On the Ravine

Highland Park, Illinois

This speculative home was designed in tandem with the allied design professionals at NextHaus Alliance and with Tesla. The concept for the project is to showcase the Tesla ecosystem of products consisting of their high performance electric cars, car charging systems, solar panels and battery backup systems. These concepts were integral to the home’s design – creating an all electric net positive (meaning it produces more electricity than it uses on an annual basis) high performance ultra modern home, compatible in design with their cars.

For the layout, the house features single floor living with the primary bedroom suite and an office on the main level. The living room has a 14’ high ceiling, while the rest of the first floor has a 10’ ceiling. The higher ceiling allows for the integration of a ‘light shelf’ system, which shades the full height glazing from the south and east summer sun while bouncing daylight deep into the interior of the space. The low winter sun is able to penetrate deep into the space and is absorbed by the darker, radiantly heated floors.

A curved covered patio houses an integral remote controlled shade system that transforms the space into a screened porch when needed.

Four bedrooms are located on the upper floor. A green roof is located over the garage and is accessed from the stair landing. The large solar array is set on the optimally angled second floor roof. The rectilinear geometry of the two story section of the building maximizes the size of the array. The curved patio roof and living room section belie the simplicity and economy of the design. A large battery backup is powered by the solar array, providing power at night and during any power outage.