As a designer and eco-guy, Christopher Lemke loves talking about the solar hot water and highly efficient mechanical systems he designed into his home. As the father of boys ages four and two, however, he knows where the heart of the home really lies. “The kitchen is a central activity area for the house,” he says. “The whole point of it is that the family can be together while we’re preparing meals and cleaning up—even just sitting at the table.” Along with his business partner Mace Mortimer, Lemke owns Alloy Homes, a 10-year-old Calgary firm known for its close attention to detail and use of natural light. They’ve also moved their offices into their brand new EcoHome—Alloy’s foray into green design, where the technical aspects of green architecture (like the aforementioned solar hot water) meld with beautiful, small-footprint design. All these elements are at work in the kitchen, where commanding views of a large city park link the EcoHome’s green message to the greater environment. “We tried to integrate the site and the house in as many ways as possible,” explains Lemke. “The view of the park is almost like a wall hanging.”

By Bruce Weir
Photos by John Gaucher

Kid's Corner
A play area for the kids (their current obsession is trains) sits in a small alcove off the kitchen. “They have their own little space,” Lemke says. “But when we’re cooking and getting things ready, we can keep an eye on them.” The area also ensures that nothing (and no one) is underfoot while Lemke and his wife prepare meals.

False Wall, True Peace
The EcoHome is a duplex, and Lemke took pains to ensure that noise wouldn’t travel between the units. His most ingenious innovation is a false wall behind the stove and lower cabinets. Punching holes for plugins and switches in this wall did not compromise the soundproofing because the actual dividing wall sits behind eight inches of sound insulation. “The people on the other side have two dogs and a parrot; we have two kids and a dog, and you never hear a thing across this party wall,” Lemke says.

Colour to Planet Earth
Being earth-friendly doesn’t necessarily restrict the colour palette. “We’d been living in earth tones for a decade and we wanted this house to be something different,” says Lemke. To wit: the rich Brazilian cherry floors, white acrylic-lacquer cupboards and the white-oak millwork.

Island in the Stream
The white-oak island provides storage and a convenient work surface (conserving personal energy is part of the EcoHome’s design) and also defines the dining area. “We didn’t want it to feel like a table sitting in a kitchen, so we took care in designing it so that it was a piece of furniture,” says Lemke.

Bright Ideas
Lemke loves natural light and takes pains to bring it deep into spaces. This cuts down on lighting bills, but it also serves an architectural purpose. “The way we tie the kitchen to the rest of the house without having a big, cavernous volume is to have these little view corridors,” Lemke says. From both the stove and the dining table, a person can see into the great room with its view of the park.