RETHINKING THE FUTURE.com: “Baboolal Residence by Arielle Schechter Architect”

PHOTOS BY TZU CHEN

The Baboolal residence is a net zero house is for a multicultural family of four. The husband is Indian originally from South Africa and the wife is American. They are both in high stress professions: he is a pediatric anesthesiologist and she is a pediatric nurse. They have two small children and pets.

The impetus for building this house was their previous frustration with living in a cookie cutter developer house with a lot of wasted space and illogical planning. READ MORE

INHABITAT: “De Stijl-inspired modern home generates all of its own energy.”

By Lucy Wang • Photos by Keith Isaacs

When a couple decided to “break free” from their cookie-cutter home and realize their long-awaited eco-friendly dream home, they turned to Chapel Hill-based architect Arielle Condoret Schechter to bring their vision to life. With their grown son now out of the house, the couple wanted to downsize to a simple modernist home where they could peacefully age in place. Nestled in a secluded place in the woods of Chatham County, North Carolina, the resulting sustainable home is custom-designed to meet all their needs, from achieving net-zero energy to its modernist design with architectural elements inspired by the Netherlands-based De Stijl movement of the early 1900s. READ MORE

Homeowners’ Happiness Lifts Chapel Hill Architect to “Top Rated®” Status

Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, at her drawing board.

After receiving Best of Houzz® awards in the Customer Service category for five consecutive years (2015 – 2019), Chapel Hill-based “green” architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, can now add Top Rated Local® Architect in North Carolina to her growing list of accolades.

Top Rated Local® (TRL) is a national partnership dedicated to finding and promoting businesses, trades, and professionals that excel in overall customer/client experiences. TRL tracks, scores, analyzes and ranks them according to how well they satisfy the “five pillars” of customer experience —  quality, value, timeliness, experience, and satisfaction – as expressed in customer/client reviews and ratings on popular, verified sites. For architecture ratings, the verified sites include Houzz, Facebook, and Google. The top rating at each site is five stars.

Schechter is best known for her modern, custom-designed, Net Zero/Net Positive houses that complement natural landscapes throughout central North Carolina. Ranging from 400 to 6000 square feet, Schechter’s houses are always featured on the annual Green Home Tour sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Orange, Chatham, and Durham counties.

She’s received international attention for her Micropolis Houses®, a collection of modern, sustainable, ultra-small house plans she designed. She sells the plans as they are or customizes them for specific clients. In fact, several of her completed and currently, under-construction houses are modified versions of Micropolis® plans.

And as rave online reviews from her clients attest, Schechter has gained a reputation for leaving a string of happy homeowners across central North Carolina.

“Of 25 ratings and reviews posted on verified review sites, Arielle Schechter has received dozens of reviews and an average rating of 5.00 stars. This earns her a Rating Score™ of 96.00,” said Rachael Walsh of Top Rated Local®. “That makes her the 2019 Top Rated Local® architect in all of North Carolina.”

In an article on www.topratedlocal.com, Schechter attributes her positive reputation to her sincere commitment to customer service, which she defines as “paying attention to the details, staying in touch with clients, being available for clients and supporting them at all times, making the process smooth, and caring deeply.” Myriad online reviews reveal the success of her commitment. For example:

“My husband and I have been living in our new modern, ‘green’ net-zero home…,since May [of 2018]. I am every bit as delighted with it — and even more so now that we are living in I — than from when Arielle first designed it. Arielle designed a home that is uniquely ours by listening to both what we wanted and needed in our home…Through Arielle, our ‘dream home’ has become a reality. We couldn’t be happier!”

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“Arielle… is a seasoned professional with an eye for detail second to none. She never left our side throughout the building process and was always quick to provide alternative suggestions along the way.”

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“I am amazed at how efficient [the plan] was! You literally put in everything we asked for, with no wasted space at all. I loved it, and still do.”

For more information on Top Rated Local® go to www.topratedlocal.com.

For more information on Arielle Condoret Schechter, visit www.acsarchitect.com.

