Sustainable Lakefront Home

Sustainable Lakefront Home
The living roofs provide habitat and have a greater insulation value and noise reduction properties, while protecting the lake by infiltrating rain and snow melt
This beautiful modern home with a Tahoe twist is very low maintenance, sustainable, and easy living. MWA, and principal architect Kristi Thompson, balanced comfort and luxury with high performance and efficiency. Eliminating the use of high-maintenance wood on the exterior of the home led to the creative use of metal for siding, exposed structure, and roof fascia, while utilizing color tones and roof lines typical of Tahoe. Sustainable features include a roof solar PV array, multi-panel solar-thermal hot water system, ground-source heat pump for hydronic floor heating, living green roofs, reclaimed wood throughout, and abundant natural ventilation and light.

2015 CATT Award - Sustainable Building Methods Project of the Year


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Kristi/Karin,

On October 18, we moved into the new house that you designed for us and have been enjoying it immensely. It is even nicer than we had envisaged when we were looking at the plans on paper. The living space (Great Room, kitchen, eating area) are working out perfectly. We’ve had two sets of guests up already and having all that open space has been very handy. All the large windows in the back (Great Room, kitchen, master bedroom) make it feel like we’re camping. The steel staircase complements the exposed steel beams and posts and is a phenomenal centerpiece as you walk into the house.

We greatly appreciate the collaborative way in which you worked with us to come up with this design. We had some ideas on what we were after when we began the process, but you were able to shape our inchoate thoughts into something really spectacular. You also were very proactive in talking with the town’s building department and submitting our permit application at a fortuitous time for us. We also valued your input on what it would cost to build the place. Interestingly, despite COVID and all the related supply chain issues we’ve experienced over the past year and a half, our actual construction cost came in very close to your original ball park estimate.

Thank you very much for your partnership in helping us realize a real dream home.

All the best,

Joe Naylor & Karen Torres


-- Joe Naylor
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