A steep hillside site overlooking a stream in an existing urban neighborhood offered the potential to design a compact, elegant as well as efficient house that would merge with its hilly site to form a seamless whole. The owner had two primary goals for the design team: maximize light, view and pleasure while minimizing energy use and environmental impact.

To meet these goals, the design team brought long-term knowledge of sustainable technologies and products, as well as the ability to coordinate a large network of contractors, energy systems consultants and suppliers to create a design that integrates sustainability with great beauty.

The calibration of light and spatial flow brings life to this house through all seasons. Every room has natural daylight from at least two sides. The overall effect of windows, the 9-ft. 6-in. ceilings and the smooth linearity of the ash floor is an illusion of a surprising vastness that makes use of "borrowed scenery" from the stream valley and surrounding trees.

This narrow house is only 16-ft. wide with a modest footprint of 1,100 sq. ft. excluding the garage. A combination of serene modernism with pioneering energy conservation, this house sets new standards for sustainable design with measurable results, exceeding the Minnesota Energy Codes by 35% and, by so doing, meeting the Kyoto Protocol for minimizing impact on global climate change.