Architecture
We built The House on Third Street in an older Sandusky neighborhood so we would be close to the public and public officials….and it certainly helped to reduce the lot cost. Because people tend to think of sustainable homes as something unusual or weird, we wanted to dispel that notion by designing a home that would fit into the neighborhood. We think we have succeeded. On occasion, people coming to visit The House on Third Street for the first time, will call to say they can't find it, when if fact they have passed by it a couple of times.
We used design elements from throughout the city and time period. Many of the homes in Sandusky are fairly small. To reduce The House on Third Street's profile, you will notice that I stepped the floor plan back. From the street the home looks small, but once you enter it opens up as you move towards the back of the home. The front porch also helps to breakup and visually minimize the presence of the front of the home.
Heat Gain/Loss (Also see Materials/ Insulation) We are more concerned about heat gain than we are with heat loss. To reduce heat gain, We reduced window sizes where possible. The rear of the house faces south and therefore receives the most sun. To reduce heat gain, we used two small window on the home's back wall. One window helps to light and ventilate the master bedroom's walk in shower. The second window lights and ventilates the utility room.
The long porch on the west side of the house roof shields the windows and half lite door from the afternoon sun.
Like most cities, the homes in Sandusky are built close together, making privacy and issue. Typically people cover their window with drapes and keep them closed. To avoid that delemma, rather than using double hung windows and keeping drapes drawn all the time, we used small windows where possible and placed them up high. This allows light to enter and at the same time maintains our privacy.
