Asta

adj. “sun-warmed”

Asta features two levels with an owner’s suite on the main level for age-in-place. A loft bonus room overlooks the double-height living room and two covered porches extend the living space outdoors. Large southern windows provide controlled solar heat gains year-round.

SUMMARY

3 bedrooms

2.5 bathrooms

1,898 ft2

About

Our Asta designs suit a growing family or perhaps a configuration that allows for a main level floor suite.  The standard configuration is suitable for ageing in place with the master suite on the ground floor.  Using a compact form, this home maximizes value for space by extending to a second floor where a flexible area, two bedrooms, and a bathroom are located.  Asta is sure to stay true to all of the features of a high performance home – large south-facing triple-pane glazing, thick, super-insulated walls and roof, a dedicated fresh air heat recovery ventilation, and a panelized construction system that reliably delivers excellent airtightness to keep those drafts at bay and the heat this building naturally and passively retains where it’s needed most, keeping occupants comfortable year round through all kinds of weather.  Designed to meet the Passive House Low Energy Building Standard (requiring 70% less energy to heat and cool than conventional construction), Asta also features a roof suitable for solar panels so that your home can achieve net zero, producing as much energy as it consumes.

Pricing

Want to customize?

20 hours of complimentary design time are included in the purchase of a Collective Home. This time is reserved for site-specific design including a site plan, orienting the home for energy performance, and a slab-on-grade foundation.

Additional customizations are possible at an hourly rate with our in-house design team. In a Design Services contract, we can help you modify a Collective Home, or design a home from scratch using our core principles: high performance, superior comfort, uncompromised building quality, and optimized for prefab.  Our in-house designer, Heather, will guide you on this journey.

Style

Want to change the roof slope?  The entry?  There are a number of small changes we can make to suit your neighborhood or tastes.

Layout & Orientation

The standard layouts have been designed for southern orientation, with large south-facing windows to maximize solar gain in the winter and overhangs to prevent overheating in the summer. The compact organization of bedrooms and bathrooms is optimized for fresh air ventilation duct layouts. Rotating the home is possible while maintaining these goals. We can make recommendations on energy efficiency impacts, natural light, and comfort. 

Changes to the layout are possible under a Design Contract. Our design team bills hourly to help bring your vision to reality. Changes to windows, panel layouts, or structural design are likely to require significant design hours 

Foundations & Basements

A slab on grade is the standard foundation. All other foundation types are possible and are likely to require additional design time under a Design Services Contract. 

Basements are often constructed with a different building system (concrete stem walls or ICF), which fall outside of the Collective Carpentry prefabricated panel scope.

Add-Ons

Accessory structures can be designed by our team as well. Our Collective Homes have been paired with carports, attached and detached garages, rental units and ADUs, decks, screened porches, and accessibility improvements. 

Performance

Energy efficiency & renewable energy

While state-of-the-art building certifications like Passive House can help deliver a 90% reduction in heating and cooling energy, most homeowners just want a comfortable, pretty good home.  

If you would like an energy model or to certify your home, our team can work with you to achieve these goals. Depending on your performance target, some changes may be necessary to the window package, insulation thickness, heating and electrical systems, shading, renewable energy systems, or other elements that will increase the energy performance of your home.

Air Quality

Heat recovery ventilation is relatively new in North America, although it’s been used in European homes for several decades. These systems act like the lungs of the home, providing fresh filtered air at controlled locations as opposed to relying on leaks in the building envelope. Some North American HVAC contractors may be less familiar with these systems.

We can guide you through upgrades to the fresh air systems, including an ERV upgrade, dehumidification, HEPA filter upgrade, or an earth tube ventilation system. 

Plumbing, electric, heating & cooling, and hot water

Our home designs come with recommendations for standard plumbing systems, a mini-split heat pump for heating and cooling, and a heat pump water heater. This home is designed to be an all-electric home. The very small heating system is a testament to the energy efficiency of the design. It is useful to understand this when communicating with your HVAC contractor, who may lean towards oversizing your heating system.

We can guide you through upgrades to these systems including electric vehicle charging, solar systems, in-floor radiant heat, geothermal systems, ducted mini-split heat pumps, solar thermal water heating, etc.

Finishes

Our design team will help you decide on windows and doors and exterior siding. Other finishes are mostly chosen by you with your contractor. Homeowners are also welcome to work with an interior designer.

Custom Design Examples

See below for some custom design examples we’ve developed for clients in the past.  At the end of the photo gallery are some schematics for garage options.