Project Team

Elizabeth DiSalvo's picture

BE Boston 19 Registrants BE Boston 20 Registrants BE Boston 22 Registrants BE Boston 23 Registrants Bottom Lines - Plan Bygg BuildingEnergy 16 Full Conference Business Member Company Record Manager Green Company Manager Member

Elizabeth DiSalvo's picture

BE Boston 19 Registrants BE Boston 20 Registrants BE Boston 22 Registrants BE Boston 23 Registrants Bottom Lines - Plan Bygg BuildingEnergy 16 Full Conference Business Member Company Record Manager Green Company Manager Member

Elizabeth Di Salvo, founding partner of Trillium Architects in Fairfield County, CT, has been actively designing sustainable, ecological and energy efficient buildings since 1992. She first attended NESEA in 1994, and formed Trillium Architects in 2004 with the sole purpose of producing small, beautiful, green houses.

Elizabeth grew up in the industry, has a five year professional degree in architecture from Rensselaer, and a master’s degree in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University. She has spent time working in large architecture firms in Los Angeles, CT and NYC, designing and managing projects from high-end residential, to multi-family, to high profile institutional buildings.

Living off the grid in Colorado in the early 90’s, she learned a very grass roots approach to making shelter and incorporating local and environmentally sound products and technologies into buildings that occupants could fabricate themselves. While there she designed and physically built many ‘alternative’ structures (Straw bale, rammed earth, adobe, pumice, earth ships, passive solar, etc). This hands-on experience revealed the many possibilities of alternative construction methods, however it also revealed many limitations for their incorporation in the technologically evolving world of the mainstream American building industry.

In the 1990s, Elizabeth’s began to focus her practice on bringing green, energy efficient buildings to more mainstream clients in the northeast. Over the years, Elizabeth and Trillium Architects have refined their approach to getting a green home built. In doing so they have also learned how to prioritize and meet clients expectations for creating a home that is energy efficient but is also sophisticated, beautiful, practical and affordable. Trillium believes one can construct peace and joy, as well as comfort and efficiency.

Architect

Christopher Trolle's picture

Bottom Lines - Mighty 5 Business Member Green Company Manager Member

Christopher Trolle's picture

Bottom Lines - Mighty 5 Business Member Green Company Manager Member

Custom home builder

Builder

Karla Butterfield's picture

Member

Karla Butterfield's picture

Member

Energy Consultant

Ratings, Awards and Recognition

Ratings:

DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, Passive House (Passive House Institute US), ENERGY STAR v3.1 certification, LEED BD+C Homes v4 Platinum Certification, Indoor airPLUS, WaterSense labeled home, & Living Building Challenge Petal certification

Other Awards:

CT Zero Energy Challenge (3rd place), U.S. DOE 2015 Housing Innovation Awards Grand Winner, Residential Award of Honor (CTGBC)

HERS Index::
-14

The Taft Residence serves as a home and teaching device, supplying one teacher, and his/her family, with a living residence while offering a learning example for the Taft students of how a high-performance home is designed. This private school was founded in 1890 and had an existing residence demolished to build a high performance home that is the Taft School Residence. This home was designed by Trillium Architects to meet Passive House Institute US Certification requirements, as well as ENERGY STAR v3.1, DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, LEED BD+C Homes v4, WaterSense and EPA Indoor airPLUS program standards. This residence includes a 1,400 square foot conditioned basement area below 2,400 square feet of finished space. There is city water, sewage, and natural gas available nearby underground.

Quick Facts

General

Location Watertown, Connecticut
Building Type Single family residence
Project Type Zero Energy
Basis of Performance Claim Modeled, Zero Energy Program
Bedrooms 4
Conditioned Floor Area 3,600 sq ft

Energy Summary

Energy Data Type Modeled, Zero Energy Program
Renewable Energy System Type(s) Photovoltaics
Ratings

DOE Zero Energy Ready Home, Passive House (Passive House Institute US), ENERGY STAR v3.1 certification, LEED BD+C Homes v4 Platinum Certification, Indoor airPLUS, WaterSense labeled home, & Living Building Challenge Petal certification

HERS Index -14
Annual renewable energy generated -17,160 kWh/year

Envelope and Mechanicals

Subslab assembly

R-28 under slab

Foundation wall assembly

Inside the solid concrete foundation is 3” closed cell foam behind 2x4 stud walls and cellulose in the cavity.

Above grade wall assembly

Double stud walls have 2¼” closed cell foam plus 8½” dense pack cellulose for a R-49 cavity. The exterior sheathing is R-6.6 Zip Wall System with taped seams to create the continuous air barrier.

Door Assembly

Similar to the windows, all exterior doors are made of European Eco-clad & uPVC frames are triple glazed with argon filling and two low-E coatings that have a U-value of 0.11. All rough areas around windows are taped to prevent air leakage.