Nottoscale’s Rondolino Prefab is an Energy-Efficient Home in the High Desert of Nevada

The <a href="http://www.nottoscale.com/prefab/index.html" target="_blank">Rondolino Residence</a> is located in the remote high desert of Nevada, where it sits quietly amid the beauty of surrounding landscape. Designed by <a href="http://www.nottoscale.com/prefab/index.html" target="_blank">Nottoscale</a>, the 3 bedroom prefab fully absorbs the beauty of the surrounding landscape. The design is the first built prototype of their <a href="http://www.nottoscale.com/prefab/index.html" target="_blank">T-modulome</a> home, which makes use of panelized and energy-efficient construction techniques. The turn-key vacation home takes advantage of its site and the sun to minimize its impact on the surrounding environment.

The Rondolino Residence is a vacation home for an Italian journalist and writer who fell in love with the desert.

The design and construction process was done completely via email, and never once did the client and architect, Peter Strzebniak, talk over the phone.

In an effort to keep costs down, the decision was made to utilize panelized construction as opposed to modular construction.

Although the results would have been similar in the end, Strzebniak believes that modular construction would have been better because of the remote location and the difficulty in finding skilled labor in such a remote location.

Regardless, the home was completed and built as desired, although at a slightly higher cost.

With 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, the compact 1,176 sq ft home has a t-shaped layout with a public and private wing surrounded by a deck that expands the living space out into the desert.

Built on top of a crawlspace filled with gravel that moderates temperatures, the home is heated with hydronic radiant system.

The SIPs feature high-performance insulation and a tight envelope minimizes heat loss.

All windows are double paned with low-e coatings, and all the appliances are <a href="http://www.energystar.gov/" target="_blank">Energy Star</a> certified.

Low-VOC paints, bamboo flooring, and FSC-certified wood are used throughout. Landscaping around the house incorporates use of native species that do not require maintenance or water.

<a href="http://www.nottoscale.com/prefab/index.html" target="_blank">Nottoscale</a> not only designed and managed the construction of the home, but they also decorated the interior and sourced all of the furnishings, including stocking the kitchen with pots, pans, plates, utensils, and even spices.

This way the home was truly a turn-key vacation home - the owner only needs to stop at the store on his way in.

1 Thermal mass temperature buffer – crawlspace filled with gravel maintains even temperature year round to reduce heating and cooling needs. 2 Natural cross and stack ventilation 3 Highly insulated structural insulated panels 4 Energy efficient hydronic radiant heating system that can be upgraded to include radiant cooling 5 Trellis shading system reduces solar heat gain 6 Diffused daylighting through light monitors 7 Off the grid local well 8 Local septic leach field system 9 High performance double-pane, low-E coated windows 10 Landscaping with local species that don’t require irrigation 11 Compact floor plan to provide greater efficiency 12 Sustainable materials such as low VOC paints and bamboo eco-timber flooring 13 Energy Star rated appliances 14 Reduction of construction waste through prefabrication