Luxury Energy Efficient Home

Often we associate sustainability with downsizing to a smaller home and thereby reducing our carbon footprint, but it doesn’t have to be that way. As MVRDV, a Holland-based firm, proves with their recently completed Casa Kwantes. The latter is a luxury home, which features a brick façade, plenty of glazing, and an array of energy efficient tech. The design of the home itself was inspired by 1930s architecture, but it features a modern twist.

Casa Kwantes measures 5,166 sq ft (480 sq m) and is a two-story family residence. It is located in Rotterdam, Holland, and the architects designed the interior layout based on the owner’s wishes and needs. The living room, dining room, kitchen and library are located on the first floor, as is the two-car garage. The living room features a long, custom made wooden unit which runs along the entire wall and provides ample amounts of storage space. On the second floor, there are two bedrooms, each with an en suite bathroom. The home also features a basement and a guest bathroom.

The back wall of the home has no windows, while the front is comprised of floor to ceiling windows, and curved, which makes for some unusually shaped rooms. The curved glazing wraps around the interior continuously, offering views into all the rooms, while the balcony allows for easy access to all the spaces. Since none of the windows face the street, only the garden, the occupants enjoy lots of privacy, while the windows also let in plenty of natural daylight.

Casa Kwantes is connected to the grid, but it also has a large solar panel array mounted on the roof. According to the designers, the system will most likely provide enough energy for the entire home, but this will be proven during the next year, since the home was only just completed a couple of months ago. The home also features a ground-source heat pump, which together with the heat exchanger provides energy-efficient heating and cooling for the home.

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