Superinsulated Prairie School Style
Mount Horeb, Wisconsin

This house revisits the Prairie School style of architecture, and updates it into energy efficient and low-toxin 'green' architecture. Design Coalition worked with Lou's firm Host-Jablonski Architects. Long, restful rooflines are visible from the north entrance drive, partially buried into a rise in the land to shelter from the strong prevaling northern winds, and surrounded by a prairie that is being restored by the owners. The log which supports the roof of the east-facing screen porch and stone patio is an Oak from the site. And all the interior wood trim was milled from eleven storm-felled Cherry trees, also from the site and dried in a nearby solar timber kiln.

A few of the 'green' design and energy-efficiency features are:
• Passive solar heating
• Larsen-truss walls with recycled cellulose insulation to achieve superinsulated construction without using petrochemical foams
• Passive cooling (no mechanical air conditioning needed)
• Hydronic in-floor heating, via a high-efficiency boiler that also heats the domestic hot water
• Use of many natural, local and recycled products
• Durable, low-maintenance and non-toxic interior and exterior materials

Click here for an article in M Magazine featuring this 'not-so-big' house...

Above: View from the north Left: Hearth Room