Each wing features a butterfly-shaped roof, capturing rainwater, hiding the home’s photovoltaic array, and providing solar shading and access. The passive solar design features low-E windows on the south face of each wing, significantly reducing energy transmission.

Photovoltaic panels generate most of the home’s power needs. Solar thermal panels supply heat for domestic water and radiant floors, and a geo-exchange system uses the soil under the house as a heat sink year-round, rejecting heat in summer and extracting it during the winter.

The grey water/rainwater systems demonstrate that water conservation is critical for truly sustainable design and this project exemplifies technical achievement in grey water usage. Spent water from the washing machine is collected and filtered to provide potable-equivalent water for dual flush toilets.

This is the first City of Chicago-approved grey water system for residential use. The design team proved the system was so safe that any water that might be returned to the city’s water supply would be as clean or cleaner than the water that came into the house from that same water supply.

Sustainable building materials feature FSC cabinetry and structural wood, recycled newspaper countertops, recycled-glass wall tiles and no-VOC paints. Oak flooring that once covered the floors of the home that was formerly on the site was salvaged and refinished to clad the stairs. Artfully placed FSC rain screen cedar cladding provides a combination of privacy, functionality and beauty to the exterior.

Located two blocks from a commuter rail stop in the dense, walkable Ravenswood neighborhood, it sits on the site of a formerly mold and lead contaminated building.