Welcome to KETTLERGREEN
WEDNESDAY 30 MARCH 2022
ORGANIC ARCHITECTURAL and LANDSCAPE DESIGN
"Solar energy - it's not just the only way - it's THE AMERICAN WAY."
Are you interested in solar energy and the possibility of living in a "natural" house with an organic garden filled with lush ornamental plants, you have come to the right place! We are KETTLERGREEN and we offer the finest in Organic Architectural and Landscape Design Services. We are unique among design firms in being THE ONLY one offering a combination of both design disciplines, especially in an organic fashion.
What makes our houses "organic"? It is a careful and clever combination of natural materials especially the use of natural sunlight in warming and lighting our houses. LOTS OF WINDOWS for light and fresh air, natural wood or bamboo floors, builtin storage areas, and radiant heated floors all make for a comfortable natural living environment that is healthy and good for the soul. Many other features are standard because they just make common sense like kitchen pantries, green driveways, green roof carports, wood stoves, indoor gardens, porches, and builtin shelves.
Our design service also includes building services from one of the three Kettler Brothers, Richard, Thomas, and James. Jim is an AIA registered architect and homebuilder and Dick and Tom together have built thousands of homes in the DC area. They all do EXCELLENT WORK.
Outdoors, our gardens are literally organic - meaning we use no chemical pesticides in our gardens. Everything is grown without using any pesticides especially insecticides making our gardens healthy and safe for pets,children, and wildlife. As a lifetime member of the Maryland Native Plant Society, our plant mix of perennials includes a high proportion of native plants which are both hardy, natural, and beautiful. You can see an extensive overview of our experience in natural organic gardening at kettlergardens.com.
Our gardens and landscapes are intended to be living art what will endure mature, and grow for many years with proper care and attention, creating an investment with high long-term yields in beauty, charm, and delight.
THE READING GARDEN by KETTLERGREEN
This little spot in the garden provides the perfect place for a chair where the gardener can relax with a book and a cup of coffee. Notice the lush plantings including grey goldenrod, daylily, sedum, eupatorium, asclepias, arianthus, sylphium, coreopsis, salvia, iris, phlox, helianthus, allium, and swamp milkweed, all hardy perennials that will live and thrive for years in the well cared for garden. This particular garden thrived on a bed of seaweed mulch we gathered off the local beach.
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Scroll down to peruse a presentation of our latest house designs. We are constantly designing and ready to help the next person looking to build their natural dream home. We offer the capability to design in many styles - we are not stuck on one - however the one thing ALL our homes have in common is that one side faces south and is designed to maximize the utilization of solar energy.
THE SOLAR AMERICANA by KETTLERGREEN
For those whose taste in architecture finds The Transparent House a bit too avant-garde, The Solar Americana reflects an eclectic blend of American architectural styles including Georgian, Dutch, cottage, and the farmhouse style. It is difficult to select words to describe the beauties and conveniences of this thoroughly modern home. The Americana is in a class by itself. Like the beautiful everywhere, this house challenges the lover of the artistic and furnishes a concrete example of stateliness and strength.
While it is not obvious to the casual viewer, this house is a compromised version of The Solar Maximus House. Like that house, an array of large windows faces south to maximize the use of solar energy to warm and light the house. The standing seam metal roof faces south so that solar panels can be added at any time, either at the time of construction or at a later date.
Notice the refined simplicity of lines to this design making it all the more appealing and pleasant to the eye. Twin pointed structures flank the main core of the house, with a large eat-in kitchen downstairs and large office space upstairs, both filled with natural light. Radiant heated floors throughout bring a warm earthy feel to all the rooms.
The two matching porches are a bonus feature and offer an outdoor spot to sit on a rocker, read a book, or while away the time while friendly neighbors wave as they stroll by on a jaunt around the mountain. This is indoor/outdoor living at its best. Natural cedar siding adds to the organic look of the house, its warm earth tones complementing the look of any natural landscape. Orange colored trim adds a bit of pop to the muted tones of the home.
With 4 BR and 5,000 square feet of space, The Solar Americana is sure to please the homeowner looking to live in a modern organic house designed for beauty, convenience, and comfort. Ths design makes clear that high-performance green buildings can deliver sustainable features while embracing the timesless appeal of traditional architecture.
THE TRANSPARENT HOUSE - A Cottage Home with a Modern Twist - BY KETTLERGREEN
Isn’t it a beauty? This is architecture as art and has many delightfully original ideas. After searching for a housing solution for first time home buyers in need of an affordable starter home, KETTLERGREEN adapted this design from Indonesian architect CHIN. This is one of the first KETTLERGREEN designs and should prove to be exceptionally popular. This smallish house matches the floor area of a modest bungalow while turning tradition on end. The snappy primary colors, especially the yellow stucco wall, give the house a colorful modern European look that is rarely seen in American building design.For those who want an earthier look in the house it is easy enough to paint the stucco a lovely muted earth tone.
Appearing small from this angle, the house is a sizable 2400 square feet offering ample room for convenient comfortable living with all the features of an organic modern home.
Of note is the front porch turned sideways, offering a sizable space for outdoor living right off the kitchen inside to the right with room for furniture and even a yoga workout area. This is a porch designed for summer comfort - wide, open, airy, and attractive running parallel and auxiliary to the great room. The glass indoor space upstairs off the bedrooms offers wide expansive views of earth and sky. Interior and exterior glass walls connect the indoors and outdoors on both floors, while The Transparent House provides the ultimate in comfort and warmth in a see through house.
