The Net Zero Iconic Home is one of the first of its kind: a luxurious show house featuring energy efficient and sustainably sourced products. The brainchild of owner Mark LaLiberte, a building science expert, the Net Zero Iconic Home seeks to challenge the conventional understanding of building a luxurious custom home and set a new standard. Sustainability can coexist with a modern, sleek, and luxurious aesthetic. AFT Construction played a pivotal role in executing LaLiberte’s vision into reality, with Brad Leavitt and team’s extensive experience in building luxury custom homes.
The exterior of the home is clad with our Fossil Creek Natural Cleft, a quartzitic sandstone formed over 300 million years ago in the deserts of New Mexico, formed by water compressing sand and other minerals over time. LaLiberte and K and Q Interiors worked together, first, to design a modern linear coursing of 6″, 9″, and 12″ heights by random lengths. This custom large format sizing included sawn edges on all four sides of each piece, providing clean lines to enhance the modern, clean aesthetic of the home. Though many stones were initially considered, Fossil Creek was ultimately selected for its warm rust and earth-toned colors that played on similar tones of the surrounding desert environment.
The exterior sandstone cladding was quarried in New Mexico, where the raw material was unearthed. The blocks were then transported and fabricated in Northern Arizona. Being endemic to the Southwest region as opposed to being imported or freighted across the country, this stone limits its carbon footprint. The fabrication facility that transformed the raw material into large pieces also recycles the water used to soften the stone when cut. Natural stone itself has no chemicals, dyes, additives or volatile organic compounds; there is minimal to no off-gassing. These factors ultimately contributed to the sustainable theme of the project and made the product fit within the overall framework of LaLiberte’s vision.
Installation of the stone was no easy endeavor, considering the methodical layering of each course height for each row, which needed a thoughtful eye considering the natural variation and range of the stone. By blending the lighter and darker pieces evenly throughout, the stone’s range and variation sings. The drystack installation and mitering of the edges of the stone for corner treatments required an expert mason. The craftsmen and women of Modern Group achieved a beautiful final look.
The Net Zero Iconic Home demonstrates how natural stone can fit within the scope of a sustainable project in addition to adding aesthetic value.
Other products featured on this project include our limited edition Charcoal Jagged Slabs (Living Room Fireplace) and Belgard Quarziti 2.0 Glacier Pavers (Exterior Decking).
Interior Design: K and Q Interiors
Architecture: Cosan Studio
Build: AFT Construction
Fossil Creek Install: Modern Group
Charcoal Jagged Install: Summit Stone
Owner: Mark LaLiberte
Magazine Sponsor: Iconic Life
Photo Credits: Paul Moore