Natural Light + Work Life Balance: The Story of a West Plaza Family Living in a High Performance Home

Though they enjoyed living in a house in the historic Brookside neighborhood, Kyle and Elizabeth decided they wanted to build a new home that used high-performance features to deliver better durability, health, sustainability, and comfort. After choosing a site at West Plaza, they selected Kala – Kansas City’s only Passive House-certified design and build firm – to construct their family’s new home.

The family enlisted the team at Dake Wells to collaborate on design, and Kala as the high-performance builder, to create a space full of natural light their family could enjoy year long. The team ensured that the home was situated correctly on the site to take advantage of south-facing glass that provides a passive solar effect during the winter months and helps heat the home using the energy of the sun. This is combined with adequate shading that keeps the house cool in the summer. In addition to providing subtle illumination inside, sun exposure also allows the Footes to fully enjoy their outdoor areas.

“We move through the house with the light,” Elizabeth said. “Oftentimes, we will be out on our front balcony early in the morning. In the summer it starts getting warm and so we'll move through. We will go from the balcony to the courtyard, and we also have a smaller balcony off the back. And so just depending on the sun and the temperature, we use all parts of it. We joke that we go with the sunup and sundown. It allows for us to still be outside and come in and out easily at any time of the year.”

“We don't have to turn on lights,” Kyle added. “We could function without any, except for maybe in the ping pong room. Anywhere in the house, you're going to get adequate light. It's fantastic and brightens your mood.”

Creating a Welcoming, Well-Lit Space

When asked about which elements guests and visitors notice first about her home, Elizabeth didn’t hesitate. “The lightness and the openness of the space,” she said. “Then at night, the lighting that we have lets you see through the house from any vantage point and into different rooms across the courtyard.”

“You never know what light shows you're going to get through a day or a year,” Kyle expanded. “It's always changing. The light itself is kind of architectural throughout.”

The family enjoys traveling, but there’s something magical about returning to their Kala house afterward.

“I always love coming home,” Elizabeth said. “I miss the light. If we’re in an enclosed hotel and we don't have enough light, I feel like I suffer because we're used to it.”

Creating an Indoor-Outdoor Lifestyle

In addition to carefully planning out the interior floor space of their home so every square inch was usable and well lit, the family was also deliberate in including decks and a courtyard so they could enjoy the best of the West Plaza, even in winter.

“When it's middle of winter, if we have the sun out, our courtyard will warm up, so I love that space,” Kyle said.

“I equate it to being on a ski mountain and going down to mid-level,” Kyle said. “It's sunny and you're taking a break for lunch and the sun is intense and you don't have any wind, so you can just sit out there and feel really comfortable. And that's what we do out there when it's 30 or 40 degrees – it's remarkably warm.”

While in winter they keep the door to this courtyard area closed, it can be opened up when the temperature rises so they are able to make the most of warmer conditions.

“When we have great weather in the fall time, we will open it up,” Elizabeth said. “It's an indoor-outdoor space that I think is my favorite. We spend a lot of time there.”

Offering Work-Life Comfort During COVID-19 and Extreme Weather

Their new home also provided a welcome sanctuary at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were so fortunate to have been able to live here during the lockdown,” Elizabeth said. “Our daughter graduated from college and moved back in. It was really enjoyable to have the kids here all the time in a great place. We had all the glass and sun. So while there were lots of negatives happening, it was still a very pleasant place to be.”

“During COVID, a lot of people wanted to get out of their houses and back into the office as soon as possible,” Elizabeth added. “But we thought, ‘We love it here, so we want to use it and enjoy it.’ It's nice to have indoor-outdoor spaces where we can take a break and then get back to work.”

With heat and humidity in the summer and ice and snow in winter, nobody could ever accuse the Kansas City climate of being boring. But the solid build quality of their Kala house offers peace of mind to the Footes, even during extreme weather.

“It's like we're tucked into the land here,” Kyle said. “I don't have any concerns about damage. The house retains warmth, and we feel totally comfortable.”

Keeping Energy Use and Utility Bills Low

Until a few years ago, a lot of so-called green home builders minimized the amount and size of the windows, as this is often an element that bleeds energy. Low-grade glass, cheap flashing and fixtures, and improper installation can all lead to thermal energy escaping, drafty cold spots in winter and hot spots in summer, and air and moisture leaking in and causing mold. But more recently, thoughtful high-performance firms have harnessed premium glazing, building science, and expert installation to make it possible for families like this to have plenty of large windows without compromising on sustainability or incurring high utility costs.

“If we didn't have this level of detail in the walls and the glass and had as much glass as this in another house, we’d probably pay double the electricity bill,” Kyle said. “The glass is pretty impressive, with its high R-values. These windows are a European design. The pressure inside is pushing out and they open inward, so it’s creating a seal the whole time. I like the functionality a lot.”