Budget Breakdown: An Architect Couple Build a Net-Zero Home and Studio for $250 Per Square Foot

eMZed Architecture builds a sustainable, durable, high-performance residence and storefront in Portland, Oregon, for $950,000—an impressive feat given the challenges.

Oct 1, 2020 - 20:17

Budget Breakdown: An Architect Couple Build a Net-Zero Home and Studio for $250 Per Square Foot

eMZed Architecture builds a sustainable, durable, high-performance residence and storefront in Portland, Oregon, for $950,000—an impressive feat given the challenges.

Keyan Mizani and Alexia Zerbinis work from a ground-floor storefront studio that could be converted to either a garage or a leasable accessory dwelling unit.

Keyan Mizani and Alexia Zerbinis, the husband-and-wife architects behind eMZed Architecture, have grown accustomed to passers-by pausing on the sidewalk outside their home and studio in Portland, Oregon.

"I’m just thrilled by the number of exclamations I hear, how intrigued people are," Keyan says. "We did build this as a demonstration house. We wanted to show what you can do with limited means."

$6,000 Deconstruction & Salvaging (After City Grant)	$382,250 High-Performance Shell	$2,400 Mini-Split HVAC
$10,100 Zehnder Energy Recovery Ventilator	$32,000 Cabinets & Counters	$3,000 Sliding Sunscreen
$12,200 9.5 kW Solar PV Panels (After Rebates)	$19,200 Wood Flooring	$5,775 Wood Stairway
$19,500 Tile	$35,000 Drywall	$13,575 Steelwork
$418,000 Construction Costs
Grand Total: $950,000

The Treehouse uses a combination of materials, native plants and design cues to break down its form into distinctive pieces. — The Treehouse uses a combination of materials, native plants, and design cues to break down its form into distinctive pieces.

Gabe Border Photography

With its pitched roof, inviting front porch, and lush landscaping, the Treehouse, as its designer-owners call it, fits well into its leafy neighborhood of early 20th-century bungalows. Looking closer, though, reveals not only an ultra-green home with a carbon footprint dramatically less than that of a conventional design, but also an architectural Swiss Army knife of indoor/outdoor configurations, spaces within spaces, and creative use of materials to save money.

In the kitchen, where fresh air flows continuously in Oregon's mild climate, Ikea cabinetry helped keep costs down, while the same maple surface was used for an island and flooring to achieve visual clarity. — In the kitchen, where fresh air flows continuously in Oregon's mild climate, IKEA cabinetry helped keep costs down, while the same maple surface was used for an island and flooring to achieve visual clarity.

Pete Eckert

The couple’s ground-floor architecture studio not only has its own glass storefront entrance, but can be converted to either an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) or a garage. A sliding exterior sunscreen on the top floor helps minimize summertime heat gain.

The cantilevered front balcony can become an extended part of the living room thanks to a sliding glass partition behind it, and its automated roll-down screen can make it feel even more like interior space. A guest room and full bath on the ground floor can be closed off with pocket doors to create a private suite in keeping with barrier-free design principles, should the couple need as they age.