Green Roofed Vancouver Residence is the First LEED Platinum Home in Western Canada

The <a href="http://www.frits.ca/gallery/projects/west_21st.html" target="_blank">West 21st House</a>, otherwise known as the Kerchum Residence, is located in Vancouver's Dunbar neighborhood and it is Western Canada's first LEED Platinum single-family residence. Modern by design but sustainable at its core, the home is covered in lush green roofs and is angled to take advantage of both the sun and the views. Designed by local firm <a href="http://www.frits.ca/" target="_blank">Frits de Vries</a> and built by <a href="http://www.naturalbalancehomes.com/projects" target="_blank">Natural Balance Home Builders</a>, the West 21st House has a clearly defined relationship with the surrounding landscape.

<a href="http://www.frits.ca/gallery/projects/west_21st.html" target="_blank">West 21st</a> is a 3,070 sq ft singly family home with a detached garage built on a 42 ft wide lot surrounding by traditional craftsman style homes.

This addition to the neighborhood features clean, modern lines but has a scale and proportion that fit in with the surrounding homes.

The owners have a strong love of nature and views, gardens and patios are incorporated into the home to provide an immediate connection with the outdoors.

Natural daylight also plays a strong role and is used to define scale and intimacy within the home.

As this was the first LEED Platinum singly family home in Western Canada, let alone Vancouver, a number of sustainable strategies were included.

The roofs are covered in plants to reduce heat reflectance and rainwater runoff, while the landscape design makes use of native, drought tolerant plant species and reclaimed stone.

Passive solar design, daylighting, high efficiency windows, a high performance heating / cooling system, including heat recovery, energy efficient appliances and daylighting all work in conjunction to reduce energy use.

Additionally a solar hot water heating system on the roof provides virtually free domestic hot water.

After the home was completed it was selected as a finalist for the <a href="http://www.georgieawards.ca/winners/view.aspx?id=2041" target="_blank">2010 Georgie Awards</a>.

Light shines down through the stairwell into the home.

Cozy rooftop deck.

Rooftop solar hot water heating system.