The main house is most definitely our dream home. We have designed it in a way that it is gives us plenty of space for our needs, it has the aesthetic and functional qualities we idealize in a home, it is a single story uncomplicated design/structure, it uses alternative building materials and it is unique. There isnt much more to say other than we designed it for the way we want to live.

The Design
The house is in the shape of an octagon with an interior courtyard. It uses custom box columns consisting of dimensional lumber to form the 16 main corner exterior and interior court yard supporting posts. Every door and window then also has a modified post-and-beam box column with additional 4x4 posts placed whenever needed to provide adequate support for the beams. 3 1/2" x 7 1/2" Glu-Lam Beams are used across the top of all exterior walls. Dual Pitch Roof Trusses are used for the entire roofing system where the high pitch is facing in toward the courtyard. Roof Truss Girders are placed at the 8 corner angles to provide additional support. Auto-Claved Aerated Concrete Blocks (E-Crete) is used for all interior walls except the Wet Walls (for plumbing in bathroom/kitchen) to provide excellent insulation between rooms and sound barriers. Under-slab Radiant Floor is used to the primary heating source during winter with an Efficient Wood Burning Stove as a back-up. Exterior is Cement Plaster Stucco and Interior a Gypsum Plaster. Floor will be Finished/Stained Concrete. The couryard will be shaded with a trellis, have a water fountain and plants to help cool the house in the hot dry summers. We have oriented the house based on the suns movement during the seasons.