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Sawmill
Project Type:
Single Family Home
Project Location:
Tehachapi, California 93561
USA
Project Scope:
Gross Area: 
Net Area: 
Site Area: 
Occupants: 
Construction Cost: 
Cost Per SF: 
Levels Above Ground: 
Performance Metrics:
Total PEUI: 
Net PEUI: 
Total EUI: 
Net EUI: 
Lighting Power Density: 
Annual Potable Water: 
Rainwater Managed: 
Lights Off Daylighting: 
Views to Outdoors: 
15' to Operable Windows: 
Climate Zone: 
Awards and Acknowledgements:
AIA Committee on the Environment:
2018 Top Ten
Design Features:
Net Zero, Off-Grid, Salvaged Materials
Project Summary:
Set in California’s harsh Mojave Desert, Sawmill offers a new model for the sustainable single-family home. The client brief called for a self-sufficient home that maximized connection between architecture and nature, and between family members inside. The 5,200 SF concrete block, steel and glass home is designed to stand up to the severe climate of the fire-prone Tehachapi Mountains. Demonstrating that high design can also be high performance, Sawmill is a net-zero home that operates completely off the grid. As a firm, we have long been interested in using architecture to serve as a bridge between humans and nature, but this project takes that ethos even further, showing how projects can actually give back to their sites. The client was an integral part of the design process. He served as general contractor for the construction of the home, actively engineering several of the building’s load management systems. We continue to learn from this client, as he has participated in post-occupancy evaluations. In 2017, Sawmill was the recipient of an AIA National Housing Award. The jury noted of the project: “A very well-done cabin which doesn’t seem to be any more than needed as far as size, but offers much more as far as spirit and understanding of the place.” Sawmill’s recent feature in the November/December 2017 issue of Dwell detailed the home’s sustainability features, bringing our design lessons to a wider audience. We believe that Sawmill stands as a new model for the single-family home. If lessons learned on Sawmill were applied to general building standards for this type of home, it could have a dramatic impact on the energy landscape of the United States.
(Source: AIA COTE 2018, Olson Kundig)
Tapestry Statistics:
UID: 
US-SAWMLL
Added: 
2019-01-02 23:47:51
Updated: 
2019-01-03 11:49:55
Content Score: 
112.60
Profile Views: 
620
Click Throughs: 
87
Design and Construction Team:
Olson Kundig
Architect
WSP
MEP Engineer
Fabricators and Manufacturers:
Steelogic
Corrugated Metal Roofing
Thumbnails:
Images:
Kevin Scott/Olson Kundig
Gabe Border
Kevin Scott/Olson Kundig
Gabe Border
Kevin Scott/Olson Kundig
Kevin Scott/Olson Kundig
Kevin Scott/Olson Kundig
Olson Kundig
Olson Kundig
Olson Kundig
Olson Kundig
Olson Kundig