National – Green Builder Media has broken ground on The VISION House® at Mariposa Meadows, the first entirely self-sufficient, off-the-grid project in the VISION House® Series. Perched high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the project will unite extraordinary design, extreme performance, and innovative products, such as structural insulated panels (SIPs).
“The VISION House at Mariposa Meadows will demonstrate advanced green building practices and enabling technologies in a high altitude, extreme climate,” says Ron Jones, Green Builder Media President and cofounder. “Our goal with the project is to implement and test solutions that can be replicated in urban, suburban, and rural locations across the country. If we can construct completely self-sufficient, independent, net-zero energy and water homes at 10,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies, they can be built anywhere.”
SIPs are a high performance, panelized building system used in the construction of energy-efficient homes and commercial buildings. In the VISION House at Mariposa Meadows, SIPs will deliver an airtight and thermally efficient building enclosure with the added labor-saving benefits of prefabrication—a major plus for the remote building site.
“SIPA is proud to be part of this project and showcase all the sustainable benefits that SIPs offer when designing net zero energy and resilient homes,” said Jack Armstrong, Executive Director of the Structural Insulated Panel Association (SIPA), the SIPs sponsor of the project. “These are truly unique, sustainable buildings and SIPs are one of the key enabling technologies that will provide them with the energy efficiency they need to succeed.”
When completed, state-of-the-art research facilities will allow manufacturers, building scientists, and other building industry professionals to explore green building, renewable energy, extreme weather, resilient housing best practices, wildfire mitigation, ecosystem management, and sustainable agriculture.
