hickory house

Hickory-House-9_Ron-Pollard

Hickory-House-11_Ron-Pollard-VaST

Hickory-House-3_Ron-Pollard

Hickory-House-5_Ron-Pollard

Photo Credit | Ron Pollard

Architect | Joseph Vigil
Interior Designer | Brandy LeMae

Being great fans of mid-century modern, Bauhaus and the Southern California Case Study program as well as proponents of the sustainable building movement, Architect Joseph Vigil and artist Brandy LeMae designed Hickory House in the International Style using contemporary green building products.

LeMae and Vigil traveled back to their native California to study the famous residential designs of Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Neutra, Frank Llyod Wright and others to fuel inspiration for their green-built Boulder home.

Construction costs for this green-built residence were less than $90 per square foot. It appeared on the Solar & Green Built Home Tour in 2003 and 2004. Tom Plant, Director of the Center for Resource Conservation in Boulder said of the project, “Hickory house is really one of the best examples of how to use the latest green building products. It’s a great passive solar design”.

The house was published in the September 2005 issue of Dwell magazine and has appeared on HGTV and been published in a number of other periodicals as well as two books.

Eco Foundation Cempo® Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs)
Walls/Roof: Premier® Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs)
Windows: Sierra Pacific® Sustainable Forestry Initiative Low-E
Buderus Furnace and side-arm water heater, radiant in-floor heating system
Trex® recycled content decking and Ipe hardwood

Less than 3,000 SF
Passive solar design and thermal chimney
Sustainably harvested lumber and ACQ greenboard
Engineered wood used in structural framing
Low solvent construction adhesives
Recycled cotton insulation
Concrete floors sealed and no flooring materials installed
No construction dumpster used; all applicable construction waste recycled
Natural linoleum with wheatsheet underlayment used for counter tops
Dimmer switches and compact fluorescent lighting
Canadian Blue Fescue lawn and xeriscape plants with a drip irrigation system
PV System

 2,983 Gross Square Feet

 $429,420 Total Project Cost / $264,980 Hard Construction Cost