Designing a house can be difficult. But designing your own can be especially challenging. This was the case for Jason McLennan and Heron Hall, the house on Bainbridge Island, Washington, which he designed for himself and his wife, Tracy, and their children. It was natural that McLennan would set a high bar for the 3,300-square-foot structure completed in April: although he is the founder of an eponymous design firm, he is best known as the author of the Living Building Challenge (LBC). That green building-certification system is widely regarded as the world’s most stringent and has a host of tough-to-satisfy requirements, including submission of 12 months of post-occupancy data to demonstrate net zero operations for energy and water. Only 15 projects have achieved full Living Building status since the program’s launch in 2007.

Of course, McLennan plans to submit the house for certification once all the data are available. But at Heron Hall, named after the bird regularly spotted on the one-acre site, McLennan’s ambitions are already visible, starting with the 10kW photovoltaic (PV) array on the south-facing slope of the long gabled roof. This defines the house’s barnlike volume and shelters a double-story living/dining space and an adjacent master suite on the first floor, as well as the children’s bedrooms and a family room above.