A design style close to my heart! Using design concepts rooted in that architectural era, we strive to bring them into modern times. the last 4 or so years has seen us design a few homes in this vernacular. Elsewhere on the site is the Fredrickson/Morgan home, which also uses this design language.

We utilize air to water heat pumps for water heating and radiant heat in some cases, and Mini Spits for heating and cooling in other cases. With all electric appliance packages coupled with a PV system, the goal is to achieve a net zero energy footprint. We also strive, from a design standpoint, to minimize the carbon footprint of the material we use. As much as possible, all insulation is provided by recycled cellulose, and our foundation system uses around 40% less concrete than a normal full depth system. We minimize the use of rigid foam products. Understandably there is an interest in alternative wall systems, but a lot of them are either rigid foam and/or concrete based, and those items tend to have a much higher carbon footprint than a traditional wood framed home. By using advanced framing techniques we try to use less lumber than a more traditionally framed home. High performance windows are another part of our design/building toolset.

The Southwest , and mores specifically, Santa Fe , are water stressed areas. My longstanding interest in water conservation, informed by years serving on the Sant Fe Water conservation Committee, and my founding work with the now nationwide Water Efficancy Rating Standard, means our homes incorporate various water savings strategies. Rainwater Harvesting, coupled with treatment, provides both landscape irrigation, and water for indoor toilet and laundry use. Greywater capture systems, provide a year round supply of outdoor irrigation water. Passive landscape water capture, using rooftop collection routed into planting infiltration areas, is another, lower cost strategy for using rainwater. Ultra low flow toilets, and water sense interior fixtures are also part of water saving strategy.

The First Project is the La Casa De Las Gemelas Project (it features an interior arboretum) which is a design feature found on Eichler homes back in the day…) Featuring matching bedrooms for the clients young twin girls. a”tower fun zone” common space for both of them, home offices, a Japanese style indoor outdoor bathing area, and spectacular tall ceilings throughout to capture the endless view of their location, the clients input really drove this design.

This client LOVES her neighborhood. The walkability, closeness to downtown, shopping, the kids school is around the corner, and basically she can live her life on a bike, and not in a car. The lot? Well… everyone (including myself) didn’t even realize it was a lot. It looks like an orphan piece of land attached to the existing home next door. But, my client is a very creative soul, and saw “possibilities” where no one else did. On an airplane, with some graph paper and a pencil, she pretty much sketched out a floorpan that fit this very setback and size constricted lot. I got to make the room sizes, and basic layout work, and define the exterior elevations. Another successful client/designer collaboration was birthed. The home is approximately 1800 sq ft 3 bedroom, with 2.5 baths and a semi formal dining room.It also has a 2 car garage. The homed achieved LEED Platinum status. The client moved in summer of 2021 (Photos By Daniel Nadelbach)

A perfect example of client input during the design process. working from a specific design program and a fairly detailed floorpan, we came up with the perfect retirement home for a couple leaving TX. The fantastic asset of having knowledgeable and creative folks as customers is that it means every home we do is unique. This home is 2445 sq ft. with with about 1200 sq ft of patio areas for all season outdoor living. The home achieved Build Green New Mexico Gold status. As always a gray water system was installed to assist with landscaping, and rooftop collection into French drains means that our precious rainwater can also help keep the landscaping healthy. This project was completed 3/1/22.

The Home I would build for myself, but I had clients that wanted the exact same thing! Its rare when that happens, but in this case, it was a perfect fit. One of the tightest houses we have ever built, with an ACH or .92, this home is a near net zero design, with a HERS rating of…6 It’s all electric featuring a first in the state Sanden hot water heat pump system that provides domestic hot water and water for the radiant heating system. A greywater system, rainwater directed towards planting areas, A 5 KVW PV system, and a green roof, this house sets a new paradigm of what “Santa Fe Style” means in a changing world. The home is 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, and is 2050 sq ft, with a roof top deck, and extensive portal areas on all 4 sides, the home is as much about outdoor living as indoor living.

Only 650 sq.ft, this custom home next to one of Santa Fe’s favorite destinations, the Frank Ortiz Dog Park, was built by the owner of the adjacent residence, for one of her family members. Lots of glass, the airy loft, and high ceilings, make the home feel much bigger than the square footage would suggest. The home achieved Build Green New Mexico Emerald status. PV, a greywater system, an airtight envelope and highly insulated walls and ceilings, helped us achieve this rating

This Residence continues my personal design philosophy of creating spaces that meet the specific needs of my clients. The home has a unique feature- its "yoga space",  to enable the client to continue their long term yoga practice in a space specifically designed for that. The home is based around an upstairs Master Suite, complete with a sunset deck that affords privacy, along with a sweeping view of the surrounding terrain. Downstairs features a large kitchen with plenty of prep space.

