Alchemy Architects
alchemyarch.com

Geoffrey Warner, FAIA; Eric Winter, AIA

Linden Hills weeHouse

Project Type: Remodel & New Construction

Sponsors: Andersen Windows & Doors (windows & doors), Phillips Garden (landscaping)

The 2007 “Not So weeHouse,” designed by Alchemy as a prefab spec house for a local realtor, was delivered as four modular boxes and completed in only three months. When the homeowners relocated in 2019, it was bought by Alchemy’s principal architect Geoffrey Warner, FAIA, who has been personalizing the house, making it a joyful and sustainable laboratory for city living.

The house is a celebration of natural and salvaged materials from the house and quirky artifacts from Alchemy’s other work. The loft-like finishes used are both economical and durable and, when paired with hand-crafted lighting and furnishings, lend vibrancy to an otherwise blank white slate.

To improve durability, comfort, and energy efficiency, the original exterior envelope insulation was doubled to R-35, with a new weather barrier and four inches of mineral wool. The siding is a rain screen of custom weathering steel and natural pine tar-finished salvaged cedar from the original house. A five-kilowatt solar array on the roof covers all of the house’s annual electrical needs, including a heat-pump water heater and electric floor heat in the bath.

The modernist xeriscape landscape is an inward-focused sequence of spaces that are both natural and man-made, lush and low maintenance, requiring little watering and no mowing. The same materials used for the house are brought to the hardscape, fences, and the storage-shed/outdoor kitchen box. Combined with reuse strategies, real materials are left raw or feature natural finishes, leading to a low carbon and low(er) cost approach to urban revitalization.