JOHN DWYER ARCHITECT


Firm of Record
Role
Team
Location
Year   



Shelter Architecture
Principal, Lead Designer, Project Architect
Kurt Gough, Jackie Millea
Minneapolis, Minnesota
2007 Completed

 Designed before LEED for Homes existed, the process of accomplishing the fist LEED certified home of any kind in the state, and the first LEED Platinum home in the country, required participation in the USGBC’s development of the standards themselves. This was driven by the clients’ amibtion to create the world’s greenest home in a way that was economically viable.

Strategies were focused on those which gave the greatest payback. Active power systems were abandoned in favor of investing in the building envelope. The first those decisions was using a precast thermal mass technology recently developed by Dow. With insulation placed between layers of concrete, the concrete itself would act as a multiplier to the rigid insulation core. Not only was the system energy efficient, but durable and affordable as it required no other interior or exterior finish.

A commitment to this technology drove the tectonic resolution and utlimately the details and expression of the building. Raw, unrefined, imperfect, but composed and efficient.



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