A silo + a barn = a re-imagined home in the Virginia countryside His aim was to see whether he could make the home cutting-edge efficient yet idiosyncratic and stylish - all on a tight budget. "We wanted to do something inspirational from a building-science point of view and something with an artistic point of view," says Turner, 38. "One Nest" has 21 / 2 bathrooms and three bedrooms if you count the kids" bunks in the loft. There is very little cement, no drywall, no foundation. And the house is a little more than 1,000 square feet - which has the project architect scratching his head. "After walking through the house, I came back and checked the drawings twice," says David Bagnoli, 44, principal at McGraw Bagnoli Architects. Some of those views, especially the long diagonal vistas, make it feel larger, with the natural light coming in from all directions. Turner grew up in the wide-open spaces around Jackson Hole, Wyo., and he draws inspiration from the natural environment of the West, a legacy that shows up in the home's design. "I've always been in love with the classic barn-and-silo relationship," he says. In this case, the silo is played by a three-story section of the house clad in unfinished steel left to rust into a unique patina of time. A home office, the master bathroom, the guest room and the kids" loft are housed in the silo. The design and window placement allow the structure to take advantage of natural convection to help cool and ventilate the space. The influence of green design is also evident in the "barn" section of the house, where Turner used an unusual twist on SIPs, or "structural insulated panels," to build the walls. SIP panels sandwich high-performance insulation between two layers of cladding to create a more energy-efficient wall system. Turner and Bagnoli went a step further by choosing a type of SIP with magnesium oxide on the inner side. "Magnesium oxide is used in the mortar of the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army," Turner says. It's been around longer than Portland cement. The material is fireproof, mimicking the look and feel of plaster walls and negating the use of drywall. Some of the wall sections were assembled off-site, trucked in, and reassembled as modules. Rather than dig a basement, the design team chose a pier-style foundation. "We wanted the house to lie gently on the land," Turner says. We used less concrete, cut costs, and the house rests on a steel chassis that won't rot or burn.