Ferguson Residence
Taos, New Mexico

My friend Norm completely changed his life in 1999. He retired from his tenured professor job, sold his Minneapolis home, and built a house for his new life in Taos.

We designed an 'L' shaped house around a courtyard to create focused views to the mountains. The contained shape of the house provides a sense of protection in an area of vast openness.

Sustainable features:

Norm hired a contractor who builds using Rastra.
Rastra is produced out of recycled, post consumer plastics - such as expanded polystyrene, which is mixed with cement. It offers the structural strength of concrete paired with high thermal insulation, sound attenuation and fire resistance.

The house also has a radiant floor heating system fueled by solar collectors on the garage roof (LP gas backup). Due to the mass and insulation of the house, no air conditioning is needed. After sundown, the house can be ventilated with the cold nighttime breeze and remains cool for the entire next day.

Northeast facing view of mountains

Plan

West facing view of sunset