The objective of this project was to design a residential home for a family living in Nassau County, New York. The house needed to be two stories over a finished basement, with an additional living space for a grandmother that would be accessible. The total square footage of the house had to be between 3,000 and 4,600. The house also had to be energy star rated and sited for active and passive solar gain. The material construction and structure of the house had to be considered much more closely than previous projects in this design. Building code requirements, safety, accessibility, construction methods and materials were the main focal points of this project.