Client Narratives
separation from outside"
"Our home fits us like a glove. It was designed for us, with our input, by Kathleen Jardine, and from the day we moved in, it has felt like our own personal refuge. There is no real feeling of separation from outside; the large windows and French doors on the south facing side of the house provide a feeling of being connected to the woods around us. The children move naturally in and out, enjoying their easy connection with nature.
Adults
have the same reaction when we have parties. Our home has a natural flow
that makes it very social, and guests always comment on how relaxed they
feel when they visit. The rooms are designed in such a way that there is
both a feeling of separation and openness, making it easy for friends to
move between rooms at social gatherings, without losing a feeling of connection
with people in other spaces. Even in wintertime our home feels airy and
light, and our woodstove provides a cozy heat that is very comforting when
the weather right outside the window is gloomy and gray. This is a home
built to last – and we plan for it to be our home for life."
– Kent and Martha Pearson
"When I first heard about AAC houses, I liked the idea of a masonry house that could be sculpted to have soft edges and arches, as well as plaster walls, a stucco finish, and other features common to houses in my parents' native Greece.
What
I didn't expect was how toasty my passive solar masonry house would be in
winter, how cool in the summer, how solid it would feel, and how quiet.
All of these qualities contribute to the wonderful feel of a house whose
climate and atmosphere are determined by the interplay of its material and
orientation to the sun. It's an organic-feeling house because of masonry
[rather than wood] which I believe has created both its coziness and its
airiness.
I love my house, and loved working with Kathleen and Jim to build it. It's been a blast to decorate!" – Lou Simopoulos
Betsy and Michael built a Texas Style home from our custom plans, acting as their own contractors and doing most of the work themselves while both maintaining their businesses.
"Designing
a house is certainly a talent. But designing a home for a specific family
is something quite different. My husband Michael and I were fortunate to
find Sungardenhouses through our search for alternate building materials.
Jim and Kathleen proved to be very attentive listeners and intuitive designers;
this gave them the ability to capture the essence of the environment of
our dreams. We connected on a conceptual level and our home is incredibly
perfect for us. Restlessness and a need to be constantly "on the go"
have been replaced with the desire to stay in the nurturing comfort of our
house and property.
Technically, Jim and Kathleen also had the expertise to incorporate the passive solar and the unique properties of the AAC block into our design to provide us with the low maintenance and energy efficiency we were hoping for.
Jim and Kathleen assisted us in realizing a lifestyle and existence which reflects our very souls." – Gratefully, Betsy Nichols
"My construction company,
Sustainable Living Inc., has plenty of renovation experience. But when it
comes to new construction, we enlist the help of a designer. In designing
our first new home, a vacation rental in Beaufort, NC, we wanted someone
with experience in passive solar design and efficient floor plans who could
produce simple plans that would promote a comfortable low maintenance respite
for family reunions and renters. Equally important, we want to work with
someone that has built their own houses and are conscious of the cost implications
of various design decisions.
The Jardine-Cameron design team listened to us and came up with a low cost structure with some great features:
- The original rectangular block house was saved and incorporated into the house plans as a garage.
- An open kitchen, dining, living area maximized daylighting, traffic flow and larger gathering potential while still permitting a handicap access ground floor bathroom and bedroom.
- Five bedrooms with a bonus bedroom/office, three full baths, and two large integrated porches were designed into a mere 2400 square feet of space. This bedroom heavy configuration gave the house a competitive marketing advantage with larger groups without sacrificing common areas.
- The Italianate derivate exterior looked great with stucco – a maintenance free coating in an otherwise siding challenged salt air environment.
- The low angle hip roofs were resistant to high winds – occurring with increasing frequency at the beach.
- High ceilings on the second floor offset the slightly diminished bedroom square footage.
- Porches that were integrated under the roof structure (in the corners) reduced costs and sheltered users from wind borne rain.
- A ground floor slab was easy to heat (radiantly), looked great with a low cost blue colored etching and was easy-to-clean and to maintain.
