The Birdhouse
Project Type: New Build
Location: Hood River, OR
The family’s primary goal for this newly built home was to be Net zero. Other design desires included expansive views to the Columbia River Gorge and a well-constructed home with longevity, in which to raise their two children. Built on a fairly steep hillside, this project presented a variety of technical and structural challenges.
The result was a Net POSITIVE, three-story home with a daylit ADU basement. The house includes all of the high performance love - Heat Recovery Ventilation, a hydronic heating and cooling system, a 3” exterior mineral wood insulation wrap, PV array, and triple-paned windows.
Most notably, The Birdhouse is the second house in the world (first in the Americas) to be recognized as FSC® Certified. This voluntary claim was not without challenges, but well worth the continuing commitment to sustainable forestry, often overshadowed by energy efficiency measures. Not only were the forest products in this project of higher quality, but the additional cost for FSC® certified materials was less than 0.5% of the overall project costs.
With our work on this innovative home, JRA raised our own bar for material sourcing and we continue to carry this achievement into our current projects. Designed by Nathan Good Architects.
Featured in:
World Wildlife Federation Magazine, Summer 2018
Our Planet: Halo films and Netflix
Awards:
Earth Advantage Certification ‘Zero Energy’ and ‘Platinum’, 2019
Earth Advantage ‘Green Builder of the Year 2019: Lowest EPS’
Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) ‘FSC Leadership 2018’