FINE HOMEBUILDING: “When a Mid-Century Modern House Isn’t Quite Modern Enough”

Photo by Iman Woods

When Chapel Hill-based architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, was asked to renovate a mid-century modern house in Durham, she quickly realized that her task would be to interject some of the key features of mid-century modern design that this 1940s house was actually lacking. And, in doing so, she would create an appropriate setting for an icon of modern furniture design.  READ MORE

CUSTOM BUILDER: “Light Touch”

Understanding these basics will help you create better lighting transitions

by Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA

Schechter’s own house (and dog)

Most architects’ goal today is to optimize natural light in their buildings and houses so artificial lighting is rarely required during the day.

But what are the best artificial lights for nighttime and for the transition from daylight to sunset and from night to dawn?

To answer that question, you have to understand what comprises natural light.  READ MORE

THE REAL DEAL: Chapel Hill Architect Contributes Two Extremely Green, Thoroughly Modern Houses to HBA’s 2019 Spring Green Homes Tour

Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, is quick to credit her clients with allowing her to pursue her passions for environmental stewardship and modern architecture – passions that have once again secured spots for two of her projects on the 2019 Spring Green Home Tour April 27-29 and May 4-5 throughout Durham, Orange, and Chatham Counties.

And again this year, Schechter’s houses will give participants a chance to tour the real deal: modern, ultra-energy-conserving, high-performance houses that rest lightly on the land and will produce all or almost all of the energy they need without depleting any natural resources.

“Because my clients are dedicated to sustainable design and construction,” Schechter said, “and because they’re such fans of modern design, they have been such an inspiration as they’ve allowed me to design houses for them that are Net Zero/Net Positive or very close to it. That, along with getting to design modern homes that fulfill my clients’ unique needs and dreams and enhance their lives — it’s an amazing feeling.”

Both of Schechter’s houses on this year’s tour are nestled in verdant settings deep in the forests of Orange County.

Modern Green Cabin, 5909 Running Green Road, Chapel HillWhen “rustic” combines with “modern” and “green,” the result is the Gouchoe-Hanas cabin (above), a Net Zero Passive house Schechter designed for a couple moving to North Carolina from San Francisco with two grown children who will visit often.

Among the many features that will fulfill its Net Zero function, this modern cabin features a roof-mounted photovoltaic array and battery storage, radiant heated concrete slab floors on the main level, EuroStar Fenestration windows and doors, and deep sheltering roof overhangs plus suspended sun shades to screen out the high summer sun.

Schechter designed a variety of spaces inside the house to provide for different moods and types of gatherings. The lofty living/dining space on the main floor connects visually and socially to the upper bedrooms via a balcony overlook. (Each guest room includes a private balcony.) The kitchen is also connected to the main space but tucked away under the second floor. And in the kitchen, Schechter specified bright red tiles “to give warmth and joyful energy to the kitchen, making it pleasant for both cooking and gathering.”

The living/dining space, master bedroom, and office/study all have large, south-facing windows to welcome an abundance of natural light and to provide panoramic views of the natural setting.

“South light is greatly treasured by our firm,” Schechter noted. “We always aim to provide ample south light in our spaces.”

NewPhire Building is currently finishing work on this modern green cabin.

Mason-Grabell Residence – under construction – 1505 Mill Valley Road, Chapel Hill

According to the architect, the Mason-Grabell residence (above) is “an extremely energy efficient house that will have a rooftop solar array to get us near Net Zero.” She designed it for a couple relocating from Florida to Chapel Hill. Among its many high-performance features are “my favorite Passive House-rated windows and doors from Eurostar Fenestration,” Schechter noted.

One of Schechter’s clients for this house is a gourmet cook and both love to entertain, so the kitchen was extremely important. To honor their passions, Schechter designed a floorplan in which the kitchen is the central “heart” of the house. All other spaces flow from the heart.

The prominent and most important exterior feature is a generously proportioned screen porch that appears to be floating out into the site. A wrap-around deck connects the grilling area to the screen porch.

