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Project: Price and Keller Residence<br />
architect: John Duffié<br />
Location: Ashland, Oregon<br />
“It takes a bit more thinking<br />
and intention when living in<br />
a passive solar house ...<br />
It connects you a lot more<br />
with nature.”<br />
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, John Price visited a<br />
house that made a big impression on him.<br />
The home sat off the grid and relied on<br />
natural forces and materials to provide its<br />
inhabitants with warmth and electricity.<br />
Price was drawn to the way its careful design<br />
imposed an unusually close relationship<br />
between the homeowner and the natural<br />
surroundings. Some day, he decided, he<br />
would “build a house that worked with<br />
nature rather than dominating it.”<br />
As Price discovered, designing a one-ofa-kind,<br />
green home requires a willingness<br />
to do your own research and the patience<br />
to carry through the selection and revision<br />
processes. This past August, he and<br />
his partner, Erin Keller, were officially able<br />
to move in to the home that they had long<br />
dreamt about.<br />
With the aid of seasoned architect John<br />
Duffié of Medford, they decided to build a<br />
1,480-square-foot, Craftsman straw bale<br />
home with a passive solar design in the historic<br />
district of Ashland. Straw is known<br />
for its insulating properties, and Price and<br />
Keller were able to use locally grown straw.<br />
The homeowners anticipated some resistance<br />
to their design in a neighborhood<br />
known for its older, clapboard siding homes,<br />
but were heartened to find the historic commission<br />
receptive to their plans.<br />
“Since building, our neighbors’ reactions<br />
have been extremely positive,” explains<br />
58 1859 oregon's magazine winter <strong>2010</strong>
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