BDW Discreetly Green:
Net-Zero Design With Beauty in Mind

DesignNew suburban house in metro Boston reminiscent of the connected farm buildings of New England.

The flared hipped roof line, the house’s defining image, echoes and continues the slope of the hill. The first floor is filled with two large social rooms: a living room and kitchen/dining room, each with a bay window and a fireplace, sharing a central chimney.

This compound of new buildings adopts a vernacular rural style, reinforcing the culture of the place by using simple barn forms. The composition is unified by painting all the buildings the traditional ferrous oxide red.

The gable-ended farmhouse form stretches like a telescope east to west to capture north views and south sun. The entry portico emerges from a broad low porch. This Vermont Farmhouse sits on a gentle meadow with broad views of the…