ABSTRACT
This paper investigates an exemplary instance of sustainable housing set against the backdrop of one of Americas most spectacular natural landscapes - Yellowstone National Park, The authors use a qualitative inquiry in the case study tradition to evaluate the design, construction, and assessment of two single family homes designated as the first projects in the National Park system to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. As a result, the houses are extremely well-designed by American housing standards, even while exhibiting several shortcomings due to tradeoffs encountered during the design process. Elowever, the LEED reporting and scoring process was mishandled, thus underscoring a deficiency in the American system for assessing sustainable architecture. The Yellowstone houses perform better than the designated LEED certification level.
