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Hawaii Five-0-Five

From the heart of New Mexico, Kayeman Custom Homes captures the essence of the islands at this eco-friendly oasis in the high desert.

By Charles C. Poling
Photography by Kirk Gittings

This article first appeared in Autumn 2009 Su Casa

With its aviary for tropical birds, 400-gallon saltwater aquarium, island-inspired art, ocean-green and blue color schemes, and free-flowing indoor/outdoor living spaces, Kaye Marshall and Mike Cecchini’s Placitas, New Mexico, home fulfills their vision of a Hawaiian oasis in the desert. The couple, who together own and operate Kayeman Custom Homes (one of two Featured Builders in the 2009 Homes of Enchantment Parade), manifestly love the islands: their home is filled with imagery, artwork, keepsakes, and memorabilia from the Pacific.

Yet the place feels at ease in its high desert setting. Saturated in views, sunlight (and sunsets), and wide-open spaces, the home relates intimately and generously to the hills and arroyos of Placitas. Starting at the dramatic entry with its exotic-wood-inlaid custom door framed by an airy blue steel pergola then continuing through the full-dress outdoor living spaces in back—dominated by riveting views of the north face of the Sandia Mountains—this extroverted house holds back nothing in terms of luxury, style, and personality.

Surprisingly, then, Mike and Kaye’s place also touts serious green credentials. You’d never know by looking that its combination of tight insulation, solar energy systems, Energy Star appliances, advanced wastewater treatment, rainwater harvesting, and waste-conscious use of materials have earned it an Emerald level certification (pending at press time) from Build Green New Mexico. That’s the highest of four ratings in this rigorous program that evaluates every aspect of green-building features in a home, including performance testing and inspecting construction in progress. Build Green New Mexico certifies homes by builders who provide greater energy efficiency, reduce pollution, provide healthier indoor air, reduce water usage, preserve natural resources, improve durability, and reduce maintenance.

Kaye, who holds degrees in architecture and civil engineering, started Kayeman Custom Homes nearly 15 years ago with a former partner. She says she’s been building green all along—or, as her husband and Kayeman vice president, Mike, comments, “Kaye has been building green since before green was cool.” She handles all the design work, as well, with Mike more closely involved in construction and marketing. They also own Mesa Realty.

“Energy conservation is in my DNA,” Kaye quips. She goes on to explain that her father, Bill Marshall, was director of the renewable energy department at nearby Sandia National Laboratories for three decades before he retired, then was snatched up to serve as director at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.

Mike joined Kayeman in 2004, departing his Albuquerque-based apparel manufacturing business that made and decorated clothing for big labels like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Abercrombie & Fitch. He’s been heavily involved in Build Green New Mexico and is the current chair—Kayeman is a charter member—and also partnered in a solar company, Sunergy/Cleanswitch, which specializes in grid-connected solar electricity generation systems (photovoltaic, or PV) and solar water heating systems.

Although Mike and Kaye are no longer principals in Sunergy, this featured Parade home showcases its technology, which contributed substantially to the 4,100-square-foot-home’s high-level green certification. The home earned a HERS rating of 25, which means it uses just 25 percent of the energy to operate compared to a baseline reference home—essentially, one that meets building codes. Domestic hot water needs are met by the solar thermal system, and the home has passive solar heat gained through south-facing windows admitting winter sunlight into rooms with thermal mass. The final kicker of renewable energy comes from the rooftop 5-kilowatt PV system. A grid-tied installation (no storage batteries), it allows the home’s electric meter to run backward when the system generates more power than the home needs at the moment.

Cecchini says this should be a “zero-energy-cost home,” which means the PV system supported by the solar thermal system, passive solar assist, and energy conservation measures should enable it to actually make money selling power back to PNM, more than offsetting the electric and gas bills. (The home also has a highly efficient boiler that supplements the solar thermal heating system for hot water.) If the books balance at year’s end, they’ll have hit the goal of zero energy cost.

Partly that’s achieved through superior insulation. Icynene expansion foam creates the basic insulation. Kayeman crews also caulked every gap and seam penetrating the walls and wrapped the entire house in two inches of Dow rigid wrap, which provides a continuous insulating barrier and makes up for the insulating gaps left by the walls’ internal framing. (Framing studs don’t insulate as well as Icynene, though the walls are built on 24-inch centers for studs versus the more common 16 inches.) Cecchini estimates the resulting wall system equates to an R-30-plus insulating factor. Further, Kayeman insulated the roof with Icynene and installed all heating duct work inside the insulated space. Because the house is so tight, an energy recovery ventilation system refreshes the interior atmosphere constantly without bringing in cold air in winter. “Build it tight, and ventilate it right,” Mike rhymes with a laugh.

