架构师提供的文本描述。Sycamore House作为公司首席迈克尔·科瓦茨(MichaelKovac)的家而设计，是该公司正在进行的可持续建筑研究的实验室，也是科瓦茨设计理念的展示。家庭的无缝集成的环境系统和绿色材料，使它成为第一个在加州获得白金认证的USGBC LEED为家庭计划。

Text description provided by the architects. Designed as the home of firm Principal Michael Kovac, Sycamore House serves as a laboratory for the firm’s ongoing research into sustainable architecture and a showcase for Kovac’s design philosophy. The home’s seamless integration of environmental systems and green materials has made it one of the first in California to garner Platinum Certification from the USGBC LEED for Homes Program.

 © Lisa Romerein

莉萨·罗梅林

Sycamore House的名字来源于最初吸引Kovac的三棵美丽的树，房子的简单几何图形是由陡峭的下降点驱动的。这座3400平方英尺的房子坐落在一条山脊街的下坡一侧，它的一层楼面看起来很朴素，而从下面看，却可以看到三层楼的一系列雕塑作品。受周围梧桐树的启发，Kovac委托艺术家JillSykes将回收纤维水泥板的最小街道外观变成一块帆布，将她微妙的影子图案刻在画布上。

Sycamore House takes its name from three beautiful trees on the site that originally attracted Kovac to the property; the simple geometry of the house is driven by the steeply descending site. Nestled into the downhill side of a ridge top street, the 3,400 square-foot home presents a deceptively modest one-story face to the street, while a view from below reveals a series of sculpted volumes over three floors. Inspired by the surrounding sycamores, Kovac commissioned artist Jill Sykes to turn the minimal street facade of recycled fiber cement panels into a canvas into which her subtle shadow patterns were etched.

 © Lisa Romerein

莉萨·罗梅林

一座23英尺高的内部混凝土墙将Sycamore House锚定在其场地上，并在形式上和功能上组织房屋。墙的沉重的存在提供了一个优雅的对比，一个微妙的悬臂楼梯连接上层居住空间和私人空间下面。它的热质量有助于调节空气温度，而它的垂直扩展则鼓励自然通风，既可以引导暖空气进入牧师窗口，也可以从下面吹出凉爽的峡谷微风。

A 23-foot tall interior concrete wall anchors Sycamore House to its site and organizes the house formally and functionally. The wall’s weighty presence provides an elegant counterpoint to a delicate cantilevered stair connecting the upper living spaces to private spaces below. Its thermal mass helps to regulate air temperature while its vertical expanse encourages natural ventilation, both guiding warm air to clerestory windows and drawing cool canyon breezes from below.

 © Lisa Romerein

莉萨·罗梅林

光伏电池板提供了几乎所有的房子的电力需求，一个绿色的屋顶隔离家庭和减少雨水径流。这座房子还采用了一系列可持续材料，包括高飞灰混凝土、森林管理委员会(FSC)认证的木材、再生木地板、零VOC油漆、回收玻璃瓦、无甲醛胶合板以及高效率的管道固定装置和设备。

Photovoltaic panels provide for nearly all of the house’s power needs, and a green roof insulates the home and reduces storm water runoff. The house also employs an array of sustainable materials, including high fly ash content concrete, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified woods, reclaimed wood flooring, zero-VOC paints, recycled glass tile, formaldehyde-free plywood, and high efficiency plumbing fixtures and appliances.

 © Lisa Romerein

莉萨·罗梅林

为最大限度的可持续性所做的努力超出了新家的设计范围，包括对现场现有房屋的“解构”。在它被移除之前，一群放牧的山羊清除了现场的植被。室内固定装置和器具被移除并捐赠给人类之家，而框架木材则被重新用于低收入建筑的其他地方。在一家致力于防止垃圾填埋场以外可用建筑材料的非营利组织“再利用人员”的监督下，这一过程重新使用了至少75%的现有建筑材料。

The effort toward maximum sustainability extended beyond the design of the new home to encompass the ‘deconstruction’ of the existing house on the site. Prior to its removal, site vegetation was cleared by a herd of grazing goats. Interior fixtures and appliances were removed and donated to Habitat for Humanity, while framing lumber was re-used elsewhere in low-income construction. Overseen by The Reuse People, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to keeping usable building materials out of landfills, the process repurposed a minimum 75% of the existing building material.