case studies
Vertical cedar siding was used to create visually pleasing lines to connect different sets of windows together. THOM GAINES PHOTOS
Growing Family, Building Green Crafting a New Net-Zero Home to Last for Generations BY MARK WULFF AND JOSH BROWN hen Mark Wulff and Ariana DeToro-Forlenza met in 2004 as instructors at an outdoor school, there were nights when they slept in the open air with nothing but a sleeping bag between them and the sky. When they bought their first home in 2011, 900 square feet in West Asheville was plenty for their active lifestyle — it was a roof over their heads. After one decade, two kids, and years of experience building homes for others, what used to feel cozy was beginning to feel cramped. “We started dreaming of our new home years before we started
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building it,” said Wulff, a founder and owner of Brown Wulff Homes. “But from my experience building, I know that a house has to be responsive to the land it’s on, so we didn’t make any specific design decisions before we found our lot.” When they finally found their lot in Malvern Walk, they had the canvas they needed. With the help of their architect, they set out to design an energy-efficient, creative, family-friendly home with a few critical priorities to guide them: n Green building practices, including an all-electric energy model n Lots of glass to fill spaces with light and take advantage of southwest views
n A connection between indoor
and outdoor living spaces “Ari and I never want to lose that connection with our environment that has been an important part of our careers and lives,” Wulff said. “As we grow, we encounter new ways to act on our ideals. For our family right now, that means building and maintaining a house in a way that is thoughtful about our energy use and the impact we have on the climate. We understand the environmental impact that building a new house has, so we were committed to building a house that would utilize those resources to build a home that we hope will last for generations.” When they broke ground on the project, they decided to pur-
sue the highest level of Green Built Homes certification they could achieve, without breaking the bank. They wanted to prove that building green can be cost effective and easier to achieve than some might think. They knew from experience that it would require
Project Team Builder — Brown Wulff Homes Architect — Assembly Architecture & Build
Solar Contractor — Sugar Hollow Solar
HVAC Contractor — Stickels Service Co.
HERS Rater — Vandemusser Design
www.GREENBUILT.org