Rounding out the package are triple-pane Pella windows, sealed combustion direct-vent gas fireplaces, and an insulated slab. Energy efficiency continues in the kitchen, which Cecchini has decked out with Energy Star–rated Sub-Zero appliances. Lighting includes plentiful LED fixtures and compact fluorescent bulbs. All water fixtures are low flow, naturally, including the one-gallon-per-flush—every flush—toilets.

The green approach carries through to the outdoors, as well. In the backyard, which faces south to catch those spectacular Sandia views, outdoor living flows from a kitchen area to patio lounging spaces. Instead of concrete or flagstone, Cecchini installed pavers, which look great—almost like neatly laid cobbles—while allowing precipitation to seep through the cracks into the ground, getting water to plants and also containing runoff on the hillside site. A gurgling water feature runs across the patio, spilling from pool to pool.

A carefully designed roof water catchment system, designed by Bill Marshall, directs runoff to the 6,000-gallon cisterns. That water irrigates all the exterior landscaping, including an organic garden. The advanced septic system takes household wastewater and treats it underground, then a dousing system releases it to irrigate the grass patch, essentially watering it from below. The technique cuts evaporative loss.

The Kayeman-built home might be cutting edge in green technology, but most visitors will be more enamored with its overall design and unique detailing. From a distance, the home nestles modestly along a low hilltop above a broad arroyo, commanding sweeping views to the south and west. “The most important thing to me [in designing a home] is that it blends into the land, like it grew out of it, not like it was plopped down there,” Kaye says. Beyond that, “it’s all about the client’s desires. We’ll build anything.”

For this, their personal residence, Cecchini says they knew they wanted an island, coastal atmosphere for the home, and they wanted it to be contemporary, “but without a lot of stone and steel.” They found their answer when they saw the front door design created with a woven wood pattern by a local artisan. “We fell in love with it”—so much so that they carried that design theme in African mahogany throughout the house in door panels, accent trim, and even a unique inlay just inside the front door, where other builders might cut-in a stone medallion.

This island getaway is different from anything they’ve done before. “I’ve done so much with the Southwest design vocabulary,” Kaye says. “Mike and I thought it was worth venturing out—without creating an eyesore.”

After passing under an airy blue entry pergola of steel beams in a rectilinear pattern and through that unique front door, one first enters a brief alcove that yields to the great room and kitchen area straight ahead behind the aquarium. A hallway to the right leads to the master retreat. One to the left connects to the laundry, the powder room, the garage, and the guest suite up a few stairs. The guest wing features universal design elements like flat thresholds, a no-bump path to the garage, and a complete kitchenette—perfect for aging-in-place elders or as an in-law quarters.

The kitchen, flanked on one side by the dining room and the other by the gracious great room (and what seem like oceanic views west), commands the center of the home. Tall glass doors and windows draw the eye toward the backyard and the serrated ridgelines of the Sandias, while the kitchen cabinetry and open layout help return attention to interior life. One can imagine huge parties here, guests passing easily from room to room, inside to out. Claustrophobia will never be a problem. And again, if you can keep your eyes off the windows long enough, a variety of details stand out. At the ceiling of the great room, a pattern of suspended, interlaced beams seems to float a foot below the decking. A wide stainless steel frame surrounds the fireplace insert. An aviary for exotic tropical birds attaches to the south wall of the great room.

Back in the master retreat, the bedroom connects past a two-sided fireplace to an office area, luxurious spa bathroom, and vast master closet, which includes enough built-ins to stage a fashion show. The home’s electronic command center nestles here, too, though all its features can be accessed via the Internet in case you suddenly remember you left the lights on and want to switch them off over your iPhone from the airport gate.

Green and gorgeous, the Kayeman house in Placitas exemplifies what just might be the defining new wave in home building, a new paradigm, in Mike Cecchini’s words. “It will be a textbook case of ‘pull’ marketing,” he says, “with clients demanding energy-efficient luxury houses. People want independence. It’s human nature. And that independence comes all the way home.” More than that, he adds, “You can have all the benefits of a luxury home and still maintain a very small or zero carbon footprint, which is the benchmark of Kayeman Homes.”