Tennessee Flying V

This house is located in rural Tennessee at the ridge point of the old family farm. Our clients had a dream vacation house in mind. Their dream house had to be as self-sufficient as possible and have a low environmental impact. In every respect, they believed that small would be better.


The house is 2500 conditioned square feet, slab-on-grade with radiant floors. It has been properly orientation through careful sun studies of the site. Appropriate overhangs and shading devices were added to enhance the energy efficiency.

The lumber for the house is wood milled from trees on the site. We also reuse timbers from a local barn. The house is designed with geothermal heating and cooling and solar electric panels. To add to the efficiency of the house, the north wall is strawbale. A green roof caps the project.

Local, renewable, durable, recycled materials are used throughout the interior and exterior. Environmentally friendly and money saving resource efficient equipment is also used. There are energy design details too numerous to discuss in a blog post. This is a project that meets and then exceeds our client's hopes. We like that in a house.