SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCES
From passive solar layouts to low embodied materials, these single-family spaces are all about the comforts of home with a natural touch.
Danesville, MI
Where the Barn and the House Meet
This project embodies the perfect blend of utility and comfort, connecting a barn and home through a thoughtfully designed covered breezeway. The client, who processes angora goat wool, needed a functional yet seamless flow between the two spaces.
The house was designed with passive solar principles in mind, optimizing orientation, glazing, and overhangs to achieve energy efficiency with minimal cost. It's exciting to watch this property evolve, including the thriving farm animals that are part of the landscape!
Upper Pennisula, MI
This off-grid lakeside barn in Michigan's Upper Peninsula is thoughtfully designed for sustainable living, featuring a steep roof pitch optimized for solar panel efficiency. The rustic yet modern structure includes a spacious loft, providing a cozy sleeping area and a private bathing space with stunning views of the lake.
This is the perfect auxiliary building to be paired with the additional homes at the client's nature-oriented retreat. This barn combines functional design with the beauty of its natural surroundings.
Wheat Ridge, CO
This is my first straw bale design—a work-in-progress for a small ADU/casita in Colorado, featuring passive solar design for energy efficiency and comfort. Straw bale construction offers a fantastic solution for carbon sequestration, high insulation, and uses local, abundant resources.
The design includes an interior compressed earth block wall, an ICF foundation, and a slabless slab floor, finished with exterior plaster. This sustainable approach blends modern techniques with natural materials to create a durable and eco-friendly living space.
Trinidad, CO
This remodel project faced unexpected challenges due to issues with neighboring properties, preventing its completion as originally planned. Our vision was to create a beautiful home that blended modern and southwestern design elements while preserving the historic adobe walls in the older section of the building.
Though this plan couldn't move forward, we're excited to explore other ways to enhance the property’s value. Our goal remains to create a stunning transformation without making it a forever home
Champaign, IL
This passive solar home in Michigan is a cost-effective, nature-inspired design focused on energy efficiency and comfort. Oriented 10° to the southeast, the home captures optimal sunlight while minimizing heat loss, and the roof is pitched to maximize solar panel performance.
Shaded west-facing areas and carefully designed overhangs prevent overheating in summer, while clerestory windows enhance cross ventilation. Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) improve thermal performance, and utilities are streamlined along the north wall to minimize heat loss, making this an eco-friendly, efficient living space.
Aravada, CO
This Single Family Home in Arvada has been a very thought-out home for the last 2 years. Lisa, the owner of Colorado Earth (a company the sells compressed earth blocks as a building material is finally building her own home.
Built with #EcoBlox, clay and lime plasters, recycled windows, and even recycled roof tile this is a dream come true for Lisa. A highly energy efficient home that has designed with a rocket mass stove, southern exposure, and bovedas (brick vaults and arches), we are excited to see this come to fruition soon!
Cliff House, HI
Tucked away along the coast of Maui the 'Cliff House' sits in all its glory.
I was blessed to be able to help design such a beautiful space with 360 views of east Maui, custom windows and doors, and a stunning cliff-side shower.
The custom details in this home, the open concept, and its stunning surroundings make this one of my favorite projects.
Maui Hale, HI
This was my first design-build project on the East Side of Maui. I designed and built the project myself and learned a lot along the way. The 3 story novel cottage sits in the bedrock overlooking the coast beyond.
The cottage uses big timbers, terraced foundations, and recycled tile throughout the interior. It also sits tucked behind the cliffside to protect it from the prevailing trade winds.
Although it still sits unfinished, someday someone can will claim this little piece of paradise as their own.
Erie, CO
In this sketch of the Taylor Residence, I've captured the essence of a home that's meant to be a quiet haven amid the ever-moving world. As I drew each line, I considered how the home sits perfectly with the land, reflecting its history and beauty.
Designing this has been a journey of changes and pauses, appreciating moments of stillness when everything just fits. It's a privilege to design such a special place for a family that treasures their land and envisions this as their forever home.
Ft. Pierre, SD
This was a large single family home in South Dakota. The client wanted a modern farmhouse style and some pretty unique roof systems. Even though some clients may not share the same aesthetic as I do or the HOA also has another opinion, I still enjoy the creative process! Adding touches of masonry always helps and I think it turned out!
I loved that the client appreciated the low window sills. All the sills on the first floor are quite low at 2 feet. They say in 'A Pattern Language' that this helps us stay more connected to the outdoors and nature. I couldn't agree more with a low sill!
Questa, NM
Just another slice of Michaels's Dreamscape! This vision was so exciting pushing the boundaries of traditional building and envisioning a fusion of both Pueblo Revival and Japanese styles of architecture.
Rendering is always so magical because the photorealism can make us feel as though its already happened! Its amazing whats possible when we can actually see what our dreams look like on paper!
Longmont, CO
This was the remodel of a home built in the 1990s. I transformed the design into a timeless Alpine Manor Style.
Rollinsville, CO
This charming mountain cabin may be small, but it's packed with sustainable features! Designed for a young couple, the cabin boasts a strong thermal envelope and a wall system that sequesters carbon, making it incredibly energy-efficient.
The south-facing roof pitch is perfect for solar installation, and all windows and doors were recycled from another building project, giving this home a small carbon footprint.
Built into a steep mountain slope with Faswall walls, an eco-friendly, and DIY type of wall system. This cozy cabin truly feels like it grew out of the earth!
Markstad, WI
You may be surprised by some of the sustainable design choices made in this project despite its traditional appearance...
This home is still work in progress for a homestead in Wisconsin. Staying reverent to the local and traditional architecture was a key concern in this design. Milwaukee, WI is known as the 'cream city' due to the lighter colors of the local brick. Using regional raw materials not only spares your carbon footprint, but adds an air of continuity throughout a community.
The longer side of this building faces south with most of its utility spaces to the north. Overhangs were achieved on most of the south-facing windows where possible while maintaining the traditional aesthetic. Luckily, the site has large shade trees to the west, so we did not need to worry about overhangs on the western windows.
SEE MORE PROJECTS
.png)
Estes Park, CO
This cabin project was for a couple who wanted a place to bring their grandchildren out into the mountains. The design intention was to be built with #EcoBlox.
Being on a southern slope we were able to maximize southern exposure with adequate roof overhangs to protect from the summer sun. There was room to be playful with the exterior patios and decks so I added some battered walls and columns to break up the massing.
Ft. Collins,CO
This was a small #Ecoblox project. It was a backyard studio for a jeweler. With less than 200 sf we designed with southern exposure, CEBs, recycled windows and doors, and a pueblo revival aesthetic.