We were successful building the house at very low cost. We have enjoyed repeat rentals by larger groups that could not find what they were looking for elsewhere. We return to a home that looks just the way it did when we left it – clean and without maintenance issues. And throughout our vacation days, the house is swept by light streaming through well-placed windows. We consider our first new build a great success!" –Trip Overholt
with a SunGarden House
Virginia has twice acted as her own contractor in building houses. In this account she compares her first experience of building a conventional timber frame house with building one of our passive solar/AAC Sungarden Houses.
"The
positive aspects of timber framed houses are vaulted ceilings with lots
of high windows making the great room flooded with light and open space.
Unfortunately the very elements that create this beautiful environment are
a drawback to comfortable living. Open space is noisy and not private. Bright,
open space is very useful for large public gatherings in churches and theatres
but for people living together there is no place to go to be alone or quiet.
Further the outside focus from the windows is to look up to the heavens
but it is not easy to view the ground or see the garden. With a ground level
south-facing nearly-fully-glass front wall a few feet from the garden you
step into an outside room that is visible from all rooms on the south side
of the house. You can have all the light of a timber frame and all the glass
but the focus is out and then up, not just primarily a view of the sky.
This view of, and easy access to the garden, pond, trees and outdoors can
be accessed from rooms with doors and walls and be either private or communal
depending on the needs of the homeowner. You can create light and upward
sky views with transoms over doors without forfeiting privacy and noise
barriers." – Virginia Hill
Norma and Stephen Hawthorne built their house in the co-housing community, Blue Heron.
"Our
passive/active solar cottage is a perfect solution to our personal needs
and environmental commitment. It is spacious yet compact, warm in winter
and cool in summer, yet saves energy. Plus, it is aesthetically beautiful.
We have expansive views out of all our rooms – opening up our world
to nature. It is a joy for me and Stephen to share our life in this space."
–Norma Hawthorne
Linda was our first AAC client and did much of the work on her house herself. She is retired, and an inspiration to take on new things for all of the years of our lives.
"What I liked best about the house was the material it was made from. I used a cheese grater to round the edges of the window and door openings and enjoyed the softness of the effect. Since the house was passive solar, the south-facing side was mostly windows. I loved how the sunlight filled that part of the house." –Linda Campany
"When my wife and I moved up from Florida to build a new home in North Carolina, we knew what we didn’t want… anything like what we had grown up living in. We wanted a quality built, energy efficient home that was sunny and pleasant throughout the year. After an arduous search of non-conventional building materials and styles, AAC block and a passive solar design surfaced as the logical choice. Fortunately, we discovered Jim and Kathleen through Fine Homebuilding magazine, and it was a blessing that they operated out of the same area where we had just found our ideal building site with generous southern exposure.
Although we had a vision of what we wanted, when it was time to integrate our wish list into a functional layout, Jim and Kathleen’s design talent shined. They listened attentively and were able to package everything into a spacious, practical arrangement that had the exact style and proportions we were hoping for. Their sound advice during the design and building process was comforting for first time homebuilders, like ourselves, helping us to avoid some of the common pitfalls and keeping the budget in perspective.
Our vision of a charming, contemporary-craftsman cottage with the classic lines of a traditional bungalow has progressively become a reality. The solidity of the AAC masonry construction coupled with the subtle and elegant textured surfaces and warmth of the pine trim soothes the eye and soul. A distinct feeling of airiness is captured in the spacious main living area by the abundant windows and lofty ceilings, bringing the outdoors in. During the winter, the roaring fireplace and warm terra cotta colored radiant floors drive off the winter chill. The openness of the living room is offset, as it should be, in the bedrooms – where minimal sizes, wood accents, and soft colors create a sense of coziness and security. Outside, we are eager to finish the porches and patios and populate our southern garden. This should introduce the wonderful scents of nature into our home and complete its outdoor connection, just as it was designed.
Our home charms us and fits our lifestyle perfectly. We take solace in knowing that its genuine integrity and low maintenance will remain intact to charm generations to come." –Jack and Milota Salay