Southwestern Home Plans & One Story Floor Plans From

This home was featured in the Jan./Feb. 2005 issue of "Natural Home" magazine. Designed by architect Paula Baker–Laporte, a nationally recognized and respected leader of the healthy home movement, and built by Prull & Associates, this home was created, with a great deal of owner participation, on a beautiful but challenging site with 360 degree views overlooking Santa Fe and the surrounding mountains. The original home was built in a traditional manner using real adobe brick load–bearing walls, and natural wood vigas for the roof structure. Adaptation to modern building techniques, and local code variations can easily be done with the help of a local building professional. The original building site had a 20 foot drop in grade from the high end of the building envelope to the low end, and strict height and style restrictions dictated by city code and covenants. The home has 8 different levels to accommodate the site, but would work well on a flat site without the various level changes. A small guest home is integrated into the plan, with a private entry from the entry courtyard and another door leading to the interior of the main house.

The home is surrounded by a series of outdoor spaces. A landscaped entry courtyard leads to an entry portal. A service courtyard off of the utility room leads to a vegetable garden. An outdoor room off of the dining room contains a built–in barbeque and a dining table. This area leads down a few steps onto a covered view portal off of the living room. A private trellis–covered portal leads off of the master bath and exercise room to a hot tub area overlooking Sun–Moon Mountain to the south and the city views and the Jemez Mountains to the west.

The owners' concerns about health carried over into their choices for decorating their new home as well, using organic fabrics for window dressing and for the upholstery on their locally crafted custom furniture. And only non–toxic cleaning products are used inside of the home. These are important decisions, because all of the efforts of the architect and builder would be for naught if the homeowner were to use toxic furnishings, cleaning products and pesticides. Their two daughters got involved too, deciding, once educated about indoor air quality, to choose wooden floors over carpeting in their bedrooms.

Healthy and Green Features

Radiant floor heat throughout.

Double and single wide adobe walls throughout create thermal mass storage. No mechanical cooling required.

Plastered walls throughout.

Cross ventilation and light on 2 sides in all major spaces.

Natural and non–toxic finishes throughout as specified.

Formaldehyde–free cabinetry and insulation.

Air barrier separation and exhaust ventilation in garage.

Mechanical equipment located in garage.

Whole house vacuum takes waste directly to the garage.

Healthy protocols strictly adhered to for all phases of the construction, including no smoking, no pesticide use, and healthy and biodegradable cleaning products.

Low EMF electrical installation, including kill switches in bedrooms, careful routing of raceways, and comprehensive testing protocol with Gaussmeter.

Hard surface flooring, not carpet. Use of slate, flagstone, wood and cork instead.

Solar–assisted hot water heating.

On site grey and black water treatment, and 10,000 gallon water storage for irrigation.

Foundation Info
This house was originally designed to have a slab foundation. You can of course change it to a full or partial basement, or to a crawlspace, but you will need the help of a local builder or designer, and the new foundation plans should be reviewed by a structural engineer prior to construction.