K-House Built with Natural Materials by Architect Nicolas Koff (Office Ou)
This Evolve Builders project featured a Straw Bale insulated house cladded with white plaster and charred cedar Shou-Sugi-Ban wood siding. These natural materials were incorporated into a contemporary home and produced an ultra-performing, well designed space that has been featured in magazines and books across Canada. The wall assemblies were 40 cm thick and primarily heated through fireplaces. The space was then cooled with cross ventilating windows placed specifically and thoughtfully.
- Architect Nicolas Koff clearly showed that a non-traditional building method could be used to produce a clean, contemporary and intentionally well-designed home. His success with this project has elevated the notoriety of his own architecture firm Office Ou, as many people are requesting their services for Passive House designs as well.
- The material choices created a very natural feeling while also allowing for the colours to both stand out separately on each block of the home. This project created obvious building challenges but Evolve was more than capable of working with a highly developed architectural design consisting of alternative building methods.
Other key features include: straw bale insulated walls, solar panels mounted on the roof, metal roof with an inset eavestrough, particular landscaping that led to improved drainage on the property, as well as a green roof above the wood siding block of the house.
“The house is split into two distinct blocks – one two storeys tall with a pitched roof and covered in white render, and the other a single-height structure clad in burnt cedar wood.”
- Jessica Mairs – Dezeen Magazine, December 10th, 2015
If you click here you can read more details and see pictures from this Dezeen Magazine article.
To look further into building a house with our building process, click here here to find out more!
Awards and Badges
- TreeHugger Worldwide Top 10 in Green Architecture Award
- Duravit Designer Dream Bathroom Award – 1st Prize Awarded to Nicolas Koff for this Project