Residential

EHDA Merit Award: Hacienda Ja Ja

CUSTOM, 2,000 TO 4,000 SQUARE FEET

1 MIN READ

The judges loved the inviting entrance to this LEED-Platinum home and were impressed by how it is sited among the existing live oak trees. “This is a Texas design that would be welcome anywhere,” one jury member said. Spaces wrap around a small courtyard to maximize natural lighting and ventilation distributed throughout via tall glazings and high ceilings.

High-performance features that contributed to the jury’s decision include details like the variety of floors made of polished fly-ash-content concrete, locally sourced stone, and engineered wood; energy features like bio-based open-cell foam insulation, U-0.34 windows, a five-zone high-efficiency HVAC system, a wireless GreenSwitch system to reduce “vampire” plug loads, and solar thermal and PV collectors; water efficiency measures like WaterSense-certified plumbing fixtures and a 6,000-gallon rainwater catchment irrigation system; and building science details like the locally sourced wood siding installed as a rainscreen system.

About the Author

Rick Schwolsky

Rick Schwolsky, construction manager for the 2015 Greenbuild Unity Home, has worked in the residential construction industry for more than 40 years with a special focus on high-performance homes. Before joining Hanley Wood in 1993 as BUILDER’s construction editor and later launching EcoHome magazine, he was president of Grafton Builders, a successful custom home building company in Vermont. 

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