Selah Vista Homes

Located outside of Yakima, WA, this community of 60 net zero energy homes is designed to provide residents with a peaceful, sustainable home base. The developer brought us onto the team during the site selection process, and the project is now progressing through a five-phase build. The community features a mix of detached and duplex spec homes surrounding a central commons, with custom home lots on the perimeter. In addition to ample housing, the 16.7-acre site features community gardens, a yoga pavilion, natural playgrounds, nature trails, and community solar fields.

The project has three primary focuses: healthy indoor air quality, zero net energy, and accessibility for aging in place. Each home is completely electric – eliminating combustible cooking and heating gases for healthier breathing conditions, while double wall construction with R-50 insulation, an R-60 roof, and an R-40 slab form a super-efficient envelope detailed for a continuous air barrier. Passive solar design strategies, mini split heat pumps and energy recovery ventilation systems provide all the space conditioning required in a region with temperatures ranging from -10 in the winter to 110 in the summer. For the spec homes, we created five designs – four detached units and one duplex – all with accessible main floor plans should residents choose to age in place.

The community covenants and restrictions ensure the custom homes are built with an exterior palette of natural materials, and each is landscaped with native vegetation. Every home in Selah Vista meets the energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and Built Green 5-star goals originally envisioned for the project. Selah Vista offers residents a healthy home with high-quality common spaces that can be enjoyed for years to come.