contemporary ranch house plans

The architect designed contemporary ranch house plans present award winning solar passive design across two storeys. The contemporary ranch house plans create room big enough for any Texan family.  The residence has three independent living spaces and seven bedrooms across 4,305 square feet/400 square meter gross floor area – not including external terrace and alfresco areas.

The architectural design delivers a stable ambient air temperature across four seasons with little need for artificial heating via the Chazelle wood fuel firebox; that also heats the 106 Gallon solar hot water unit during the cooler winter months. The single lock standing seam parapets to the residence’s bedroom wing of the discretely obscure an optional photovoltaic array which generates electricity for the residence; with US Federal Government and Texas State government tax incentive rebates currently at 26%.

The architectural design achieves a coherent solar passive design principles through a generous allocation of south orientated glazing. The deep penetration of the lower azimuth winter sun for heat gain over the cooler winter months and exclude summer sun from the fenestration with generous skillion eaves. The highlight glass louvres create stack effect ventilation throughout the living areas to contribute to internal ambient air temperature during the hotter summer months. Property owners can also choose to incorporate air conditioning in the solar passive design.

The residence also features operable Breezeway glass louvres to the underside of roof eaves on the southern elevation.  The louvers generate cross ventilation for hot summer months for the cooling of the open-plan kitchen, living and dining. The contemporary ranch house plans boast direct sunlight spilling across the open plan kitchen/living/dining black oxide burnished concrete floor during the cooler winter months, and thereby capturing the solar radiant heat from the direct sunlight during the daylight hours and releasing that heat from the building’s thermal mass throughout winter evenings. Incorporating operable windows and louvers to the living areas of the contemporary ranch house plans maximizes the solar heat gain of the solar passive design during winter.