Residential Projects

Originally part of a Spanish Colonial estate north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Rocking Horse Hacienda is a working organic farm with a collection of historic and more recent buildings. During renovation, traditional adobe and viga/latilla structures were preserved, with new construction providing active solar heating, high performance building envelope, heat recovery ventilation and water catchment. Recycled building materials were favored over virgin products.

These residences are successful efforts to bring sustainable systems and modernist architecture to the speculative housing market. Modest in cost, they utilize high performance envelopes and glazing, high mass/passive solar design and natural ventilation. Against the predictions of skeptics who doubted both the aesthetic and the technical approach, the homes were under contract even before completion.

architecture: Hugh MacPherson Driscoll, principal, Chord Architecture.

The Valencia house minimizes its ecological footprint through passive solar design, a high performance envelope, active solar thermal collection and photovoltaics. The house will be an annual net producer of energy.

Construction scheduled 2012.

architecture: Hugh MacPherson Driscoll, principal, Chord Architecture.
 
 

This house will achieve net zero energy use through passive solar design, a high performance envelope, active solar heating and photovoltaic systems. Indoor air quality is a priority, along with water conservation and xeriscaping. Construction scheduled 2012.

architecture: Hugh MacPherson Driscoll, principal, Chord Architecture.
 
 

A series of related dwellings designed for a non-profit affordable housing provider, these homes seek to maximize value through economy of space, material and energy use. Homes were built in a variety of locations across Santa Fe County and strategies refined over time to meet economic and performance targets.

architecture: Hugh MacPherson Driscoll, principal, Chord Architecture.

Buildings 500 and 700.

Infill live/work units promote efficiency in transportation and energy use for a creative community in a neglected part of Santa Fe. Multiple unit types and flexible configurations for both lease and sale. The language of the building is informed by the geology of erosion, local Anasazi archeological sites and the Unite d’Habitation.

architecture: Hugh MacPherson Driscoll, principal, Chord Architecture; photography: Driscoll, Kohlmann.

Building 700 Visualization
 
 

The Vallecita residence is designed for a chemically sensitive (MCS) client with an interest in deeply reducing the family’s environmental footprint. Careful specification of materials and use of a heat recovery ventilation system create an indoor refuge from the volatile toxins that are ubiquitous in industrialized countries and in many standard construction materials.