THE GREEN PARADE: GREEN AESTHETICS AND EFFICIENCY
INSPIRING THE IDEAL MOUNTAIN CABIN DESIGN
By Jo Farwell / Illustrations by Munn Architecture, LLC

After all, mountain cabins have evolved. They’re no longer the simple A-frame with ski storage. They’re multi-roomed, multi-leveled escapes where dreams are actualized and where memories withstand multiple generations. For this reason, sustainability and consciousness are more than just new buzz words in design – they’re what today’s mountain home can be.

Colorado’s “ideal” mountain cabin embodies environmental sensibilities, like efficiency, sustainability and green design, while embracing beauty and comfort.

Scott Munn, principal of Munn Architecture, LLC, in Granby, envisions the ideal mountain cabin placed delicately in its setting with careful consideration to impacts on the landscape and its ability to benefit from the sun’s rays.

It’s a cabin designed with the idea in mind that “bigger” isn’t always “better.” It’s a creative work of art with enough luxury to make the cabin more than comfortable. Yet, it’s efficiently designed to make living there practical and self-contained.

It would be conscientiously planned out: from its location, to its exterior, to its interior – with plenty of green sense.

“For us, the ideal mountain cabin is a home that acknowledges and celebrates the wilderness,” says Munn. “This is a home that allows for immediate access to the outdoors, but one that creates a comfortable and cozy indoor experience. It’s a place that feels like home.”

Munn and his associate designer Tim Hodsdon, triumph in merging aesthetic creativity with consideration to the environment. The ideal mountain cabin embodies both.

“Think of a ship or a sailboat,” Munn says. “Its selfcontainment is the same as being ‘off the grid.’ This concept has more than one application in design. There’s efficiency, both in energy and uses of space. And there’s the concept of minimizing square footage.”

MINIMAL SQUARE FOOTAGE, MAXIMIM AESTHETICS -
“One of the quickest ways to create an energy-efficient home is to design a home with a small footprint,” Munn says. “This limits immediate material use and future energy consumption. Smaller is the easiest way to have the sustainable home.”

Munn notes that building sustainably can add expense up front, “but in doing so, you’re building economies into the cabin at the front-end so over time, the energy usage is less – thus less expensive.”

For instance, he says, the ideal cabin could have a “green thumb” application in regard to the roof, sheathed in EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber, which keeps out the elements. Native plants and flowers create a canopy that helps reduce heat absorption and hides a water collecting cistern used for irrigating a garden of herbs and landscaping.

The cabin is heated by an in-floor radiant heating system with an ondemand boiler and passive thermal masses including the natural boulders located on site that are incorporated into the design.

Windows and walls are critical elements as well. Munn incorporates insulated low-E glazing on windows, which limits the need for artificial lighting. Superinsulated walls and roofs limit the need for excess heating and cooling.

For interior material selections, he uses natural, non-VOC (volatile organic compounds) finishes, including paint and flooring, for a healthier living space.

Munn’s ideal mountain cabin also pays mind to the needs of the builder and the user. He calls it a “sense of place.” Buyers tend to prefer terrain that is essentially wild and undisturbed, one of the reasons why people purchase land in mountain places like Grand County. “Orientation is critical for the ideal cabin,” Munn says. For example, the ideal cabin should be oriented to capture the desired amount of solar radiation for heating purposes through glazing walls and attempt to reduce north facing windows that have heat-loss potential.

The ideal mountain home celebrates living in wilderness. It should be connected to the environment with minimal disturbance, while protecting inhabitants from the very elements they enjoy. “The outside experience brings reassurance and belonging,” Munn says. “No matter the architectural style pursued, an ideal home should fit in its place with a smaller and lighter footprint. The end result is a puzzle piece that finally creates a finished scene.”

INSPIRED BY LOCAL DESIGN PATTERNS -
Munn looks to the design patterns of historical Grand County architecture for inspiration. His designs strive to connect with their natural surroundings. “My family’s had a cabin on Grand Lake my entire life,” he says, referring to his close connection to Grand County. “Studying the local styles of architecture has given me a good feel for the pulse of what I believe is good for Grand County.”

“Our vernacular architecture looks appropriate here not just because of its age, but also its responsiveness,” Munn says. “Low roofs and covered porches of the traditional ranch house protect the home from too much intense sun and late afternoon thunderstorms.”

Another key concept that inspires the ideal mountain cabin is the notion of space “procession.” “Moving through the cabin should be an experience that is logical and reassuring,” he says. “Just as the house is where it belongs in its environment, the pieces of the house should flow together and belong to one another in their relationships.”

MATERIALS, SENSIBILITY -
“I think the ideal mountain cabin should be built with as many local building materials as possible,” he says. “There’s an abundance of inexpensive beetle kill in Grand County forests that’s just waiting to be used. There is also access to other local materials, such as reclaimed barn wood and native stone.”

The ideal cabin also utilizes non-local bamboo wood products because they can be harvested without killing the root system of the original plant and regenerate quickly.

A new product is wheat-board and sunflower particle board made with urethane-based resin instead of urea-formaldehyde binders. “The boards are appropriate for the same interior applications as wood particle boards,” Munn says.

“I also think the green home can make good use of structural insulated panels (SI P),” Munn says. “One type of SI P panel is made from highly compressed wheat straw and sunflower hulls sandwiched between oriented strand-board (OSB) made from young-growth and rapidly growing hardwoods. The proper use of panels can eliminate more than 80 percent of the dimensional lumber used in traditional construction.”

IDEAL DESIGNS -
Relishing in the opportunity to design the ideal mountain cabin, Munn seeks to understand each client’s unique personality and tastes. “Each design is different because I incorporate the unique needs and wants of each client,” he says. And ideally, designs reflect environmental sensibility and sustainability, efficiency and comfort, all the while resting in harmony with the majestic landscape that is Grand County.




READ MORE STORIES ON THE GREEN PARADE IN:
• Introduction to Green Building Certification
• Building Dramatically More Comfortable Homes: Green movement nothing new to Seth Sadler
• This Small House: Smaller homes take their place among the elite
• Green Asthetics and Efficiency in the Ideal Mountain Cabin