Hudson Valley VS1 Home

2022

Aug 16

WHO

Architects: Franz Safford, Janus Welton
Installer: Around the House LLC

  
WHERE & WHEN

Hudson Valley, NY 

Americas

Complete · 2022

WHAT & HOW

Residential · New Build
2,500 sq. ft. all-glass home
Full VS1 envelope; segmented wall

The second VS1 Home was built on a Hudson Valley mountaintop looking west over the Catskill mountains of New York. Key to the owners’ vision for this house was to appreciate the panoramic view through a hyper transparent living room wall.

That dream was realized with the VS1 system. A 14-foot feature segmented, curved wall, composed of flat glass panels along a radius, faces west and north. A low e-coating on the glass helps to reduce the solar gain, and state-of-the-art air handlers and radiant floor heating manage the home’s climate with remarkable efficiency. Passive solar energy heats the home in the winter.

Visitors are welcomed into the single-story home through an all-glass vestibule, a standard VS1 detail on both residential and commercial buildings. A spine-like VS1 wall extends eastward to a guest wing, and south-facing clerestories draw light into the kitchen, which is situated in the middle of the home. South and west clearstory window strips in the living room roof create the visual sensation that the roof is levitating inspired by the light bands at the top of the walls of Corbusier’s Notre Dame du Haut. Seven zero sight-line awning windows create a flow of fresh air throughout the 2,500 square-foot house.

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IN THE PRESS UPSTATE HOUSE MAGAZINE

With the recent completion of the second VS1 house (dubbed “VS2”) located in the Catskills, Safford has officially made glass-based residential construction a plug-and-play possibility. ‘We needed certainty before we promoted this concept,’ says Safford. ‘Now, we can do a kit, which can be assembled easily by anyone who knows building construction. It’s in the spirit of the IKEA concept, only all made in the USA and engineered for your climate conditions, and costs are about the same as stick-built. Or we can do a custom house that will be beyond your wildest dreams.