The majority of the house is covered by a sod roof punctuated by several designs of skylight. All spaces receive indirect natural light to enter the living spaces (photo below).

Several systems of solar shading have been provided to allow for extensive fenestration to take advantage of the long views of the mid Hudson Valley. The pavilion was provided with external screens to reduce solar gain. The screens are movable to allow for adjustment based upon the season path of the sun.

There are independent air handlers, which serve the several areas of the house, including an independent system which serves the 25 seat screening room on the lower level.

The central system is a four-pipe heating cooling system. This means that the owner may operate heating and/or cooling on any day of the year. It also permits the owners to operate in a dehumidification mode while entertaining or during periods of prolonged rainy weather. A custom field-erected chiller was designed using residential refrigeration equipment components. There were two reasons for this; (1) so that it could be maintained and serviced by local residential service contractors and (2) to provide central system redundancy and diversity not normally available from residential equipment. The house was provided with a fully automated standby power system to allow the house to function during a power failure. The standby system serves lighting, heating, food storage, the kitchen appliances, and some convenience power.