Jane Martin is selling her beautiful Bainbridge Island "Eco-House":
Green Modern Craftsman sounds almost like a contradiction in terms, but that is how the 2400 square foot Eco-House on Bainbridge Island, Wa., is best described.
The house was designed and built by Bainbridge architect David Balas, whose modernist training at the Illinois Institute of Technology is evident in clean, minimalist lines of the Craftsman bungalow.
As Balas explains, “I used a small footprint and compact plan, to make efficient use of the structure (ie: maximum spans on framing lumber), as well as stacked wall construction. That transfers loads directly and makes utility and mechanical runs more efficient.
“The design could said to be a combination classical European architectural proportioning (co-axial relationships, golden-mean proportions) and Eastern influences (feng-shui) to produce a calm environment.”
The Eco-house is built upon a reclaimed site that was a farm 100 years ago, and ended up being used as a wrecking yard. Balas had two flat-bed truck loads of scrap steel hauled to be recycled. Three truck-loads of blackberry brush were ground for use in mulch-making. Cluster-house zoning and wetland open-space requirements by the city planners left much of the one acre site natural.
We've got lots of photographs of the house up on Flickr.
