High Plains Architects

Recent Posts

Urban Frontier House wins LEED Platinum certification

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Urban house

High Plains Architects has been awarded LEED Platinum certification for the Urban Frontier House, the personal residence of firm founders Randy and Janna Hafer. The house, designed to be totally off the grid, is located at 702 N. 23rd St. It includes self-contained, self-sustaining systems for energy, water, and wastewater, including photovoltaic panels, rainwater collection, DC lighting, composting toilets, a wind turbine and an indoor garden room. Renewable and reclaimed materials are featured prominently throughout the house. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, News, High Plains Architects, LEED Platinum, Randy and Janna Hafer, Urban Frontier House

Off-the-grid house nearly done, tours offered this week

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Colors

Walking up to his new house a few blocks from downtown Billings, Randy Hafer apologizes for the tall weeds in the dirt surrounding the home. “The focus has not been on the outside of the house,” he says. That’s understandable. On the inside, the house is so advanced that there is nothing like it in Montana, and not many like it in the whole country. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, News, Big Sky EDA, High Plains Architects, Janna Hafer, Randy Hafer

Minnesota Avenue Open Air Market debuts Saturday

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Market

Tammy Fletcher is a woman with a lot of energy and a lot of ideas. She and her wife, Melody Fletcher, have been running their business, For the Funk of It, on Minnesota Avenue for the past five months, and they have a food truck, Flaming Ladies Barbecue. On the side, they have a commercial cleaning business. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, Diversions, For the Funk of It, High Plains Architects, Melody Fletcher, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Randy Hafer, Tammy Fletcher

Touche! ‘Community space’ planned for Minnesota Ave.

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Fencing

Bryan Stafford, director of the Big Sky Fencing Association—think swords, not cattle—had one small goal in mind when he approached the Montana Rescue Mission last year. His fencing club needed a new space to practice and compete, and he knew that MRM owned a huge, almost entirely vacant complex of connected buildings on Minnesota Avenue. His plans grew more expansive after he toured the buildings with Mission Director Perry Roberts. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, Big Sky Fencing Association, Billings Community Space, Bryan Stafford, Friendship House, Granny's Attic, High Plains Architects, Jill Riley

One-of-a-kind house: In the city, off the grid

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Rendering

When Randy and Janna Hafer finish their house on the North Side of Billings sometime next year, it won’t look all that different from other houses in the neighborhood. There will be one noticeable difference, though — the 23-foot-high wind turbine on the corner of their lot at North 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue North. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, News, Dave Mumford, Department of Environmental Quality, Green Building Council, High Plains Architects, Janna Hafer, Living Building Challenge

Pedestrian bridge over tracks could finally be built

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Ped bridge

Nearly 13 years after it was proposed, a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks in downtown Billings might finally be built this summer. Chris Hertz, an engineer with the city’s Public Works Department, expects to call for construction bids by mid-May, which would mean beginning construction in mid-June. (more…) Continue Reading →

Filed under: Billings, Brent Cromley, Chris Hertz, Department of Public Works, Downtown Billings Association, High Plains Architects, Lisa Harmon, Montana Rail Link