Homes at Birds of a Feather Gay and Lesbian Community
The homes at Birds of a Feather will ultimately complete this sense of community!
We believe that many people are interested in simplifying, and reallocating their time and personal resources to the things that give them pleasure and their lives a sense of meaning. To that regard, we encourage our lot owners to build homes with a smaller “footprint” allowing the emphasis to be put on interior detail and livability rather than quantity of space. Our covenants currently allow homes of between 990 to 3000 square feet.
Our first development phase consisted of eighteen 1/4 to one-acre lots designed for homes of three design types; "Casitas", EcoNests and Single-Family Homes. All eighteen lots were sold to gays and lesbians from all over the country between 2004 to 2006. Since then, fifteen homes have been built and they represent each type of housing available in the community; 3 casitas, one Bluebird design, 2 EcoNests and 9 custom designed single family homes.
We have recently added a "Little House" floor plan of approximately 990 sq. ft. that may be built on a few of our re-sale lots available in Phase I (lots 1 & 2) or (lots 6, 7, 15 & 18) of Phase II.
The down turn of the economy slowed our growth temporarily, but we are excited to be moving forward with seven new homes completed in the last few years.
All types of homes are conceived and constructed in the Santa Fe Spirit using Southwestern architecture or contemporary versions thereof. We also have a strong commitment to preserve our land and natural resources. To this end, we encourage all of our lot buyers to consider alternative building methods to create healthful, resource-conscious places of beauty!
Paula Baker-Laporte, architect, baubiologist and author specializing in healthy ecological design, says that "living in harmony with nature is essential to our physical, mental, and spiritual well being." We agree.
If you would like to consider using some alternative/sustainable building methods for your home, an architect and/or builder from our approved list would be available to talk to you about some of the natural and indigenous materials and building methods that are available today; such as E-crete, Faswall, ICF and natural plaster finishes and flooring of tile, brick, stone or wood.
Please use the links below to learn more about some of the alternative building materials available today.
Exterior Wall Systems;
www.econest.com, Robert & Paula (Baker) Laporte's website on straw/clay walls & timberframing
www.faswall.com, Insulating wood-concrete wallforms
https://nexcembuild.com, Proprietary cement-bonded wood fiber material
www.e-crete.com, Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocksInsulation;
Alternative Septic Systems;
https://www.norweco.com/residential
Interior Walls & Floors;
www.americanclay.com, Original earth plaster
www.teragren.com, Bamboo floors