Perkins & Will

SoLo House

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

SOLO HOUSE

Perkins&Will

ARCHITECTS
Perkins&Will

AREA
4090 ft²

YEAR
2020

PHOTOGRAPHS
Andrew Latreille

CATEGORY
Houses, Sustainability

LOCATION
Squamish-lillooet C, Canada

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Glotman Simpson

MANUFACTURERS
Structurecraft, Raico, Rockwool, Sansin, Structurlam, Warmboard, Zehnder, Bc Passive House, Fabreeka, Gencell

MANUFACTURERS
LG, Optiwin, Tesvolt

MEP ENGINEER
Integral

DEVELOPER
Delta Land Development

DESIGN TEAM
Aik Ablimit, Alysia Baldwin, Cillian Collins, Susan Gushe, Derek Newby, Joshua Rudd, Adrian Watson

Siting lightly upon a forested knoll overlooking the spectacular Soo Valley north of Whistler in British Columbia’s Coast Mountains, SoLo is not a typical alpine home.

With Delta Group’s intention to pioneer a future zero-emissions approach to building, Perkins&Will designed a prototype that demonstrates a unique approach to building off-grid in a remote environment where every choice has consequences.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

The performance led, the home expresses a restrained material palette while generating more energy than it uses, eliminating fossil fuels and combustion from its operation.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

Challenging conventions in both aesthetics and construction, the prototype acts as a testing ground for low-energy systems, healthy materials, prefabricated and modular construction methods, and independent operations intended to inform the approach to larger projects such as Canada’s Earth Tower.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

A Passive House certified building, wood was chosen as the primary structural material and is authentically expressed and exposed in its entirety throughout the home—a ‘temple to douglas fir’.

Passive House—An 'Enclosure-First’ Approach. Given the extreme climate, it was critical to have an ‘enclosure-first’ approach to ensure energy efficiency and outstanding comfort.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

Employing Passive House principles, Perkins&Will applied a two-layer approach to the enclosure—an outer heavy timber frame acts as a shield, resisting the weather, while the heavily insulated inner layer acts as the thermal barrier.

To make certain the house functions with exceptional thermal performance and airtightness, detailed thermal modeling was conducted of each weather condition.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

With the addition of double-height glazing opening the home up to the valley’s incredible views, the home has achieved PHI Low Energy Building certification.

Off-Grid Independent Operations. As an ‘off-grid’ home, a number of systems are required for its operational independence.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

With the goal to eliminate fossil fuels and combustion from its operation, Perkins&Will incorporated a photovoltaic array, geo-exchange system, and hydrogen fuel cell as a backup energy storage solution.

Although it reduces efficiency, the site’s topography, along with the snow accumulation in winter, led us to mount the 32kW array vertically on the south façade.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

Complementing the home’s solar generation, future provision for wind power was provided. The house collects and treats its own drinking water and processes its wastewater.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

The result is a self-sufficient house that generates more energy than it uses—beyond net-zero energy.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

PREFABRICATED AMD MODULAR CONSTRUCTION:

Solving the challenges provided by the site’s remote location and seasonal construction window, local builders were commissioned to prefabricate modular building elements units off-site.

This was essential to allow for a quick erection of the building in the summer season while decreasing the amount of equipment and materials needed to be delivered to the site—reducing the project’s embodied carbon footprint.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

Minimizing site disturbance, the modular prefabricated home was set on a light structure above the uneven terrain, reinforcing its relationship to the site as a ‘visitor’, allowing nature and the site to remain the focus.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

PERFORMANCE LED AESTHETIC:

Propelled by the project’s remoteness, Perkins&Will designed SoLo to express a distinctive performance led aesthetic that is deliberately authentic and unsentimental.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille

Focusing on the essential characteristics of the building, the home embodies a simple aesthetic through a restrained material palette and edited architectural features.

Unexpected and unique, the interior of the house features only six materials. The douglas fir structure is celebrated throughout the house, at once structure and finish.

SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo – A Performance-Led Approach

With a commitment to promote health and well-being, we purposely chose materials from our Precautionary List rounding out our holistic approach to sustainability by eliminating harmful chemicals.


SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille
SoLo House
© Andrew Latreille


SoLo House
Main floor plan
SoLo House
Loft level plan
SoLo House
Site plan
SoLo House
Elevation


SoLo House
Wall assembly diagram
SoLo House
Diagram
SoLo House
Systems diagram
SoLo House
Section


SoLo House
Building assembly

Perkins & Will
T +1 212 2517000 F +1 212 2517111
Perkins & Will
1250 Broadway Suite 200, New York, NY 10001, United States