Stephen Harrison Feinberg
Stephen Harrison Feinberg
This project was completed as part of my Summer 2020 Passive House Certification. The Tahoe Mountain Retreat is a low-impact home above the western shores of Lake Tahoe. Designed as a vacation home for a Bay Area family, the residence also doubles as a bed & breakfast for fellow vacationers interested in sustainable living. With mild summers and a snowy, cold winter climate, the house is primarily heating-dominated. Double stud walls with dense pack cellulose insulation, high performing windows with low U-factors and optimal solar heat gain coefficients, an insulated slab-on-grade foundation, and an insulated roof system with wooden trusses all contribute to indoor thermal comfort, even in the cold winter months. Thoughtful design includes maximizing south-facing glazing to invite winter solar gain, while also maximizing views of the lake to the east. Heating and ventilation is supplemented by a simple ERV system, and energy use is minimized with high performance Energy Star appliances.
Double stud wall meets slab-on-grade foundation on top of prefabricated EPS block insulation
High performance quadruple pane Zola window section
Double stud wall meets pitched truss roof with dense pack cellulose and rigid insulation
Interstitial Floor Section - Inner stud wall is load-bearing, allowing outer stud wall and exterior siding to run continuously