ten roofs photos: steve mann/black box photography
Ten Roofs, Brush Creek, North Carolina
This passive- and active-solar house, is composed of ten roof planes. The two highest, southern-facing roof planes are sloped at a greater angle to create an ideal location for solar hot water panels on one and photovoltaic panels on the other. A ‘pop-up’ roof over the breakfast nook lifts up to the surrounding mountain views and the southern sky, bringing daylight and sky deep into the house, making it feel bigger, orienting its inhabitants to the natural world, blurring the line between indoors and out and providing substantial area for passive-solar heat gain. Upon entering a house where the tops of windows are all placed horizontally and at the standard 7 or 8 foot height, I often notice myself and others moving closer to the windows to get a better sense of the sky—its always comforting to see. The pop-up roof allows this comforting view from much of the most popular areas of the house. The overhangs of the pop-up roof are sized to appropriately shade the windows below from summer sun.
Two well-used craft studios are woven into the plan of this house: an 800 sf woodworking studio over the carport, accessed by spiral stairs from the main level, and a 600 sf quilting studio on the west end of the main level.
In addition to the two owners, two dogs and seven cats (most of them rescued), call this home. A series of exterior and interior pet doors manages the animals’ access to various areas of the house.
SIZE: 2760 sf conditioned space, 3 bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms, plus 800 sf woodshop over carport and canoe storage area
SITE SIZE: 47 Acres
COMPLETED: 2008
CONTRACTOR: Bill Green
INTERIORS: Alchemy Design, Traci Kearns
ACTIVE SOLAR: Sundance Power Systems
MAIN SUSTAINABLE FEATURES: Passive solar heating and cooling, slab-on-grade thermal mass with radiant tubing, 2.52 KW line-tie photovoltaic system, four 4x10 flat plate solar hot water collectors, Icynene insulation