Houston is the heart of the oil and gas industry, and within that heart sits a sustainable house that is rated LEED Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council. Designed by Adams Architects Inc., Houston, the house stands as a model and counterpoint to the challenges caused by the industry surrounding it.
A LEED Platinum residence in the middle of Houston shows the potential for sustainable living
Photo: Gary Zvonkovic
The home features several sustainable attributes, including a large solar array, but its most dominant characteristic is its fenestration and the way it allows natural light to flood into the space. Joe Adams, AIA, and his wife Gail, studied with Louis Kahn at the University of Pennsylvania and were greatly influenced by his approach to architecture and light. “Louis Kahn was the master of natural light,” says Adams. “I tell people that Texas has so much natural light. Some of it is killer light, but the northern light is heavenly.”
The site for Virginia Point was ideal for taking advantage of both that northern light and allowing the south-facing shed roof to serve as a platform for the solar array. Clerestory windows along the north elevation allow natural light to flood into the space, but keep out the direct heat of the sun. Further protecting the space are a number of Live Oaks that line the southern edge of the property line.
“Our clients told us, ‘We’re living in light,’” says Adams.
Photo: Joe Adams
Steel Skin
Wrapping the house is a steel skin from McElroy Metals, Bossier City, La. The silver Galvalume corrugated panels give texture to the exterior and provide a definition for the height of the building. “You can see the different strata of the building,” Adams says. “The ground floor is a very broad corrugation. The central tier is a medium gauge corrugation. The upper tier is a very tight corrugation. So, I think it’s kind of a classically ordered application of this industrial product in what I like to say is like a Greek temple clad in steel. It’s very subtle, but you believe the building is ascending up into the clouds.”
The installation of the metal wall panels required a careful attention to the details, and Adams points to the installer for his professionalism. “The metal skin was done well and done crisply,” he says. “The installer absolutely got our message about the joinery.”
On the interior, more steel is exposed in the framing, which was inspired by the offshore oil industry. The framing members were dipped in a galvanizing bath and used in a way that brings the exterior to the interior. Its open framing expresses the structure of the building and is accented by the exposed ductwork. And the clerestory windows on the north side showcase the infrastructure and give a sense of strength to the window wall.
Sustainable Features
It was important to Adams and the clients that the highly sustainable home have a strong design aesthetic and not, as Adams says, “Look kind of dowdy and Volkswagen bussie. The clients had an aesthetic aversion to something that will look ugly or not engaging. They told us to make it as hightech as we can in environmental terms, but it had to be beautiful.”
The flooding light, the Greek temple-inspired metal skin and the exposed infrastructure speak to that ardent appreciation for design.
But it is the solar array that screams sustainable and high-tech. Adams Architects had considerable experience in designing energy-efficient homes in the New Mexico desert where there was no power supply. The firm designed this home to hold 140 solar panels, 100 of which are mounted on the south-facing standing seam metal roof. The solar array provides all the power the house needs and makes the home a net exporter of power.
Photo: Gary Zvonkovic
The arrays float above the standing seam metal roof, held in place by girders that drop over the fascia and anchor into the wall. It is another element of expressing the structure of the house, and along the north elevation, the girders are highlighted at night by low-voltage LED lights.
A major job of the solar array is to power a geothermal heat pump, which beats back the cruel Houston summer heat and humidity. In addition to the solar collectors, underneath the front porch is a 7,000-gallon cistern that collects the copious Houston rainfall and treats it. The home is totally self-sufficient for power and for water.
“I like to say the house is coupled to the sun for power, coupled to the earth for its cooling and coupled to the sky for its water,” says Adams.