New Construction
NDS designs homes that integrate with and enhance their surroundings. We offer a full range of architectural styles found on the West Coast: Victorian, Craftsman, Northwest, Mid-Century and Modern. An NSD-designed home reflects equal attentiveness to function and style, resulting in graceful, harmonious spaces that calm and inspire. Plans for new homes achieve the client’s goals while staying ever mindful of budget.
Remodels and Additions
Comprehending the character of the original residence is the key to a successful design. Defining and enhancing its strongest design elements makes the house more of what it was meant to be. The result is a well-ordered, intuitive Floor Plan that is also beautiful and stimulating.
Historic Districts
Conventions are everything in interpreting Historic homes, and require promoting the clients’ goals while respecting the house’s style and personality. Correct scale and proportion, continuity of details, and period window styles contribute to a seamless connection with the original structure.
Small Homes
Small house projects are exciting: they present the most challenging design problems, and require the most creativity. Small homes also give clients the opportunity to re-evaluate their priorities. A well-designed small home is like an organism; there is no wasted space, and many features perform dual functions. Open Floor Plans, niches and vaulted ceilings make small spaces feel intimate yet lofty.
Sustainability/Green Consulting
NDS believes “green building” is not a niche industry, but a mandate. We offer leadership and guidance for clients committed to energy-efficient homes with smaller carbon footprints. Our strategies include the following categories:
- Materials. We favor natural materials over petroleum-based materials with high embodied energy. Some examples include choosing cellulose insulation over spray foam; Marmoleum and hardwood over vinyl flooring and carpeting; and natural stone or tile over synthetic countertops.
- Health. Designing a new home or remodel provides an opportunity to make choices that promote the health of the occupants and the planet. Supporting healthy products and materials sends a message to the industry—a prescription for change—that resonates beyond the scope of the project.
- Siting. Incorporating passive solar design needn’t add cost, yet the gains in energy performance are significant. Passive solar design includes orienting window walls to the south; minimizing glazing on north walls; incorporating concrete slab floors for thermal mass; specifying eaves that maximize solar gain in the winter and reduce summer heat load.
- Energy. NDS challenges clients to invest in renewable energy technology—solar electric, solar thermal, and wind power. The environmental impacts and rising cost of fossil fuels make proactive choices toward net-zero and net-positive energy homes imperative.
- Envelope. We promote construction methods that increase energy performance and efficient use of resources. These include super-insulated roofs, hybrid framing strategies that minimize thermal bridging, and natural wall systems like straw bale and clay/straw construction.
- Value. NDS helps the client make “bang for your buck” green choices, by evaluating their long-term benefits in the context of the region and climate. These include specifying FSC-certified lumber, increasing insulation, and high-efficiency heat pumps.
- Size. Building a smaller home is one of the greenest decisions you can make.