What Is a Sustainable and Healthy Home? A Peek Into How I Design Homes

If you’ve ever wondered what “sustainable and healthy home design” really means, you’re not alone. These terms can be confusing, partly because they mean different things to different people.

I’m often asked how this kind of design compares to a typical home, and what it actually looks like in practice. So in this post, I’m giving you a peek behind the scenes... into how I approach designing homes, what sets this work apart, and why it matters.

I believe everyone deserves to live in a home that supports their health, comfort, and happiness, which is why sustainable and healthy design is the foundation of every home I create.

It’s Not a Style. It’s a Sustainable Approach.

A sustainable and healthy home doesn’t have to look a certain way. It’s not a design aesthetic.

It’s not a modern box. It’s not made of straw bales (unless you want it to be!). It’s not off-grid by default. It can look cozy and traditional, crisp and contemporary, or anything in between.

What makes it sustainable and healthy isn’t how it looks, but how it’s designed, built, and performs.

What's a healthy home?

A healthy home keeps you, the occupant, healthy by providing: 

• Good air quality
• Good water quality 
• Good lighting (both artificial lighting and natural lighting)
• Comfort (thermal, sound, and smells)
• A nourishing kitchen that makes it easy to cook healthy meals
• A home that encourages moving your body
• A peaceful and relaxing environment (incorporating nature, removing clutter)
• Safe spaces (minimizing household accidents like falls and burns)

What's a sustainable home?

A sustainable home helps keep the planet healthy while also benefiting the occupants by:

• Making the house energy efficient so it uses less power to operate (and saves you money in utility bills)
• Using building materials that are low in embodied energy (meaning the energy it takes to make and transport the material)
• Using natural materials rather than petroleum-based or other synthetic ones
• Preserving the natural environment around the house as much as possible (building gently on the site)
• Protecting natural water sources and reducing water consumption
• Making the home durable and long lasting so materials don't need constant replacement

The Difference Starts at the Beginning

A typical home is designed to meet the local building code and usually doesn't consider things like the environment, where it's placed on the site, or functional design. Minimum requirements of code and lack of environmental considerations generally don’t offer comfort, healthy air quality, thoughtful functional design, or energy efficiency.

Here’s how I design differently:

• I start with the climate and the site, to work with nature instead of against it.
• I think about how the home will get fresh air, how moisture will be managed, and how durable it'll be for generations to come.
• I look for opportunities to do better without necessarily spending more, making decisions early that pay off for decades.

It’s Not All or Nothing

One of the biggest misconceptions is that a green and healthy home has to do everything perfectly—or not at all.

Luckily, that’s not true!

There are many levels of sustainable and healthy design. It’s about balance.  (If you ever want to hear the story about how Balanced Architecture got its name, ask me about my 'need' for a composting toilet 🙂 )

We do the most we can with the budget we have.

It's all about figuring out what matters most to you and then implementing the strategies that fit within your goals and needs.  For some people, reducing embodied carbon is the highest priority and for others it's reducing asthma triggers in their home.  There’s no one-size-fits-all formula.

But in every project, there are a few core strategies I consider non-negotiable because they make a big difference in performance and comfort without blowing the budget.

My Non-Negotiables

Here’s what I always include in my designs:

1. Orienting the Home for Passive Heating and Cooling

One of the most powerful design tools costs nothing: getting the orientation right.

By designing the home to make the most of sunlight and natural breezes, we can reduce heating and cooling needs, improve comfort, and lower energy bills—without adding cost. (As I write this on a warm summer day, I’m enjoying the cooling breeze through my windows rather than mechanical air conditioning thanks to the cross ventilation strategy I implemented throughout my house.)

2. Building Airtight

A tight home is a comfortable, efficient home.

Air leaks are one of the biggest sources of energy loss, discomfort, and pollutants in typical homes. Making a home airtight improves performance and indoor comfort, and it doesn’t significantly increase construction costs, it just takes intention.

3. Including Balanced Ventilation (Like an ERV)

An airtight home needs a way to bring in fresh air, and that’s where an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) comes in. It continuously exchanges stale air with fresh air from outside while recovering energy and managing moisture. This is essential for healthy indoor air quality and preventing mold, humidity problems, and stuffy spaces.

4. Avoiding the Worst Offenders

Some building materials are especially toxic to both people and the planet.

I avoid spray foam and try to limit the use of vinyl and products with formaldehyde. These materials are widely used, but there are safer, lower-impact alternatives. We don’t have to make every product perfect but we can avoid the worst.

5. Going Beyond Code-Minimum Insulation (When Possible)

Even modest upgrades to insulation beyond what code requires can dramatically improve comfort and efficiency. This is especially worth prioritizing in colder or hotter climates.

Not to sound dramatic, but insulating a house can be tricky.  It needs to be done a certain way to avoid trapping moisture inside of wall cavities or on the roof structure. It's important to work with someone that understands building science principles and can properly design the walls and roof of your home. 

6. Creating a Functional Floor Plan

Your comfort is greatly impacted by how well your house flows and functions.  A bad floor plan layout could bring constant frustration to your day.  Whether it's from obnoxious noise traveling from one room to another, a terrible entryway that has no room to store your things, or a kitchen that's awkward and makes preparing meals an unenjoyable experience (even if you love to cook).

Taking the time early in the design process to understand your needs leads to smarter decisions about layout and space, and it makes daily life easier once you’re living in your new home.

What About Cost?

There is a small premium for designing a truly healthy and sustainable home, mainly to ensure airtight construction, proper ventilation, and safer materials.

Beyond that, how far we take it depends on your goals and budget. Things like triple-pane windows, natural building materials, lots of insulation, and renewable energy can increase the price, but they’re not always essential to creating a better-performing home.

The key is being intentional, making high-impact decisions, and designing for the long term.

Here are some good strategies for creating a cost-effective green and healthy home.

Final Thoughts

Designing this way is about creating homes that feel good to live in, function better every day, and leave a lighter footprint.

If you’re just starting your journey toward building or renovating a home, and you’re curious what it would look like to design it more sustainably and healthfully, I hope this gives you a clearer picture.

This is how I approach every project. With thoughtfulness. With balance. And always with your comfort, well-being, and future in mind.