green onions
sustainable modernist
after
moving from a very traditional home in the Myers Park neighborhood of Charlotte,
John and Toni Cornelius made sure to include all of the modern and sustainable features they wanted in their new
Scott Ogden-designed contemporary Summer Rest home.
“… This neighborhood doesn’t seem to mind the eclectic,” Toni says. “We just decided to build whatever we wanted.”
The use of raw materials — polished concrete flooring, exposed I-beams and uncovered Plumen fluorescent bulbs — were
choices made by Toni, a forensic engineer. The overall modernist layout was John’s request. To add warmth to the open first-floor
living room and kitchen, 90-year-old cedar siding was removed from their contractor’s Summer Rest home and now
lines one of the interior walls in the space.
In the open, first-floor living and dining room, the kitchen harbors more reclaimed wood from the stacks of pallets used on
the build, which provides the paneling for the large kitchen island. Caesarstone quartz is environmentally friendly because of
its durability, and the compact recycled materials it is made from prevents bacteria from permeating the surface. A concrete
backsplash runs the entire length of the kitchen wall.
The kitchen’s heat induction cooktop delivers even heat through magnetic fields. With the cooking performance of gas,
heating just the pot itself, heat induction cooktops are more energy efficient than normal electric ranges. Although she has
taken cooking classes at Johnson and Wales University in Charlotte and The Seasoned Gourmet in Wilmington, Toni says
culinary excellence is the last thing on her kids’ minds when it comes to dinnertime.
“You know, the kids don’t eat real food, so I wind up cooking a lot of stuff that’s not necessarily fun to cook ...” Toni says.
As with all other appliances in the home, the cooktop is Energy Star certified.
Located both under the countertops and along one kitchen wall are custom-made birch cabinets. Materials used in the
construction of the cabinets were made from formaldehyde-free birch plywood.
As a final green touch, a solar hot water system was also included to reduce the environmental footprint. To better
harness the sun’s rays, Ogden completed a sun study before the project began to ensure the hot water heater received
plenty of power and the home received plenty of natural sunlight.
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