Meanwhile, this passive and active solar house has a glass kitchen wall facing south for maximum solar gain as well as a rooftop covered in solar electric panels. An inside glass wall with sliding glass door connects the porch with the dining room offering the most in lightness, fresh air, and the feeling of being outdoors in what is an affordable charming Organic House by KETTLERGREEN, perfect for the first time home buyer.
THE DISAPPEARING HOUSE by KETTLERGREEN
Aptly named The Disappearing House, this upscale version of The Transparent House, inspired by Indonesian architect CHIN, offers a spacious house for the seasoned home buyer. The Disappearing House presents a fresh, attractive appearance that will invariably bring pleasure and satisfaction to the owners. It may appeal to you as the ideal home as it also includes a number of green features not found in the average home.
Of note on the left is the front porch turned sideways, offering a sizable space for outdoor living right off the kitchen inside to the right with room for furniture and even a yoga workout area. The two generous porches in a delightful way serve the outdoor pleasures of summer. The glass indoor space upstairs off the large bedroom offers wide expansive views of earth and sky. Interior and exterior glass walls connect the indoors and outdoors on both floors, while The Transparent House provides the ultimate in comfort and warmth in a see through house. Meanwhile, this passive and active solar house has a glass kitchen wall facing south for maximum solar gain as well as a rooftop covered in solar electric panels.
The glass indoor space upstairs offers wide expansive of earth and sky for a feeling a space, light, and openness. Likewise, the glass room to the far right provides a warm haven on a chilly winter day. Houseplants fill the room with greenery and life.
With 4 bedrooms, a large great room downstairs and an large office studio upstairs the house has loads of space for comfortable gracious living.
An amazing total of 12 invisible walls including four inside glass walls makes the dwelling transparent throughout, bringing in plenty of warmth and light and bringing the outdoors inside. With solar electric panels on the roof, radiant heated floors, and natural wood throughout, this Disappearing House by KETTLERGREEN has all the features of a modern Organic House.
SOLARMAXIMUS by KETTLERGREEN
Aptly named SOLARMAXIMUS, this fine home, solid and strong of character, maximizes to the fullest, almost 100%, the capture of solar entergy to heat and electrify the house. With large panels of glass on the south side, the house absorbs heat from the sun on a chilly day and the solar electric panels will make the electric meter run backwards. Superinsulated walls help to trap and keep the free warmth of the sun. Houseplants fill the sunspace with life.
The house is conveniently designed in modular fashion, making both the depth and width flexible according to the needs of the homebuyer. Its size comfortably ranges from a 2-3BR 1200SF house to a 4-5BR 5000SF dwelling.
Simple in design and built to high standards in modern home construction, the house offers ample affordable room for gracious organic living.
THE SOLAR DOMA by KETTLERGREEN
For those of you looking for a solar home design but find the Solar Maximus a little overbearing in its use of floor to ceiling glass, The Solar Doma is alike in every way escept the windows are smaller and a bit "homier" looking. Inside, the house shares the same convenient features such as a Dutch door, built-in storage, and plenty of natural sunlight. Note the solar electric panels on the roof providing electricity year round to the house.
THE HILL HOUSE by KETTLERGREEN
The Hill House is stout, sturdy, and solid as a rock. It is built of solid masonry and inspired by a house in southern India giving it an almost International look. Square lines give the advantage of utilizing every inch of space to good advantage, while this particular house incorporates some features distinctive to itself. The heavy solidity of this grounded home is it clings to the hillside gives an individuality to this attractive home that invariably pleases its owner.
Notice the sleek, low profile flat roofs, each covered with a living green roof that moderates the effect of a hot summer sun and offering life to an otherwise dead space. French doors off the Great Room open out onto a romantic green roof patio adorned with potted trees and flowers. Chairs and table offer a quiet place for an outdoor coffee or snack with sweeping views of the surrounding landscape. Impressive large picture windows off the master bedroom to the left and the spacious office studio to the right connect the rooms and the viewer to the outdoors beyond. Downstairs features two bedrooms and a large storage room for the inevitable stuff of life.
The stucco walls - painted a range of subtle earthy colors to blend naturally with the surrounding forested landscape - give the house an appearance of solidity and permanence. Unseen from this perspective is the jumbo sized kitchen with ample room for ensuite dining.
Finally, to top it all off, the opposite side of the house is covered with floor to ceiling glass to maximize heat gain fron the sun's warming rays on cold or chilly days. Radiant heated floors throughout keep the house comfortably cozy and warm at all times.
This is truly a natural organic house awaiting the lucky homeowner with the desire for comfort, convenience, and beauty.
THE SOLAR COTTAGE by KETTLERGREEN
THIS IS OUR LATEST DESIGN HOT OFF THE DRAFTING TABLE!!!
Isn't it cute? What a darling little home! Called The Solar Cottage, this modern house with its distinctive features is one to admire. The general appearance, both design and arrangement of detail, place it in a class of its own. The general lines are taken from farmhouse and cottage architecture, while many original ideas are added.
As part of our ongoing efforts to design for different lifestyles and income, we will constantly be designing small houses for those of more modest means than someone who might be able to afford the much larger Disappearing House. Like The Transparent House, this house is designed to be affordable for the first time home buyer or the single person in search of simple living.
This is the perfect house for one or two people or even a small family who only need one or two bedrooms and one bath.
You might never know it but the house is oriented to the south and the large windows will capture the heat and light of the sun to energize the house.
Designed with a timeless American appeal, this house is sure to please the homeowner looking for an organic house filled with beauty, convenience, and comfort.
To contact KETTLERGREEN
alan@kettlergreen.com
412.877.3546
