LIVING IN HARMONY

GREENFIELD 05/16/04
Publication: The Sunday Gazette
Published: 05/16/04

Greenfield house is beautiful, designed with ecology in mind
Byline: By JOANNE McFADDEN

To the untrained eye, the Greenfield home of Michael and Marci Phinney looks like a charming, warm dwelling nestled in a woodsy setting. Exposed timbers on the inside give it a hint of rusticity, and a large granite hearth contributes to the Adirondack feel.

However, the entire house is a "green" house, designed to be environmentally friendly -- from its orientation and design to the construction materials and interior finishes.

At just 31, Michael Phinney already has plenty of architectural experience. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with degrees in architecture and building science. He was the Architect in Charge of the state Department of Environmental Conservation building in Albany, the first "green-certified" building in the state.

In May of last year, about the same time he and his wife were moving into the new home they built, he started his own firm, Phinney Design Group, in Saratoga Springs.

Building philosophy

The home is a prime example of Phinney's residential building philosophy. "It's a goal of mine to make environmentally friendly architecture that's beautiful," said Phinney.
He doesn't want people to look at one of his homes and think, "That's an eco-friendly house." He wants them to think that the house is beautiful . . . and, oh, by the way, it does all of these environmentally friendly and energy-conserving things, too.

"That's the challenge that we have," Phinney said. "As a society, we're always sold on aesthetics first. You need to bridge art and beauty with sustainable ideals."

The orientation on the site was an important part of this process. "We wanted to minimize our footprint on the land and protect the existing ecosystem," said Frank Laskey, president of Capital Construction in Ballston Spa, who served as construction manager for the project.

To this end, they cut down as few trees as possible, to avoid altering the natural landscape. (The trees they did have to cut down the couple are using as firewood, Marci points out.)

Laskey said that it would have been much easier to go in, cut down trees, and level a nice area. "This project really does respect the site, which is really important," Laskey said. There won't be any manicured lawn, but rather native plants and minimal landscaping.

Local material

The Phinneys built the home with as many natural materials as possible, with no vinyl or plastic. Anything that had to be fabricated came from recycled or recyclable materials. Wherever possible, they used local products.

The steps leading up to the house from the gravel driveway are made from huge rocks that the couple dragged out of the woods of the 26-acre property. The floors are made of red birch, a hard wood, which was grown, cut and milled in the Lake George area. The exposed beams are made from local hemlock trees. The kitchen countertops, which are works-in-progress, will be made of cast concrete from molds that the Phinneys built themselves.

Carpets are minimal, and the floor coverings they do have can be washed. Marci is sensitive to allergens and chemicals, so natural materials and finishes are important, not only for their "green" aspects, but their healthy qualities as well.

All of the paint, adhesives and stains the Phinneys used are no-VOC or low-VOC (volatile organic compounds), meaning that they do not contain, or contain only low amounts of, harmful chemicals. The paints on their walls -- the Italianate stucco-look finish in the kitchen (Phinney's mother painted this), sage green in the great room, rust in the entry, slate blue in an upstairs bathroom, and gold in the bedroom -- are earth tones from Sherwin Williams Harmony (low-VOC) collection.

Heating, cooling

The house has a southern orientation, and is built with two concrete slabs under two parts of the house. (A partial basement under the central core of the home houses the mechanical systems.) The house is heated and cooled by a passive solar system. The concrete slabs act as a big heat sink, Phinney said, soaking up the heat of the sun, which shines through the large windows on the south side all the way to the inside of the north wall.

In the summer, two fans, placed strategically near the high ceilings, flush out the hot air that has risen to the top of the house. "As soon as the temperature and humidity drop outside, we open everything up," Phinney explained. They reverse the fans in the winter to circulate warm air through the house at night.

The outside of the house has several overhangs, which contribute to its energy efficiency. While they look whimsical, made from cedar shakes over gentle curves, they serve a practical purpose -- keeping the house cooler in the summer and protecting it from the elements in the winter.

"I like the deep overhangs that he has on the eaves that protect the house from the summer sun, but in the winter when the sun is low, they let the sun in," says Laskey.

Although they are a functional element, the curves let Phinney play. "When I can, I put curves in things. I think curves are just a little more fluid and organic. They help the house blend into the natural environment -- it's not so stark or linear," he said.

The Phinneys inserted a wood stove into the hearth opening instead of having a fireplace. This way, Phinney said, they get the Adirondack-like look of a grand stone fireplace without the drawbacks (i.e., heat loss). The wood stove could heat the whole house if need be. Recycled wood cellulose insulation helps retain the heat generated by a high-efficiency boiler.

Interior design

The interior layout is designed to suit the couple's lifestyle with a practical, informal, flowing design.

The front door opens into a combination foyer/mud room with a gauged slate floor of grays, reds and browns. Phinney tries to steer his clients away from having two separate rooms -- a mud room that just about everyone uses and big formal entry that is rarely used. Phinney calls it a "hello-goodbye space," because those entering from the front door or the garage pass through the room.

Combining the spaces makes room for a large armoire flanked by benches and cubbies for shoes and boots. Even though the room is primarily functional, wainscoting on the lower half of the walls makes it aesthetically pleasing.

The house doesn't have a formal living room or dining room. The kitchen is plenty big enough for an island and an eat-in area. The great room can be reconfigured depending on the couple's needs. There are also a table and chairs near the big window in the great room, with a seating arrangement of a couch, easy chair and oversized chair with a matching ottoman, which suits their needs most of the time.

"I'm trying to get people to think about smaller houses that are more flexible and efficient," Phinney said. His home is 2,450 square feet, a medium size (although he said that by some people's standards today, it would be considered on the small side), but with its high ceilings and open, flowing floor plan, it doesn't feel small.

On the north side is a guest room decorated with ethnic masks and figures, a couple of which they collected on vacations.

Upstairs layout

Upstairs, an office loft with a skylight looks over the great room. It has a fold-out couch, too, providing a bed for extra guests.

A large bathroom, centrally located between the upstairs bedrooms, serves as both bathroom and laundry area (hidden from view by a screen). The view looks right out onto the woods in the backyard.

A bedroom, which they plan to use as a child's room when they have children, is going to have a ladder leading up to a mezzanine level sleeping area so that the lower level room can be a play area.

The master bedroom has an arch over French doors that lead out to a balcony. The beams are treated with a water-based pickling, or "wiping," stain. The floor plan is again open, with walls that do not go all the way up to the ceiling, and a master bath adjacent to the bed, with no doors.

"We were thinking about how we might grow in the house," Phinney said. One parent could be bathing a child while the other is nearby in the bedroom.

Across from the bathtub, which is surrounded by porcelain tiles with a mosaic border of tiny tumbled travertine, is a double-sink vanity made of cultured marble and all-solid-wood cabinets.

Laskey said that when Phinney designed the house, he planned it very well. "He didn't just take things from here and there. He though about how all the parts worked together and how to make a complete package out of it," Laskey said.

"It's very much a holistic approach."

Source: For The Sunday Gazette