ABOUT PETER
Build Your Dream Home in Hawaii with Confidence
Peter Fluker has been designing and building custom luxury homes for over 45 years. He currently designs and works with local contractors in Hawaii. He also designs and builds in his company Verve Design Build Inc. on the beautiful west coast of Canada.
He has often found when working with clients, they know what they like, but not how to express it to an architect or contractor. His passion is helping his clients clarify their dream living space and turn their initial design concepts into working drawings that result in the perfect build for them.
His design principles result in elegant designs bring that bring the beauty of nature into your indoor living space.
Unlike kit homes – Peter creates a custom design for your site with the option of using precision and engineered kit components made from the finest materials. This makes it simpler and more cost-effective for you to build.
If you are ready to buy your dream home, or if you have any questions about the process, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you.
PETER
Designer & Builder
778.994.3885
Open Floor Plans: Spacious rooms for cooking, eating, entertaining and enjoying the view together. Easy flow between spaces. Privacy with an open airy feeling.
#1
Strong Horizontal Emphasis: Built low to the landscape, with flat or gently sloped roofs/ Designs that blend into the horizon and echo the natural landscape.
#2
Integration with Nature: Floor-to-ceiling windows, organic materials (wood, glass, stone, lava and concrete), and broad roof overhangs that extend the interior space.
#3
Filled with Light: Large picture windows and walls of glass, bands of clerestory windows, louvers and elements to filter sunlight an create an interior interplay of light and shadow.
#4
Energy Efficient: Carefully orienting the home on the lot to take advantage of the passive heating and cooling effects of the sun, wind and shade.
#5
Flexible Floor Plans: A modular approach using a grid with graceful proportions. Flex space, like an office that doubles for a bedroom. Or, Shoji screens that divide or open space.
#6
My Six Design Principles for Beautiful Space.
MY MISSION
Eco Friendly Home Design for a Sustainable Future
Mahana Homes was founded by Peter Fluker who started building solar homes in the 1970’s. Peter is considered a pioneer and today, he is still applying those design principles to work in harmony with nature. Rather than design big, wasteful, overdone luxury homes we opt for what we like to call “luxury in a small footprint”. You can still have the luxury items you like, but do so consciously and in a less wasteful manner.
Peter believes Going Green is not all about what you ADD to a house, it’s the inherent design and the adaptability of a structure to the landscape. That can mean not cutting down rainforest trees just because its more convenient for the bulldozer, or not trying to recreate the lush lawn you had back East in an leeward area of Hawaii with minimal water resources. which means you don’t need to rely on expensive air conditioning at the low elevations and are less likely to develop mold and mildew problems in the rainy areas.
A great example of this is in Volcano where we have built several homes. The community is living in a designated Biosphere Preserve adjacent to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and they created a brochure on Building in the Forest (www.volcanocommunity.org) It alerts homeowners as to what the native Hawaiian plants are and why keeping them is so important, both from a practical standpoint like not creating runoff problems by clearcutting and from an aesthetic one
We create eco-friendly Hawaii home designs with prefab timber frame kits from the west coast forests of Canada. Our prefab timber frame kits are easy to assemble with a building system and thoughtful design. The pole/grid system foundation of our plan, allows adaptability to uneven sites, or rocky hillsides so there’s no need to remove large amounts of earth or forest to create a level housepad.
The window systems we use and the orientation of the house to its site provide thermal gain in winter when you want it, and the overhangs help to provide shade in summer. Placement of windows also provides excellent cross ventilation which means you don’t need to rely on expensive air conditioning at the low elevations and are less likely to develop mold and mildew problems in the rainy areas.
The functional simplicity and beauty of the designs also emphasize what the quintessential Hawaiian lifestyle is about, the seamless integration of indoor and outdoor living spaces that can be enjoyed year round.
Along with eco-friendly design we advocate the use of technology to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels or municipal resources.
Our homes have been built with solar systems with back-up electric, integration of water catchment with UV filters, photovoltaic cells, tankless-on demand propane for hot water, low voltage radiant floor heat at higher elevations, energy star appliances and low energy LED lighting. Integrating these alternative energy systems requires different planning in the actual structure. We work with a licensed Hawaii architect and engineer for all our designs to ensure compatibility and functionality as well as beauty and comfort.
And last but not least, being “green” is about respecting our natural resources. The lumber suppliers we use were chosen from companies who have made sincere commitments to managed forests -this means lower impact harvesting, extensive replanting , and using no pesticides or inorganic fertilizers. We advocate the use of non-toxic finish materials for our timber structures. Exposed lumber is finished with low VOC stains and varnishes, such as Benjamin Moore Eco Spec rather than petroleum based finishes.
From the start we like to meet with the homeowner to assess their site challenges, budget and particular needs then customize each kit in the design phase for the homeowner.