architecture high plains architects interior design envi design

ARCHITECTURE HIGH PLAINS ARCHITECTS INTERIOR DESIGN ENVI DESIGN 74

THIS PAGE: Local craftsman Dyllon Robertus made the custom dining table out of manhole covers and reclaimed wood. Designer Hoffmann and homeowner Joni Harman added $30 chairs from Granny’s Attic, an antiques store in Billings, and two oversized Artemide lamps. OPPOSITE: The renovation team completely rehabbed the Swift and Co. building’s century-old exterior, repairing and replacing bricks, rebuilding the original canopy and installing energy-efficient double-pane windows.

STYLISH & SUSTAINABLE WHEN RENOVATING A CENTURY-OLD BUILDING, A MONTANA COUPLE MIXED HISTORIC CHARM WITH MODERN, ECO-FRIENDLY FUNCTIONALITY

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ontana offers plenty of opportunities for big-sky living and near-endless acreage, but Joni and Steve Harman have found another way to connect with their natural surroundings. They’re doing their part to preserve them by living leaner and greener in downtown Billings. Last year, the Harmans completed an eco-friendly, historically minded renovation on a 94-year-old building that once served as Swift and Co.’s wholesale meat market, turning it into nine water- and energy-efficient apartments, including this, their own modern, handsomely appointed two-bedroom home. >>

STORY BY ELISABETH A. SULLIVAN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AUDREY HALL 75

“ We initially had a vision, and that vision faltered and changed throughout the process, but I believe we got where we wanted to go.” -- Joni Harman

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OPPOSITE: To cozy up the large, open living space, Hoffmann grouped chairs and couches into distinct seating areas, like these secondhand chairs facing a custom fireplace by local metal artisan Dyllon Robertus. She warmed up the room’s industrial doors and polished concrete floors by layering in texture with area rugs and patterned upholstery. BELOW: In the living room, designer Susie Hoffmann effortlessly mixed old with new. She complemented the room’s original beams and bead-board walls with drum shade pendants from CB2 and Midcentury Modern orange couches from Room & Board.

In effect, the couple and their Billings-based renovation team “recycled an entire building,” says Susie Hoffmann, founder of environmentally conscious interior design firm Envi Design. With lofty goals of making their new home both stylish and sustainable, the Harmans and their team ultimately earned the building a LEED for Homes Platinum rating, the top designation for residences awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council. “All parties, I would say, were collectively working on that goal,” Joni Harman says. “We were hoping to be a model” for budding renovators to replicate. To that end, the crew at High Plains Architects, a Billings-based firm that specializes in sustainable architecture, got creative with the building’s temperature control: They designed the radiant heating system so that the same pipes used to heat the building could also cool it during the summer. It takes much less energy to move water through pipes than to circulate air, says Randy Hafer, the firm’s president and CEO, so the radiant heating and cooling system helps the building use 45 percent less energy than a comparable new building would. >> 77

BALANCED BEAUTY The Harmans’ home is a study in well-balanced contrasts— historic and modern, recycled and brand-new—all of which contribute to a beautiful, functional, sustainable environment. Throughout the home, designer Susie Hoffmann balanced pricier elements with affordable solutions. In the kitchen, she covered the countertops with CaesarStone floor tiles made of recycled glass and concrete—a budget- and eco-friendly choice that just happens to be “a really cool-looking product,” she says. In the dining area, $30 antique chairs balance the cost of Artemide lamps that were a worth-every-penny splurge. The Harmans’ living room balances big and small, hard and

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soft. Hoffmann made the wide-open space more intimate by dividing the room into separate seating areas and dropping the pendant lamps lower to create a more human scale. Area rugs and upholstery made of organic fabric and post-consumer recycled content soften the room’s hard angles and concrete floors. The building itself demonstrates the yin and yang of an old structure gone green. Along with its LEED for Homes Platinum rating, “We are working to get [the building] registered on the National Registry of Historic Places,” says architect Randy Hafer. “You can count on one hand the number of buildings that have been able to achieve both.”

LEFT: What once was the building’s meat cooler became the Harmans’ master bedroom, a cozy “Zen den” with original wooden walls accented by Osborne & Little metallic floral wallpaper and Noguchi lamps. The bed from Room & Board and clean-lined dresser enhance the room’s Asian sensibility. BELOW: The master bathroom features a Maax bathtub, a porcelain Lacava sink, a low-flow Delta faucet and industrial lighting by Fabulux.

Also, thanks to low-flow faucets and showerheads, and two 2,000-gallon rainwater-collection tanks that supply dual-flush toilets, the building uses one-third less water than its conventional counterpart would, Hafer says. Hafer’s team harnessed the sun’s rays to help power, heat and light the building. They installed a 4-kilowatt solar energy system on the roof, solar tanks to warm water for the building’s laundry and heating, and angled skylights to maximize the building’s natural light and ventilation. “It was really important to me that if we were doing a green building, that [focus on sustainability] would also come through to the furnishings,” Harman says, so rather than buying all new, mass-produced items, she and Hoffmann scoured local antique stores for chairs and tables that could be reupholstered and refinished. The Harmans’ unit features furniture built with materials salvaged from the building itself—a coffee table made out of repurposed wood, a side table hewn from an old beam. >>

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THIS PAGE: The kitchen holds ENERGY STAR-rated appliances, custom wheatboard cabinets by Dovetail Designs, Emeco stools made out of 80-percent recycled aluminum, CaesarStone floor tiles repurposed for the countertops and a feature wall coated with chalkboard paint. OPPOSITE: The sunroom features wood flooring salvaged from elsewhere in the building. “It’s an amazing perch,” Hoffmann says of the space, which offers views of downtown Billings and the rugged rimrocks beyond. 80

LEED-ING THE PACK When Joni and Steve Harman set out to renovate a 1916 industrial building into eco-friendly apartments, they were gunning for more than gold-level greenness. “We decided that if we were going to do it, then we were going to try for Platinum” with the hope of inspiring other homeowners in their area to go green, Joni Harman says.

The Harmans’ home earned top honors, in part, because of its efficient energy use, which is 45 percent lower than a comparable new building; its efficient use of rainwater, which accounts for about 10 percent of the building’s yearly water use; and its location in a high-density community.

The renovation team also was careful to repurpose the Harmans’ rooms without losing their historic character. What once was the meat cooler became the master bedroom, a cozy “Zen den” with original wooden walls accented by metallic floral wallpaper and Noguchi lamps. “We just tried to be as true to the building as we could be, thinking, ‘OK, this was a cooler; what can we do to warm it up?’” designer Hoffmann says. The Harmans love their historic home with its modern, eco-friendly face-lift. They love the convenience of apartment-style living. They love the views from their roof deck of man-made beauty—bustling streets and crosshatched train tracks—juxtaposed with Montana’s rugged rimrocks. “My husband and I were at a point, when our last child graduated from high school, where we wanted to simplify ... and live out some of these values that we’d been thinking about,” Harman says. “We kind of live it and breathe it as much as we can.” ●

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Visit www.mountainliving.com for a guide to this home’s products and pros.

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