SUSTAINABLE DESIGN / HONOR

Entry: 5140 House, Lincoln, Nebraska
Firm: FOUNDarchitects
Owner(s): Wendy Hind
Photographer: Peter Hind, AIA

The client had a typical program for a new larger “environmentally friendly” residence which also included exterior family living spaces and a “Three Season Room.” We convinced them that it would actually use less resources to stay in their 1956 home and make it sustainable. 

Our goal for this project was to reduce the original program size and enhance the existing condition.  Our first action was to optimize the existing structure. We did this by adding skylights, cork flooring, efficient lighting/plumbing fixtures, doubling insulation, and updating the mechanical system.   

In the middle of a deep site, there was room for expansion in two directions. The south intervention opened the existing kitchen. The exterior space provides a semi-protected front porch connecting it to the house and the neighborhood. The north intervention houses the master suite and music room. This addition also defines a shaded garden and patio of reclaimed slate and native grasses.

Jury Comments: Judicious use of materials and modifications that transforms a conventional residence that blends well together, in harmony with its natural surroundings, and respectful and sensitive to the built environment.