Deckhouse

Deckhouse is a nautically inspired lake house in Vermont. The home is a full-time residence in a natural setting of water and rock ledge features. The residence takes advantage of the landscape with a large sweeping exterior deck at grade, a roof deck with hot tub, and a boathouse with roof deck above for entertainment. The sculptural form of the residence and tonality of the wood siding and roofing blend into the site and reflects the nautical details of a wooden schooner; the residence is composed of tight, flowing geometries that at once are sinuous with curved walls and expressive with jutting cantilevers. The entirety of the project is clad in certified Ipe, an ironwood known for its dense hardness and long-life cycle. The wood was environmentally sourced and has a full chain of custody from planting to harvest to delivery.

The detailing and landscape design of Deckhouse conceals an entire site water mitigation system. All water is collected, with gutters hidden at the roof eaves and deck edges and downspouts concealed behind the exterior wall scrims. The captured water is directed to a landscaped rain garden for filtration and erosion control. At the other end of the site an underground constructed wetland filters and mitigates surface water entering from adjacent properties before entering the lake

Deckhouse is heated and cooled entirely by an electric geothermal system. A 16kw roof mounted solar array substantially offsets the energy costs of running the system and powers 10 Tesla Powerwalls for energy storage. The home is constructed with a thermally separated tight envelope and has an HRV system providing fresh air exchange. The residence was commissioned during construction and all windows, roofing, and water capture systems were intensely reviewed using industry testing guidelines. The home underwent a blower door test and infrared scanning to confirm the air tightness of the construction. Using cubic feet of air per minute at 50 Pascals of pressure difference per square foot of surface area (CFM50/SF) the home registered a .09 air changes per hour, nearly achieving the Passive house benchmark of .06 ACH.