2026 Award Winner - New Build

BEAUTY IN THE BARRENS

Hope, Maine • Completed May 2025

Project Team:

• GO Logic, LLC

  • Chelsey Effinger, Lead Designer

  • Panelization (Shop Team)

  • General Contractor Shell (Install Team, Site Crew)

• ReVision Energy - Solar: Will Field

• Albert Putnam Associates, LLC - Structural Engineer: Albert Putnam

Project Description:

At home atop blustery blueberry barrens, this certified Passive House residence provides first-time homeowners with worry-free comfort—in blizzard, heat wave and everything in between. A solar array, with backup battery for resilience during grid outages, makes this home net zero. 

Top-performing windows and doors showcase natural lighting, while airtight construction and energy-recovery ventilation deliver clean, filtered air throughout. Prioritizing bio-based materials and building the enclosure inside the country’s first Phius-certified manufacturing facility, reduced the home’s upfront carbon, further protecting personal and planetary health. 

Using Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), this building’s information model sent exact cut files to an automated saw, ensuring all architectural and structural issues were fully resolved before any wood was cut— allowing for remarkable precision and material waste reduction.

Project Metrics:

• Bedrooms/Bathrooms: 2BR / 2BA

• Sq. footage: 2,350 sq ft

• Air tightness: .6 ACH 50 (Passive House Institute requirement)

• HVAC: Stelpro electric baseboard and Suntouch in-floor electric radiant mat.

• Ventilation: Zehnder heat recovery ventilator.

• R-Value: Foundation R-24, Walls R-51, Roof R-93

Highlights from the Judges: