The Arlington Designer Homes team is excited to announce that we have won a 2019 GALA Award (Great American Living Awards) for Green Building. We were awarded for this beautiful home:
We were delighted with the opportunity to develop this unique jewel nestled into a quiet and verdant corner of North Arlington. This special home offers such a wonderful combination of seamless flow for entertaining and quiet comfortable spaces for family retreat. It combines the formal with everyday living to make this the perfect space for almost any family combination.
On the constraints side of things, we must “color within the lines” of the development codes of Arlington County. Things such as lot coverage, storm water management and other zoning restrictions narrow our options even on an oversized lot like this one. So, while working within Arlington County’s stone monolith of a system, we were able to chisel out a grand home for some lucky person or family.
This home has many “poly-spaces,” or multiple-use spaces. This aspect is one of the things that make the home and our design process unique. We are designing for today and looking to tomorrow. Many of these spaces can be used as one thing today and, as the needs of the family change, morph into something else for the occupants of tomorrow. Take, for example, the Garden Room to the rear of the house. This is a great place to curl up and read a book today. Tomorrow it might be the kids’ area while mom and dad have a glass of wine at the kitchen island, and next year it could be easily converted into a second office. With stacked closets and level handles, this home is accessible to someone who is wheelchair-bound. No one can predict the future. But we can sure try and plan for it!
Green Building — Our Philosophy
The term Green building is thrown around a lot. What Green building means to us is:
- A more comfortable, healthier home;
- Money saving features;
- Reducing our carbon footprint.
We use our green building techniques as a tool to create a tighter envelope and avoid unwanted air infiltration. Controlling where and when air comes in and out of the house enables us to prevent allergens and moisture from entering a home. This in turn creates a healthier and more comfortable living environment.
We incorporate money saving features such as an Energy Recovery Ventilator to exchange stale air with fresh air while using less energy to heat and cool a home.
The last leg of the stool is reducing the overall use of fossil fuels in our homes. This goal is a part of our whole process but we take it further by making all our homes solar ready, installing all LED lighting and using our advanced insulation systems to heat and cool a home using less than 50% of the energy it would take heat and cool a standard code built home.