Once again, the building itself is a high efficiency structure with both a rainwater and greywater reclamation system. The design  includes a 2.6KWH PV system. Currently, as speccd., the home achieves a HERS Score of 33. In a "first in the nation" , this home features a WERS rating- WERS stands for  "water efficiency rating system" which is a metric that aims to do for water, what a HERS rating has done for energy- specifically a performance based water scoring system to measure both indoor and out door water use. Per our design guidelines of stressing value oriented green homes that perform exceptionally well- this home has achieved a combined WERS score of 17. All needed exterior landscaping water is being provided by the reclaimed water systems, and by using WATER SENSE fixtures and appliances on the interior, we have lowered potable water used by 2/3s over a code baseline. This program was born in Santa Fe, and is currently  in the process of being rolled out nationwide. I am proud to say that I am a founding member of the team that came up with this program!

The house design itself is loosely based on a a Mid Century Modern aesthetic, reflecting an existing group of homes that were built nearby in the mid sixties.

This 2100 sq ft home, completed May 2015, is the dream home of a retired couple who started coming to Santa Fe in the early 1970's even owning a rental unit here for a time. Their 20 yr old son, likes to come home to visit from college, so the program for this project was 2 master suites with each suite accessing private courtyard spaces. The house is designed around universal design concepts with 3' wide doors on the main level to all living. sleeping and bath areas, and a ramped entry hallway from the entry portal.  I designed this house to be extremely energy efficient, with a HERS rating of 55, and included a "purple pipe" rainwater catchment system which collects rainwater, filters it, and then supplies it to toilets and the washing machine, greatly reducing the amount of potable drinking water needed for non potable uses. As with the Calle San Martin Project, this house also includes a greywater collection system which is utlitized in both the courtyard planting areas and at the front of the residence.

Working closely with the young couple who commissioned this 3 bedroom 2 bath home, I set out design a home to fulfill their desire to have a "right"sized (2000sq ft)  water and energy efficient home that reflected their modern design tastes, and that could grow with them.  This home, built in 2014, achieved Build Green New Mexico Gold Status, and won 2 2014 Santa Fe Parade of Homes awards. This project achieved a HERS score of 52, and has an ACH rate of .92-close to Passive House Status (.60) This home includes Santa Fe's first "purple pipe" rainwater collection system, that filters and reuses rainwater to supply toilets and the washing machine. Furthermore, greywater is collected from sinks, showers and the washing machine for reuse.

Soon after completion they welcomed their new baby boy into their new home. It was quite a year for them!

And Now, 3 years later, we added a grandma suite! 750 sq ft upstairs with an additional full height basement, offered the clients a new family room area(in the basement) along with 2 additional bathrooms and a full upstairs casita for Grandma. The addition achieved our best yet ACH, coming in at .75!. the clients also added a full PV system that supplies all their electrical power needs.

Set in the historic Guadalupe District, this 4 home compound encompasses 3 new residences and 1 extensively remodeled historic home. Designed by Laura Van Amburgh, AIA, the homes range in size from 850 sq ft to 1150 sq ft. The three new homes have rainwater catchment systems for exterior landscaping.

Built as my personal residence, this home designed by Laura Van Amburgh features floor to ceiling south and east facing glass, affording phenomenal views of the City of Santa Fe NM. This residence includes a rainwater catchment system, passive solar design, recycled glass countertops and custom tinted plaster throughout.. with walled private garden spaces, this home is a modern oasis walking distance to downtown Santa Fe.

Tucked behind a popular city park, right on the historic Acequia Trail is a small 4 unit compound consisting of modern sustainably built green homes. The historic 400 year old Acequia Madre runs thru it, and the backyard chicken coop adds to the rural ambience...

2 homes were built in 2007 and were the first in Santa Fe to achieve Build Green New Mexico Silver Status.  All homes are under 1300 sq ft., with  low energy use, low water use and clean modern space efficient design as their governing principals.  Designed by Laura Van Amburgh, AIA.

Back in 1996 I thought it would be an awesome idea to build a spec. home. I’d already been living in Santa Fe for 20 years, having built my first home here in the mid 1980’s, and was ready for something different. So yep, not just any run of the mill Santa Fe Style home, but something altogether different. I was told “it will never sell, it doesn’t look like anything else on the market”. Well, that was the goal, and sure enough the folks who did buy it, bought it for that very reason…AND, icing on the cake, it won a Metropolitan Home Magazine award for Best Exterior a bit later.

I just went back in March of 2025 and shot some photos of it. I can still remember doing all the landscape work, and the endless days and nights spent out there working on the project. The Architect was Sarah Gage, and she did a phenomenal job of translating my ideas into reality. 30 years later, her good work still informs the decisions in my own design work. And 30 Years later, we STILL don’t build em like everyone else, and thats a point of pride for us…