The Mason-Grabell house should be complete by early to mid-summer, but it is complete enough now for tour participants to enjoy.

About the Spring Green Home Tour:

Sponsored by the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties in North Carolina, the Spring Green Home Tour is a self-guided tour of houses located throughout the Triangle area. The tour allows the public to see advanced building practices and materials. For more information go to www.springgreenhometour.com.

ARCHITECT BLUEPRINT: “House in the Woods. Very Modern and Extremely Green”

This modern, Net Zero – Net Positive house is a customized version of one of architect Arielle Condoret Schechter’s Micropolis® houses, a collection of small, modern, sustainable house plans she continues to design that can be purchased outright or customized to accommodate specific needs.

Her clients, Cheryl and Ken Serdar, loved the original 950-square-foot plan but needed a bit more space. So Schechter enlarged to 2222 heated square feet to include a spacious, spa-like bathroom and a third bedroom that Cheryl could use for her office and jewelry-making studio. READ MORE…

Chapel Hill Architect Arielle Schechter Awarded Best of House 2019

In the Customer Service category for the 4th consecutive year

Once again,  Houzz® has honored Chapel Hill, NC, architect Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, (right) with a Best of Houzz Award in the Customer Service category.

As in years past, Schechter was selected for the 2019 award by over 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than 2.1 million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals. The honor is based largely on reviews her clients submitted to the popular online platform – a total a present of 21 effusive reviews.

“Best of Houzz is a true badge of honor as it is awarded by our community of homeowners, those who are hiring design, remodeling and other home improvement professionals for their projects,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of Industry Marketing for Houzz. “We are excited to celebrate the 2019 winners chosen by our community as their favorites for home design and customer experience, and to highlight those winners on the Houzz website and app.”

Arielle Condoret Schechter is perhaps best known for her expertise in modern, Net Zero/Net Positive Passive residential design. Examples of her work have appeared in a number of publications, blogs, and online galleries, including Architect, Architects + Artisans, Archinect, Architizer, Builder, Chapel Hill Magazine, Dwell, Freshome, Inhabitat, Raleigh News & Observer, Professional Builder, The Huffington Post, and TechHome.

For more information on the Chapel Hill-based architect and her work, visit www.acsarchitect.com.

About Arielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, ArchitectArielle Condoret Schechter, AIA, is a licensed, registered architect based in Chapel Hill, NC, who specializes in Modernist, energy-efficient buildings with special expertise in modern Net Zero/Net Positive Passive design. Her body of work includes her Micropolis Houses®, a collection of modern, green, tiny-house plans.  She is a lifelong environmentalist and began practicing green design long before it became mainstream. She is also a lifelong animal advocate. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, Arnie, and an assortment of foster animals in the Modern, sustainable house she designed for them. For more information: www.acsarchitect.com

About Houzz

 Houzz® is the leading platform for home remodeling and design, providing people with everything they need to improve their homes from start to finish – online or from a mobile device. From decorating a small room to building a custom home and everything in between, Houzz connects millions of homeowners, home design enthusiasts and home improvement professionals across the country and around the world. With the largest residential design database in the world and a vibrant community empowered by technology, Houzz is the easiest way for people to find inspiration, get advice, buy products and hire the professionals they need to help turn their ideas into reality. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Houzz also has international offices in London, Berlin, Sydney, Moscow, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo. Houzz is a registered trademark of Houzz Inc. worldwide. For more information, visit houzz.com.

CHAPEL HILL MAGAZINE: “Going Green — The Murphy-Dunn House is a study in sustainable living”

LEPSIEBYVANIE.sk [Better Living]: “Pasívny dom, ktorý vyrobí viac energie, než spotrebuje” [“Passive House That Produces More Energy Than It Consumes”]

By Jurikova Sona

https://lepsiebyvanie.centrum.sk/architektura-a-dizajn/888143/pasivny-dom-ktory-vyrobi-viac-energie-nez-spotrebuje