- Project Type: Single-Family Home
- Location: Fraser, Colorado
The Fraser Net-Zero Energy Home is a new, “100-year,” net-zero energy house outside of Fraser, Colorado. Recognizing the beautiful but extremely harsh environment, this year-round residence applies a host of passive and active building technologies with real-time monitoring devices to ensure an inviting and inspiring home.
The Fraser Home presented real design challenges for achieving energy efficiency: the home is situated at an elevation of 8,000 feet with an average annual temperature of 34°F. As a net-zero energy house, the Fraser Home produces as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis (net-zero carbon emissions) as well as enough electricity to power two electric vehicles. Properly oriented to the sun, the open floor plan makes the most of daylighting and passive solar heating and cooling strategies. With a 17-kilowatt PV system and an evacuated tube solar thermal array, the 5,232-square-foot home is grid-tied and all electric but uses no fossil fuels.
The cherry on the top was the addition of a green roof. This roof deck is essentially an outdoor living room that brings outdoor texture and biodiversity into the family’s living space. For more on the way Caddis has designed with nature at the Fraser Home and at other sites, read our blog post “Designing with Nature: Biodiverse Design in Caddis Projects.”
The contemporary mountain house melds technology with poetry through a palate of natural materials both inside and out. Truth in materiality is expressed in the form of exposed concrete floors and timber trusses as well as reclaimed snow-fence and corrugated zinc siding. Situated among windswept rocks and trees, this warm and inviting home is truly built to stand the test of time.
Read more about the Fraser Home in Architect, the journal of the American Institute of Architects.