Project Team
Medici Architects
Dwell Development
David Robertson Design
The Lakeview Solar Community embraces a distinctly modern yet contextual design with reclaimed wood cladding and craftsman inspired details to complement the waterfront neighborhood’s existing aesthetic. Situated high above the Northwest’s famous evergreens, the design capitalizes on each home’s elevation, providing panoramic mountain and city views from terraces and living spaces.
By meeting Built Green’s rigorous green goals, Lakeview exceeds the already high Washington State energy code by more than 70 percent. The design optimizes natural light, increasing quality of life while decreasing energy use, with bright, open living environments, even on Seattle’s rainiest days. Equipped for net positive energy use, each home is pre-wired for rooftop solar arrays for passive solar gain, further optimizing energy savings and reducing the occupant’s carbon footprint. In fact, all four homes had solar panels installed by the end of 2016; some of which were as large as 10kw, which will be able to capture enough energy from the sun to give back to the grid.
Prioritizing water savings, simple design techniques were applied such as pervious pavement, native landscaping, and high efficiency plumbing fixtures, conserving approximately 6,000 gallons of water per year for each home. The building standard emphasizes clean indoor air and thermal comfort. To achieve this, Dwell Development added insulation, integrated state-of-the-art heat recovery ventilation (HRV) for ideal comfort and continuous fresh air, pre-wired each home for mini-split systems to offer high-efficiency heating and cooling, and used draft-free high performance triple-glazed windows and doors to keep inside temperatures comfortable year around.
Home systems are optimized with Kirio, an innovative home automation technology that learns use patterns to achieve optimal efficiency for all home systems including thermostats, lighting, ventilation, appliances, and solar to conserve energy and lower utility bills. In fact, the creator of Kirio invented the system after purchasing Dwell Development’s Passive House, one of the first speculative homes in Seattle to be built to passive house standards. By integrating reclaimed and native materials such as locally procured wood and flooring, corrugated metal and recycled building materials, Dwell Development eliminated the energy use required for new material production, diverting waste from landfills, and reducing fuel emissions in material creation.
