Rona Easton and Lonn Combs of EASTON+COMBS, the award-winning architectural office based in New Marlborough, Mass. have allowed Rural Intelligence to look over their shoulders (and those of their client) throughout the construction process of a high-performance home going up right now. This is the seventh installment of eight (or so — this is construction, after all) in a series that is giving us a lens into the building of an energy efficient house in Egremont, Mass.
The exterior metal finish moves towards completion.
The installation of the robust, maintenance-free metal finish is moving ahead. It's a surprisingly economical solution, offering “serious bang for your buck” according to Jim Cervone of Little Deer Construction, the General Contractor. It’s amazing to watch the installers from Wooliver, the metal fabricators, fold the steel like master origamists folding paper.
The windows are surrounded by a folded metal edge and sill that sheds water and provides a visual frame around the openings.
On the interior, all the infrastructure we don’t see in a finished home is steadily finding its place — heating, cooling and ventilation ducts, electrical cables. More notably, the skylights are in, flooding the interior with natural light and its well-documented psychological benefits (as well as decreasing the need to turn on the lights).
We have strategically located the skylights against walls, reflecting the light and maximizing its presence in the space. Designed to appear frameless, they provide direct and uninterrupted connection to the sky.
The house is filed with natural light, even on a cloudy day.
The skylight in the kitchen.
Coming up: Interior finishes and the bridge connection between the buildings.
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