Meg Hanson and Mike Sylvester are, first and foremost, land stewards. Their 160-acre property sits at the heart of southwestern Montana’s Bitterroot Valley—a region beset with natural beauty and known for its ranching, agriculture, and forestry industries. When Mike found the parcel, it had been subdivided into 11 lots zoned for single-family homes. He removed the lot lines for a large swath of contiguous terrain to support the wildlife corridors and natural springs endemic to the site.
A good portion of the land is currently used for hay and cattle-raising; there are sagebrush fields, a ponderosa pine forest, and both old and new apple orchards. (Bitterroot Valley has a long history of apple growing.) In addition, the bitterroot wildflower, which gives the valley its name, peppers the topography.
With bow or muzzleloader, Mike hunts elk, deer, antelope, and game birds. He and Meg—alongside her mom, Katie Hanson, from whom they learned the skill—butcher their own meat and forage for wild edibles that include morel mushrooms and huckleberries.
Bordered by the Bitterroot Range to the west and the Sapphire Mountains to the east, the acreage is now protected in perpetuity through the local Bitter Root Land Trust, where Meg is a member of the board of directors.
In short, this is the story of a slice of land taken into just the right hands.
A (re)considered plan
In addition to being a conservationist, Meg is an architect, so her considerations for the house they planned to build on this extraordinary site ran deep. It needed to be small, efficient, and in harmony with the surroundings. For these reasons, they sited the 1700-sq.-ft. house on a former riding arena located at the edge of the property close to the only road. (Incidentally, it is just five miles from…
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8 Comments
I have used a lot of skylights over the years with no regrets. They add natural light to remote (far from exterior walls) areas in the home. Installed properly they are foolproof from my experience and I have reroofed around them with no second thoughts. I do use ice and water membrane around them as a second flashing just as I would under a metal valley. For me, every room in the house should have natural light and skylights make it work. Can't believe how little attention is paid to southern orientation in new homes these days, natural light rules !!
Doug
I agree 100%. The aesthetic results alone justify good design of natural light in a home.
Then there are the efficiency reasons. I tend to consider it a design failure if people have to turn on artificial light during a normal day, except for the specific tasks such as certain kitchen work that require a higher level.
And then finally there is the health consideration. Lighting that syncs with the body's circadian rhythm maintains health. To a degree it can be done artificially, but only to the extent that the artificial light mimics the natural light. And with artificial light there is the tendency to over-illuminate spaces in the evening.
Jolly, I bet you would appreciate the articles that David Warfel has written for Fine Homebuilding. He's a lighting designer whose research into light's affect on the human health is fascinating. He has also been on the BS* + Beer Show a couple times. People get really jazzed about lighting--natural or artificial. I find that interesting too.
I agree, Doug. I'll probably go blind before all is said and done, so dedicated am I to doing as much as possible by natural light.
This house is really well thought out and executed, with delightful features, and looks like a great place to live - so it seems a bit unfair to niggle - but as a general rule I don't think it makes much sense to prioritize the efficiency of plumbing runs over other space planning concerns when deciding where bathrooms should be.
Malcolm, I wonder if Allison Bailes--a big proponent of short runs and right-sized pipes--would concur, haha. It is always interesting to see how people's priorities differ. But I am with you; a smart floor plan that works on multiple levels would be a key priority for me.
Kiley,
"a smart floor plan that works on multiple levels would be a key priority for me.”
And it this case I think they ended up with that, whatever the process.
I'm with you, Malcolm. I know all of the arguments for keeping plumbing close together, and I do so when reasonably possible, but I don't let it dictate other aspects of good design.
For anyone interested in learning more about why keeping plumbing close together can be important, I've sat next to Allison at least twice listening to Gary Klein explain why: https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/designing-efficient-hot-water-systems, https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/hot-water-distribution-retrofit.
Lovely project and write-up, by the way. It's always good to read how others have achieved their dreams.
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