The Desert Rain house generates more power than it uses and recycles all its own water Running a building off rain and sunlight sounds like an ecological fantasy. But the Desert Rain House, situated on the high, dry desert of Bend, Oregon, has managed to achieve a standard for sustainability that no other residential project in the world has met.
As the first Living Building Challenge certified home, it not only generates more power than it uses, but recycles and reuses all its own water, leaving the most minuscule of footprints. According to architect Al Tozer of Tozer Design, the project architect, the process, an eight-year journey of resourceful design and refinement, was far from simple.
?This is the first home in the world to get such a challenging certification,? says Tozer. ?And it was worth the year wait.? Tozer designed the home to reflect both the Oregon landscape, and the southwestern home where co-owner Tom Elliott grew up. A compound of five buildings supporting extensive solar arrays, the project includes a 2,200-square-foot main home and two apartments, a 500-square-foot studio, and a two-story utility structure with a top floor apartment. If this type of project could be built near downtown Bend in central Oregon, the owners felt, it could be done anywhere.
While the shed roofs, butterfly roofs, and straight lines of the structures give the buildings a sleek, modern look, they also have an earthy, organic side, from the natural tones to a wall that ...