River Sol’s design captures the essence of place
The Deschutes River calls visually and audibly to all who visit River Sol as nearby whitewater cascades over rocks on its journey north to the Columbia River.
Architect Al Tozer Jr. made sure his design of River Sol answered that sensory calling.
“I think the connection to place and the connection to that river is going to be the signature element for River Sol,” said Tozer, principal of Tozer Design LLC in Bend.
He used photos and other design input from River Sol owners Scott and Lisa May to dream with them about its eventual look, weaving Living Building Challenge (LBC) design elements into the plan every step of the way.
Biophilic design, which the International Living Future Institute says is the practice of connecting people and nature within built environments and communities, was influential throughout the design process.
The home’s river-facing west side features large glass windows and sliders, plus a sloping roofline that widens to the west for maximum visual absorption of the Deschutes. The vaulted roof also allows for clerestory windows that, while too high for river views, will reveal ponderosa pines bordering the property and receive filtered light through the limbs, providing connection to place. Windows and sliders also will provide audible and olfactory stimulation, opening to the sounds of flowing water and scents of pine.
River Sol’s place — one of “3 P’s” along with performance and price that act as a filter through which the design is informed — is special indeed.
The design meticulously situates the home with precise angles, elevations and orientations to maximize the 3 P’s (or in the case of price, minimize it).
Nature created the place and River Sol celebrates it inside and out, the latter accomplished with a curving two-tier patio along the home’s entire west side. The patio’s lower tier, three “amphitheater-esque” steps below the upper level, puts residents and guests closer to the river and riparian ecosystem, Tozer said.
Performance is central to an LBC home, too, and measured in many ways, particularly regarding water and energy. River Sol’s roof elevations, slopes and orientations capture maximum southerly exposure for solar panels that will supply the home’s power. Tozer worked with Mike Hewitt at Bend’s E2 Solar early in the design and Hewitt walked the property, flew a drone to the anticipated north roof apex, and determined River Sol could access all the solar it needed for power.
Those panels will sit atop the secondary living unit paralleling River Sol’s north side, with that roof and others sloping toward a common drainage so every drop of rain and snowmelt is efficiently captured for home use.
River Sol’s design also allows maximum light when winter sun is low and minimizes northerly exposures that can cause energy and heat loss, improving building performance. Tozer even plans a south wall “solstice window” positioned to capture maximum light during the winter solstice, when the sun’s at its lowest, and project pine-filtered sunbeams deep within the home. The window would have the same effect on other sunny winter days.
Tozer called it an incredibly holistic exercise to design an LBC home and he seems to relish every LBC nuance. He did the same with Bend LBC home Desert Rain.
“You have to be aware of and attend to almost every aspect, from the ground up, with a Living Building,” he said. “It’s the dirt itself to grow things in for your urban agriculture. It’s the place, with the wind currents and the exposure to sunlight for your solar energy. It’s rainfall patterns; here in the desert, we really have to be careful about capturing every drop.”
There are myriad details — all of which matter.
“From a climate perspective, a biophilic design perspective, a cost perspective, all the way through, we need to be trying to look at everything,” he said. “We need to look at this project from every angle you could imagine from day one.”
River Sol’s design accomplishes that.