Project Showcase: Louis Saekow Estate
September 24th, 2009 | Project Showcase | ICF Construction, P and P Construction, privacy wall, Project Showcase, Residential, Saekow, WA
A few projects come along every so often that every time you look at the pictures or hear background of the home, you are just in awe of the size, or the architecture and of the energy efficiency. The Louis Saekow Estate is one of those projects. He’s been living in the home for almost a full year now on top of Camano Island, Washington. The entire 8,200 square foot home used Reward ICFs INCLUDING the 600 foot privacy wall.
The 8,200 sq/ft Louis Saekow Estate is perched on top of one of the highest points on Camano Island. The home has an unobstructed 270 degree view of the San Juan Islands, the Cascade mountain range and the Olympic mountain range. This pristine setting provides some of Washington’s best sunrises and
sunsets and is an ideal location for a home with many windows for viewing all of Mother Nature’s glory. With that glory also come the fury; wind speeds in this location have been clocked at over 90 miles per hour on several occasions and observe some of the fiercest storms in Western Washington. So durability and safety was the first key point to address when designing this house, the second was Sustainability, and the third major criteria this house was built under, was the need for design flexibility and project aesthetics.
Durability/Safety- The home was constructed to withstand the harshest elements without reducing the quality of living inside the home. The home needed to be comfortable and quiet inside regardless of what the weather was like outside. This home was designed and built to last more than a lifetime; it needed to outlast all of the surrounding structures to earn the title of a true Estate. The permanence of ready mixed concrete and ICF’s was definitely the best option to achieve this lofty goal.
Sustainability- The home was designed to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly without sacrificing the luxuries modern technology has provided us with. Like many people, the owner realized that energy prices were uncontrollable; customers are forced to pay the energy rates set by the companies themselves. To harness these uncontrollable energy costs consumers must simply use less energy, and that is why insulating concrete forms were the clear choice for this home. The owner is expecting to lower the estate’s energy use by 60%, thus finally harnessing the uncontrollable costs of energy and satisfying this second objective.
Design Flexibility and Project Aesthetics- The home has very large windows with 12 foot ceilings downstairs and almost 11 foot ceilings upstairs. The main house is 7,300 square feet with an additional 600 sq ft of conditioned garage, and also a 1,200 sq. foot detached garage. The design of the home was to take on the look of a Mediterranean estate with large pillars and numerous arches. Large open spaces were also a necessity on the interior of the home along with barrel ceiling and many other intricate ceiling treatments. In order to provide the durability required by the weather while at the same time allowing for large windows and doors, insulating concrete forms were again the best choice.
Just to keep everyone on edge, the finished photos will be posted on Thursday so come back then. Also we’ll report to you on the types of energy use this massive estate is using. Unbelievable numbers. I’ll give you a sneak peak to keep you interested until then…
The New Standard of Sustainability. Tell the World.
