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“But the idea of saving those spaces and adding on, in our opinion, led to cost savings for the client in a rather signifi cant way, from the use of existing materials, existing fixtures, and even from the perspective of the City of Atlanta’s permitting process,” he says.


In putting the house back together, the renovation team focused heavily on the building envelope, Pimsler says.


“We didn’t go crazy trying to use the latest and greatest green products, but did use good quality insulation, and with the stucco that we used on the outside of the building, its got kind of a double layer of insulation,” he says.


“The windows were manufactured by Jeld-Wen not super high performance, but insulated glazing throughout,” Pimsler adds. “And we kept most of the glazing on the north side of the building to keep the solar impact, which can be fairly intense here in the South, to a minimum.”


Pimsler was particularly pleased with preserving the very large and very old Oak tree adjacent to the home, a tree that he says, “is still there and a beautiful piece of wood.”


“I think the success of this project is evident in the fact that now that it’s aged a bit, it doesn’t jump out at you, but rather fits in quite well with everything around it,” Pimsler says. “It belongs.”


 


Simply by extending the house’s roof line in the front, the architect was able to mask a taller addition to the rear that tripled the size of the existing home.


 


IN THE WORKS
Presently, Pimsler Hoss Architects is engaged in several “green” projects, although most of them fall into the commercial category.


One exception is a mountain home outside of Atlanta. Unlike 213 Murray Hill Ave., this project incorporates passive solar heating, and sustainable building materials were a significant consideration before and during construction.


“When it comes to residential projects, I would say that, across the board, clients are different from what they were even five years ago, and that’s a direct result of the amount of information that’s been disseminated in the intervening years in regards to sustainable design and green building,” Pimsler says.


“In the past, sustainability was something we achieved by including very sound building practices in our drawings and working with builders who understood what we were striving for, but now I’d say clients have raised the bar just a little bit for everybody,” he says.


“On this project, the performance standards of various materials were very much a concern,” Pimsler continues. “We sized the heating and plumbing equip- ment; we knew what the glazing would be and what its anticipated impact would be on the efficiency of the home; and we oriented the building on the lot to bolster its efficiency.”


The home will have a small footprint, built on two and a half loft floor levels. Pimsler and his associates spec’d engineered wood floor framing, blown-in cel- lulose on the walls and roof, closed cell insulation in basement walls and rim joists, low-e windows, high-efficiency heat pumps with programmable thermostats, build- ing orientation along east-west access with limited glazing on the east and west, overhangs on the southern glazing, recycled carpets, post-consumer recycled tiles, low-VOC paints, and solar hot water heating.


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