Root River House

Located near Lanesboro, Minnesota, this rural home was designed and constructed using passive house principles. The owner’s property, located on the Root River, includes an area of open prairie which provided a lot of flexibility to orient the building for solar exposure while providing views across the prairie. The main house is slab-on-grade and has a robust, high-performance envelope. The smaller structure contains a two car garage, a large attic storage area and a workshop space with a root cellar/tornado shelter in the basement area below. The two are connected by a screened porch that converts to a 3-season space in the colder months. Check out the owner’s website for more information.

Designed during my time at Design Coalition, an architecture firm in Madison, Wisconsin.