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NowHaus 01: A new design for homes
by Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio
April 29, 2004

NowHaus 01 is a modern building designed to make efficient use of space and materials while creating a welcoming environment in an urban dwelling. This picture was taken in the final days of construction. (MPR Photo/Marianne Combs)

The first weekend in May marks the 17th annual Minneapolis and St. Paul Home Tour. The Home Tour invites enthusiasts to visit the best in new and remodeled houses. This year there's one house that's likely to stand out from the others. It's creators call it "Nowhaus 01." They say it combines the sensibilities of modern art with new trends in sustainable urban architecture.

Minneapolis, Minn. — Days before the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour, contractors are hard at work at NowHaus 01. Architects Paul Neseth and Wynne Yelland, co-owners of Locus Architecture, are proud of their latest creation.

Located near Cedar Lake in Minneapolis, it's a three-story structure that resembles a giant children's playhouse. It's made of steel, concrete, glass, and birch plywood. Yelland says he imagines the person who eventually buys the house will likely be a collector of modern art.

	Locus Architecture

"The house is a piece of art itself," says Yelland, "so it's like something you would add to your collection."

In several places the house is covered with a polycarbonate exterior. Polycarbonate is a pale durable material that allows light to filter through without revealing too much detail.

Yelland and Neseth have placed pieces of old roadside billboards underneath. In the right lighting, passers-by see cloudy images of a car or flowers or words emerge from the house. Yelland and Neseth say the billboards would have otherwise been sent to the dump, and they provide an extra layer of insulation.

Architect Paul Neseth says it's about more than just looking good.

"While it's a very aesthetic solution in the end, with the billboards behind the polycarbonate, those are just the outer two surfaces that you see of a complex seven-layer system," says Neseth.

	Polycarbonate and billboards

That system is designed to prevent mold, increase the energy efficiency of the house, and maximize the use of outdoor light.

Such ideas are part of a growing movement toward sustainable urban development. The idea is to create a better life within the city so fewer people move to the suburbs. A shorter commute improves quality of life, and is better for the environment.

Still, Neseth admits the NowHaus 01, listed at just under $1 million, isn't cheap. Neseth lives in a similar house he designed and built himself. He argues other benefits make it worthwhile.

"I always say I think my kids are smarter because they live in that house," says Neseth. "I think living in an environment that's very creative and very dynamic is really good for developing kids, and I think for that reason alone we'd find a family wanting to live in this."

NowHaus is now part of a neighborhood that has seen a fair amount of change in the last few years. Across the street are new buildings that look like a combination of craftsman and prairie homes. Another house sports an awkward second-floor addition.

Neseth refers to such homes as "beige" architecture -- it all blends together without making much of a statement. But architect Wynne Yelland says they're not against traditional architectural styles.

"I would just say we support a full range of architectural diversity," says Yelland. "It's not the style we work in. But we don't mean any ill will to people that are working in that arena -- it's just something else. And I guess we don't want anyone to bear ill will back at us for doing something that's a little more modern."

	A sense of space

Down the street, Barbara Carufel is watering the plants in front of her modest 1950s rambler. It's the same type of house Yelland and Neseth tore down to build NowHaus 01. Carufel says she's waiting to see the inside of the house before she decides what she thinks of it, but her first impression of the outside is not good.

"Is that the finished product?" Carufel asks. "I don't like that. I thought there was something going to go on top of that. It looks like it's unfinished!"

Carufel says she was waiting for the stucco.

Wynne Yelland and Paul Neseth are used to such responses. But Neseth is confident with time neighbors will grow to admire the house. He remembers when he first built his own house eight years ago. Passers-by said it was the ugliest house they had ever seen.

"I get more people coming by now, saying, 'It's my favorite house. If you ever sell let me know.' So I think there's a time element to context that we don't think about. Everyone says it doesn't fit in, but none of this fit in 100 years ago," says Neseth.

NowHaus 01 is be on display as part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Home Tour. To highlight the house's compatibility with modern art, Yelland and Neseth have arranged to hang the artwork of more than a dozen local artists in the house for the tour.

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