This row house is designed to produce as much energy as it uses – Toronto Star

When Washington, D.C. architects Will Teass and his wife Liz Dixon created a home for themselves and their family they managed to realize three priorities with it: sustainability, comfort and beauty.

It has exceeded our expectations. Its such a pleasant space to live in, Teass says.

When he bought the original brick townhouse, in the spring of 2020, he did so sight unseen. Wed always wanted to take on a project of this scale, and, in our minds eye, we knew some of the programmatic elements we wanted.

NetZeroRowHouse is a dramatic renovation centred on sustainability. The idea with Net Zero is for the house to produce as much energy as it uses. Teass says the most important elements of going for this was decoupling it from the gas grid.

"We weren't required to keep the front faade, but we figured it was the right move, because it's one of eight units that are all the same front," says Teass. (Kate Wichlinski)

The renovation of the 2,900-square-foot home involved keeping the front faade and pushing back the rear wall. This enlarged the living spaces on all four floors. The lower basement level was excavated to accommodate a rental apartment. The kitchen, dining and living areas on the first floor open out to a deck. There are two bedrooms and a kids den on the second floor.

A third floor was added. It holds the main suite and the home office. Set back from the roof line, it also creates a private roof deck. We were able to create a space right off a studio home office, with the ability to just open a glass door and walk out there and really take advantage of the city scape. Its probably our personal favourite.

The home was completed in Jan 2022.

Teass, of the firm of Teass Warren Architect, in Washington, D.C., explains how his project came together:

The deck off the office on the third floor is the couple's favourite place to enjoy a morning coffee or evening drink. (Kate Wichlinski)

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What were the priorities for sustainability? Decoupling the home from the gas grid, so all of our appliances, heating and cooling and hot water are all produced by electricity and not natural gas or oil (was the first). The second thing was figuring out how to produce as much electricity on site by, in this case, solar panels. The third thing is making sure youre designing a very energy-efficient structure, youre using a high efficiency heating and cooling system, high quality doors and windows that minimize air leakage, insulating the walls and ceiling to, at least, code value, if not above, then minimizing your electrical load to the maximum extent possible.

A skylight and a staircase with an open rise maximize sunlight within the home. (Kate Wichlinski)

What were the challenges? The first was building in the middle of the pandemic. Other challenges were working on a small urban site, a relatively tight space, so youre trying to do a lot of things in a very small area.

At the rear of the house, large windows on the second and third floors and a large door on first floor bring sunlight into the home. (Kate Wichlinski)

Is it difficult to design a house when youre an architect and youre going to be living in it? Youre always critical. Youre constantly thinking about things you would have done differently. My wife is an architect, so there was a great collaboration of the two of us to work on the project, (and) were happy with this. As architects we think, OK, the next time, were going to make this little change.

A large, glass, bifold door opens to a rear deck, covered by a shade, which leads into the rear garden. (This doubles as a parking area.) (Kate Wichlinski)

Do you feel a responsibility to design sustainable homes? I think it is our responsibility to help educate our clients about what the responsibilities are. We do have a responsibility to point out design elements and to understand what energy footprints are, really think about employing sustainable strategies and do so whenever we can.

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This row house is designed to produce as much energy as it uses - Toronto Star