The Gap

Canadensis, PA

2,100 SF

This modern home, positioned on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Delaware Water Gap, produces more energy than it uses. The entire home was designed to be a solar collector, with a thermal mass floor and a glass south wall, allowing the home to be mostly heated by the sun. The backup heat is a high-efficiency modern wood stove fueled by wood that was too small to mill into the flooring of the home. The north vertical windows represent the memory of the trees that were and allows the home to blend into the tree landscape. The home is built on a 12' structural grid of PSLs (Parallel Strand Lumber) beams with SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) spanning between them. The first 36' makes up the great room which was centered on the view, the next 12' is a condensed area containing the stairs and the kitchen and all bathrooms allowing the plumbing runs to stay short, the final 12' feet houses the master bedroom which has private views to the west. The upstairs houses two bedrooms on either side, a bathroom in the water core, a loft above the kitchen, and a double-height space wrapping the loft.

Envelope

• Wall: R-40 Polyurethane SIPs

• Roof: R-45 EPS SIPs

• Slab: R-15 XPS insulation under a 6" concrete slab

• Windows: Fiberglass ENERGY STAR windows

Mechanical

• Primary Heating Source: The Sun

• Secondary Heating Source: High-Efficiency Wood Stove

• Tertiary Heating Source: Ground Source Heat Pump with a Desuperheater

• Ventilation: ERV

• Domestic Hot Water Heat Recovery

• Solar Array: 4.6 kW with a monitoring system

Materials

• Siding: Standing Seam Metal, Fiber Cement Board Panels, Thermally Modified Poplar

• Roofing: Standing Seam Metal

• Beams: PSLs (Parallel Strand Lumber)

• Flooring: Slate (Locally Quarried), Wood (Red Oak, Beech, Cherry milled from the trees removed for the home)