Photograph by Jeff Herr
As cofounder of MA! Design Is Human (Modern Atlanta), the city’s annual summer celebration of contemporary design, Elayne DeLeo has seen a lot of cutting-edge architecture. But one of her favorites remains Decatur’s RainShine House, completed in 2009 and designed by architect Robert M. Cain. The first modernist LEED Platinum residence in the Southeast, it was not planned for style, says Cain. “No Mies, no Wright, no Neutra, no Schindler, no Bauhaus. Instead, inspiration springs directly from the challenge of wrapping house function with passive and active sustainable concepts.” For example, the slope of the butterfly roof simplifies harvesting rainfall. Continuous clerestories flood the 2,800-square-foot home with natural light. Says DeLeo, “Not only is the house a model for energy efficiency, it is also beautifully designed. If there’s a house that could save the world, it’s the RainShine. Every house should be built this way.”
This article originally appeared in our October 2016 issue of Atlanta Magazine’s HOME.
