Hunter House.
Straw-Bale Off-Grid Passive Solar House
A contemporary straw bale home built entirely off-grid in rural Ontario, the Hunter House reaffirms the benefits of natural building techniques in 21st-century architecture. It is a testament to Sustainable’s commitment to sustainability and to the use of renewable resources.
The combination of effective straw bale insulation; parallel strand lumber (PSL), engineered wood made from parallel wood strands bonded together with adhesive; energy-efficient doors and windows; solar thermal hot water; deep overhangs for sun shading; highly-reflective Galvalume roofing; thermal mass concrete floors; hydronic radiant floor heating; and on-site solar & wind energy generation & storage make the Hunter House comfortable, healthy, and extremely resilient – with a significant reduction in embodied-carbon through material extraction and construction; and a significant reduction in operational-carbon over the life of the building. The Hunter House is truly a ‘carbon capture and storage machine’!
Since completion of the main house, Sustainable has been retained to design two additional, complementary structures: a Work/Storage Shed using as many ‘left over’ materials as possible from the original construction; and a Sugar Shack/Vehicle Maintenance Shed nestled into the original barn stone foundations.
Details
Location: Cavan, Ontario (Peterborough)
Completion: 2014
Area: 232 m², 2,500 ft²
Project Lead: Paul Dowsett
Energy Use Intensity: Estimated: 123 kWh/m²
Total Energy Demand Reduction from Typical: 61%
Solar PV Capacity: 2.8 kW
Energy Generation: 2,931 kWh/yr
Principal-in-Charge 2002-2008: Paul Dowsett, Architect (Scott Morris Architects Inc.)
Principal-in-Charge 2009-2014: Paul Dowsett, Architect (Sustainable)
From the client
“Paul was the 2nd architect we hired to design our off-grid straw bale home. When the 1st proved incompetent we asked Paul (a neighbour) for advice. He came back 2 days later with a full presentation to win our business. We hired him and never looked back. He listened to our requirements and designed a house for us, to our needs and desires. As Paul says, “I don’t have to live in it, you do.” When there were problems he was there with solutions. When we found out that the windows were 2” too tall for the cupola Paul came up with new plans, and a new roof angle(!) at 5:30 on a Thursday afternoon. Just one of the many times he went the extra mile.
A technologically complex house like ours requires that everybody work as a team to make sure the systems all integrate. Paul maintained a level of professionalism and a lack of ego that was refreshing. He’ll cheerfully admit when he doesn’t know something, then he’ll find the resources and come back with answers.
I highly recommend Paul to anybody looking for an architect for any project, big or small.”