nice alternative to McMansions!
view bepsf's profile
The architecture and views are so interesting that the very small amount of stuff inside is appropriate and refreshing. Love those blue chairs! I saw the same chair in a cottage we rented and fell in love with it.
view farmhousemoderne's profile
My dream home. Inside and out.
view right angle's profile
Well, I will definitely make a point of driving down Old Stone Highway this weekend to find this!
It's a gorgeous house, but I just can't seem to reconcile how a house can be "green" when it has such lofty ceilings and large expanses of glass. Considering the rather modest square footage of living space, it is a very large volume of air that has to be conditioned. Plus even the most efficient glazing is still a terrible insulator against heat gain/loss. I would have assumed that a house built mostly underground with minimal glazing would be the most "green" kind of house you can build.
view hejiranyc's profile
love this home
view Signe's profile
Woof.
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
Wow! Does anyone know what those beautiful blue chairs are? I bought an almost identical chair (although hot pink) off a streetmarket in NY a couple of years ago, and I've always wondered where I could buy another one!
view brynhildur's profile
The house is great. The wood, the brick, the shag rug, the mid-century coffee table are all very cool. I want to like the designer but he just seems to be trying "too hard." I do like the beard and his hair is very pretty but I guess I just like my designers (men) more slovenly. Maybe, if his shirt was unbuttoned more?
view Mr. Dangerous's profile
anybody know the orgins of that awesome coffee table? i love it, and i am a coffee table snob...
view samuels's profile
Fab!
When I look -- and fall in love -- with a beautiful house like this, I just cannot understand why anyone wants a McMansion or a "Neo" "Revival" whatever . . . This house is gorgeous, forward-thinking, simply delicious!!!
view Mid-C Frank's profile
hejiranyc: Don't forget that part of being green is feeding the soul and creating a space that's harmonious and in tune with nature. A wealth of well-placed windows can do that. They're low-e/argon, and the place is designed for solar optimization. Not to mention geothermal heating, which uses only a small amount of electricity and no fossil fuels (!) to heat the house. In all things, balance.
view farmhousemoderne's profile
awesome photos... and mr. berg, my grandmother really likes your hair/beard combo. kudos all around. and Samuels... this architect designed that coffee table.
view amy's profile
farmhousemoderne, I have modern a house with lofty ceilings, lots of low-e glass and solar optimization with a geothermal heatpump... and the electricity bills killed me during this extraordinarily cloudy/damp winter. Contrary to popular belief, geothermal systems can consume a large amount of electricity, especially when you have "high tonnage." Any place with lofty ceilings will require high tonnage due to the volume of air that has to pass through the system. And, again, even the best low-e glass will have an R value of 3 to 5, whereas the typical exterior wall these days has R values of greater than 19. I have no qualms about building a beautiful house (located far, far away from public transportation). But just don't try to greenwash it.
view hejiranyc's profile
farmhousemoderne, unless they are using wind or solar power to generate the electricity for the heat pump, then fossil fuels are heating/cooling the house/pool. Also, "feeding the soul" has nothing to do with reducing greenhouse gases.
P.S. I like the house!
view Jon_B's profile
Love the house, but the furniture seems a bit tiny for such a great expanse of room -- especially that little dollsized coffee table so far away from any chair or couch . . .
view lucidez777's profile
Jon_B: Point taken on the fossil fuels comment; I just meant it wasn't directly burning gas.
hejiranyc: I was just trying to say that there are a lot of things related to both the environment and the health of the inhabitants that make a house green. Everyone seems to place different priorities on those features and define it in a different way. In my opinion the architect made a serious effort to design a green home and he was being unduly criticized. Peace.
view farmhousemoderne's profile