By Karen Maserjian Shan

        Ask architect Rick Alfandre why he’s an environmentalist and his answer is simple: “For the children.”

Alfandre, who is president of Alfandre Architecture in New Paltz and accredited as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design professional, said "Building energy-efficient green homes saves natural resources and money on the home’s operating costs, But, he added, the real value of such homes is the healthy climate they provide for those who live in them and their surrounding communities today as well as tomorrow.

          “Designing buildings that are environmentally sensitive helps everyone stay connected to the environment,” Alfandre said. “It helps us get back to the basics.”

          “For example,” he said, “reducing dependency on fuel heightens one’s independence. Using environmentally sensitive products increases the availability of natural resources. Avoiding air pollution keeps the environment healthier.”

          “If you build efficiently, you have reduced your need for energy and you have created a win-win-win situation,” Alfandre said.

          The philosophy is one the architect practices with his clients and the home he is building in High Falls for his family: wife, Vicki Koenig, their twin daughters, Joy and Sonia, 7,
the family’s yellow lab mix, Pearl, and their striped tabby, Jaspurr.

          “We tried to do everything we could to make the home as durable a building as possible,” Alfandre said.

          Like her husband, Koenig, who is a nutritionist, avoids waste both in her work and in the way she lives.

          “It’s the way to live life,” she said. “Take care of yourself and take care of the earth.”

          Located just off the northeast corner of the Mohonk Preserve, the 2500-square-foot residence is set atop a
wooded hill at the end of a rugged driveway and features work done by Mountain Valley Builders in Olivebridge.

          Alfandre oriented the three bedroom, two story home to the south, providing the dining and living rooms,
den and bedrooms with plenty of windowed exposures to daylight.

          “It brings the warming sun in a passive solar way into the spaces we live in, ” Alfandre said of the home’s southern orientation.

          But, because the house requires more than passive solar heat to warm it, it also was equipped with a propane
boiler that heats hot water used for the home’s under-floor radiant heat system. This winter, water warmed by the
propane boiler will be pre-heated by a wood-burning boiler, with Alfandre fueling that boiler from his home’s
densely wooded site.

          A separate hot water tank holds water warmed by way of solar panels on the roof and supplies hot water
for the taps. When the sun is down or clouded over, the propane boiler heats the household water.

          The home also was fitted with a whole-house ventilation system that includes an air exchange device with which
fresh air that’s brought into the house is partly warmed by the heated indoor air, as the stale indoor air is expelled
from the house.

Thick walls, well insulated

          As for the home’s construction, it has extra-thick eight-inch walls, with the top two floors densely insulated with
blown-in cellulose insulation made of recycled newsprint. The basement is insulated with foam. Outside, durable
concrete Hardi Board siding painted a striking barn red was used.

          Throughout the house, American-made windows by Pella windows and doors were installed and feature
triple-glazed, double low-E panes for maximum energy efficiency. All the home’s lighting fixtures and appliances are
energy rated for efficiency and/or water usage.

          Wood from North America covers the floors, with red birch on the first level (and the kitchen cabinets)
and white oak upstairs. Other flooring includes ceramic tiles and Marmoleum., a natural, yet highly durable material made
of linseed oil, rosins and wood flour.

          Garnet granite from the Adironack Mountains covers the kitchen counters and hearth of the living room’s masonry
fireplace,although a Persian travertine was used on two of the three bathroom vanities.

Space, light is focus

          Most of the home’s ceilings are peaked to add to the feeling of spaciousness while skylights and two solar tubes –
the latter of which channel sunlight inside through reflective tubes – brighten the home’s interior.

          And what an interior it is.

          Open spaces, high ceilings, windowed walls and color galore give the place an airy, yet warm look. Sacred red walls
abut pale mint green ones; muted corals and golden yellows add earthy appeal. In the bedrooms walls of pinks, greens,
periwinkles and blues are soothing.

          Koenig, who chose the wall colors, said her family used to live in a house with opal white walls throughout.

          “This time, I was ready to be more daring and take more risks  ,” she said.

          “Rick made a statement with the architecture and that’s why I could be so bold.”