House Design

The rear of the house faces South. The house was designed to be linear to take full advantage of the winter sun for passive solar heating. The proper sizing of the overhangs shades these windows in the summer when the sun is higher in the sky, but still allows the lower winter sun to enter the living spaces.

The breakfast room, kitchen, family room and master suite are all on the first floor and have views of the wooded back yard. The second floor has an open area above the family room with celestory windows that bring light deep into the house on both first and second floor living areas. There is one upstairs bedroom that faces to the rear.

The house is designed to take full advantage of natural day lighting to brighten the main living areas. The front of the house faces due North. Since a North elevation is mostly shaded all of the time, it is still a good source for natural daylighting without the risk of gaining unwanted heat in the summer. For this reason, the master bathroom, foyer, dining room and two upstairs bedrooms face this exposure. With the careful design of window placements, this will create a great environment and feeling for all family members to enjoy.

Site Selection

The site selected for this North Carolina Healthy Built Home is located in the city of Belmont, approximately 20 minutes west of uptown Charlotte. With an easy 15 minute drive you can reach Charlotte - Douglas Airport. The lot is 1.35 acres in size and is located in a beautiful gated lake side community that has a lake front pool and club house for the residents and their guests. The back of the lot faces south and slopes to the small creek at the bottom. There are plenty of trees located on the lot and there are two flat road bed areas which add to the interesting topography. Those two areas would be great spots for intermediate "gathering area's" for fire pits, gazebo, etc. That could be added later to enhance the nature experience behind the house. Across from the creek the site backs up to 193 underdeveloped acres. The house will be positioned so the long axis of the house that runs E and W will be within 15 degrees of true South to allow for great passive design. We will design the house to see if we can qualify for NC passive solar tax credits.