{"id":461449,"date":"2026-02-11T04:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T04:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/461449\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T04:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T04:11:16","slug":"tres-birds-outfits-colorado-house-with-reclaimed-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/461449\/","title":{"rendered":"Tres Birds outfits Colorado house with reclaimed materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denver-based studio Tres Birds Inc<\/a> has completed a compact, gabled home using salvaged library<\/a> fittings and material from a bowling alley in Boulder, Colorado<\/a>, revealed exclusively<\/a> on Dezeen. <\/p>\n

Known as the Iris Residence, the 2,572-square-foot (240-square metre) single-family residence sits on a newly subdivided, interior portion of a 10,144-square-foot (942-square metre) lot.<\/p>\n

\"BlackTres Birds Inc has completed an energy-efficient house in Colorado<\/p>\n

The low-energy home uses materials pulled from the client’s previous office location, which Tres Birds Inc<\/a>, formerly known as Tres Birds Workshop, designed in 2015 \u2013\u00a0an archival library for Shambhala Publications entirely out of maple plywood.<\/p>\n

When the business relocated to a smaller office in 2021, the shelves and furniture were put into storage for future use, finally finding one with Iris Residence.<\/p>\n

\"EnergyIt sits on a narrow site in Boulder, Colorado, USA<\/p>\n

The residence is situated along a busy avenue, but the design refocuses spaces inward and shields the interiors from street noise.<\/p>\n

It is situated in a flood zone, which adds additional challenges to building on the site.<\/p>\n

“The most significant challenges were navigating local zoning constraints and meeting the minimum elevation requirements of the site’s designated flood zone,” the studio told Dezeen, noting the deep concrete base on which the house sits.<\/p>\n

\"HouseThe house is oriented towards the side and the backyard<\/p>\n

South-facing windows bring light into the linear house, while a south-facing courtyard provides a protected outside space, shaded by double-height columns that turn upwards to form the slats of a lanai.<\/p>\n

The grey-toned exterior requires little maintenance with vertical plank siding and a standing seam metal roof. On the interior, the salvaged materials were used to create new spaces.<\/p>\n

\"LibraryIt has a two-storey library, with elements reused from the client’s office<\/p>\n

Downstairs, a west-end garage leads to the library and guest room that pass into the primary bedroom on the east end of the house.<\/p>\n

The two-storey library leads up to the public areas of the home via a staircase with wood from a burned sugar pine forest.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Vaulted<\/p>\n

KVA transforms vaulted concrete Colorado sports facility into arts hub\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Upstairs, flooring from a bowling alley was transformed into shelving from the kitchen and living room that sit within the gable roof profile.<\/p>\n

An oblong table made for the original office from boxcar train flooring is the centre of the dining space under green pendant lamps.<\/p>\n

\"GabledIt features a gabled ceiling<\/p>\n

A second guest room sits on the eastern end of the floor, overlooking the private patio space.<\/p>\n

“Through intentional design and efficient systems planning, the project achieved a HERS score of 10 at completion, and to date has been producing more energy than it consumes, while also being gas-free,” the studio said.<\/p>\n

\"upstairsA table upstairs was made with wood from a bowling alley lane<\/p>\n

The all-electric home functions off a 6.2-kilowatt solar panel system mounted to the south side of the roof.<\/p>\n

With energy-efficient appliances and LED lighting \u2013 as well as a properly sized Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) \u2013 the home’s mechanical systems and upcycled materials combine technology and character.<\/p>\n

\"IrisIris Residence has a metal roof and solar panels<\/p>\n

Founded in 2000 by architect Michael Moore, Tres Birds previously created a Japanese restaurant<\/a> topped with a soil-free greenhouse and a large mixed-used development<\/a> with reclaimed metal, both located in Denver, as well as a Douglas fir-wrapped museum<\/a> for Wisconsin artists in Sheboygan.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Mickkail Cain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Project credits:<\/p>\n

Principal: Michael Moore
Architect of record: Douglas Newby
Project manager: Grealing Altheimer
Structural engineer: Gebau Inc.
Surveyor: Flatirons Inc.
Geotechnical engineer: Triax Engineering LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denver-based studio Tres Birds Inc has completed a compact, gabled home using salvaged library fittings and material from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[63911,228,226,227,3832,229,88,215194,1739,64879,64880,209255,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-461449","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-american-houses","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-colorado","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-low-energy-design","16":"tag-metal","17":"tag-sectionall","18":"tag-sectionarchitecture","19":"tag-sectionexclusives","20":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}