Timeless Design: The Carlson's Passivhaus

Timeless Design: The Carlson's Passivhaus

Project Spotlight

The perfect Autumn photo!

It’s fall, y’all! For many of us, this writer included, this is undoubtedly the loveliest time of the year. The air has a chill not yet bad enough to warrant a parka, and pumpkin spice flavor gets implemented in ever-changing, miraculous ways. And who can forget the array of colors in the changing leaves, albeit for what feels like mere days. The stars certainly aligned for us in this article, however, and we were able to take photos of this spotlight-worthy home at the peak of the autumnal colors. This fall edition of Studio Pages takes us up to River Forest, to a home whose design is nothing short of timeless and whose story will certainly pique one’s interest. Please join us in welcoming the Carlsons to our newsletter!

Julie and Quinn Carlson purchased their home a little over ten years ago, drawn to River Forest’s proximity to the city while still being an area suited to families. While not exactly a teardown, the original house was nearing one hundred years old and had a long list of necessary updates, so when it came time to consider the options, the Carlsons knew that starting from scratch would make more sense in the long run. Their builder put the two into contact with Studio21 Architects, and in 2013, design of their custom home was underway.

One of the most important steps in the Design Phase is sitting down and cataloging your and your family’s needs and day-to-day routines. Of course, the foundational elements like the number of bedrooms and bathrooms are a great place to start, but going beyond to that next level really can make all the difference in the finished product. Ask yourself where you find the biggest flaws in your home to be, or what changes would you make to simplify those everyday tasks; applying those considerations to your design makes for a perfectly suited home. To suit their needs and routines, the Carlson’s decided that their home should include elements like an attached garage, ideal for the biting Chicago winters, a second-story laundry room, and—Julie’s favorite spot in the house—a screened porch for indoor/outdoor living.

While this project is our autumn spotlight, the colors of fall do seem slightly contradictory to a crucial piece of the Carlson home. How's that, you ask? Well, that is simply because the Carlson’s home was built to be green! Awful joke aside, one of the needs on the Carlson’s wish list was energy efficiency. When I say energy efficiency, I mean business; Julie and Quinn’s home was designed and built with the ideals of ultimate energy-efficiency in mind. In architectural terms, the home could be considered a Passivhaus, a German design term to describe homes with at least ninety percent less energy used and a passively maintained interior climate. In a standard home, the highest amount of energy is used in heating and cooling the interior (this is especially true in a climate with four very disparate seasons!) To achieve a consistently comfortable temperature without high expenditure of energy, smart design and construction methods must be applied. The exterior walls of the Carlson home are much thicker than an average home’s would be, so there is space to accommodate the amount of insulation needed to keep their interior climate comfortable. The home’s windows are also some of the most energy-efficient ones on the market; manufactured in Germany, these windows have four panes to manage heat loss four times over.
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Summarize this project in a few words and one of them would certainly be efficiency. Another word, however, would probably be “forward-thinking”. Designing for the long term was a high priority focus for Julie and Quinn; at the start of the project, their two children were quite young, so thinking ahead about how the floor plan would suit the kids as teenagers was paramount. For the Carlsons, thinking ahead served as a way to achieve timeless design, as they considered what they needed now as well as what they might need in the future. They made a salient point on the topic of achieving a timeless design: families grow, needs change, and those things are simply inevitable. Julie and Quinn sought a design with flexible spaces in its floorplan, especially in the common areas, so that as different needs arise, their space can accommodate in an uncomplicated way. A great example of this is their study: after a time, the study no longer served their needs, and with just a little rearranging of furniture, it became a cozy lounge.
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The story of the Carlson home’s ability to change does not lie solely in the home itself, however. In 2020, after six years in their custom home, Julie and Quinn decided to further embrace the changes that come with life by starting a second 

project: an addition! They decided to move ahead with adding a great room to the back of their house for a few different reasons, including a desire for more entertaining space and more indoor/outdoor flow. The addition flanks the pool, and with a total of three French doors that lead to the backyard, this space feels like the ideal entertaining area for a pool party or barbecue in the summer. In the colder weather, this space gets just as much use; the central fireplace acts as a gathering point, and the built-in wet bar allows for easy entertaining all in one room. During the addition project, the Carlsons also decided to complete finishing the basement, and with the great room having a second point of entry to the basement, one also has access to the media room downstairs.

In terms of energy efficiency, designing this addition was no small feat. One challenge existed in the addition’s fireplace; to keep the temperature passively consistent, the main house is extremely well-insulated, so having a fireplace in the same HVAC system would have been a fire hazard. To circumvent any danger down the line, the addition has an independent climate system, as well as some hidden design tricks to make the great room effectively a separate entity from the main house, without feeling or looking that way. With the new spaces, the floor plan of the overall home did change with the times––easy changes though, since the design planned ahead! What used to be the living area became a formal dining space, and what used to be the dining area is now a flexible space complete with a coffee bar.

At the risk of my veering on the side of pedantic, the ancient Greek quote, “Change is the only constant” is spot on, and in terms of one’s home, change is absolutely something we can all count on. We may be unable to bypass change entirely, but we can plan for it, and a home that has the capability to adjust and change with those who live there is a smart way to keep your home feeling perennial. When asked about their advice for homeowners starting their own design journey, Julie and Quinn expressed that giving yourself time is the smartest thing you can do. Take the time to do your research and to thoroughly think about what your home needs to be right for you and your family. Because taking the time to assess means you can think about what you need now, and what you may need later.

Want more? See the full gallery here.

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By: Emma H.

Emma works as the Marketing Manager at Studio21 Architects. For each of our newsletters, Emma conducts interviews, writes articles, and formats the pages to make sure they reflect the great design we value so strongly at this firm. She may not be an architect, but she certainly makes sure that our marketing materials have the same high-quality design that our architecture has!