Geos was started by Norbert Klebl, an Austrian international management consultant and engineer who had relocated to Colorado. He wanted to develop and build a demonstration project in sustainable homebuilding, bringing strategies well-known in Europe to Colorado. In 2005, he hired neighborhood designers Michael Tavel AIA and David Kahn ASLA of SUN Studio to design Geos.
The trio began by emphasizing the sustainability features of traditional, compact and walkable mixed-use neighborhoods: Smaller homes on smaller lots; A diversity of home types; Corner stores; Proximity to public transit (anticipated in the future along Indiana St.); and Common area parks that support community. Geos is based on historic neighborhoods in other Colorado towns, with skinny lots, alleys, corner stores, townhouses, such as is found in Lower Highland in Denver. To this the team integrated a wide variety of other systems and features that support resource conservation.
Strategies that were planned included:
Optimizing the passive solar orientation of homes to bring in winter sun but shade from summer sun;
Routing stormwater to passively irrigate landscapes;
Supporting local food production in private yards and common areas, including pocket parks ringed by fruit trees;
High performance building envelopes and mechanical systems.
The fine-tuned spacing and solar orientation of homes reduces energy demands by about 1/3 at no additional construction cost. These passive solar strategies include stretching buildings out east to west, capturing the south sun, and shading the building from summer sun via carefully positioned eaves, porches, and deciduous trees. On the interior, homeowners can use light-colored blinds to block and reflect out unwanted solar gain on warmer days.
The high-performance technology reduced demands by about another third. This allowed a smaller mechanical system powered by solar panels to cover the energy needs of the home, making them fossil-fuel free and net-zero energy. Net-zero energy means that energy produced over the course of a year equaled or surpassed energy consumed. The high-performance systems include air-tight well-insulated exterior walls and ceilings, Energy Recovery Ventilation systems tied to ground- or air-source heat pumps, heat pump electric hot water heaters, energy efficient electrical appliances, and solar photovoltaic panels.
The development is governed by a design regulation that supports the compact, walkable, mixed-use neighborhood design while requiring the proper solar orientation homes. The design regulations did not, however, mandate the use of fossil fuel-free and high-performance building technology.
In 2008, the housing market collapse put the project under financial pressures, and caused years of delays. Groundbreaking on Phase 1 (Block 10) infrastructure finally began in 2015 and the first home construction in 2016. The buildout of homes in Phase 1 proceeded slower than hoped. The making of a few unique improvements to homebuilding methods added logistical and labor supply challenges. The lingering financial stresses of the housing market collapse placed borrowing constraints on the developer. By proceeding slowly, it was difficult to pay off infrastructure loans within their time limit. In 2020, Norbert Klebl lost control of the development beyond Phase 1, and the remainder of Geos was purchased by a development group headed by Chad Ellington of Peak Development. Chad and his team took responsibility for seeing that the rest of Geos was built out to completion.
To date (August 2023), Phase 2 (Blocks 1-4) of the Geos homes are being built by Dream Finders Homes, a national homebuilder. Compromises on high performance building technology and energy sources have been made relative to the first phase of Geos. Phase 1 of Geos has no natural gas lines, and the homes are truly net-zero energy. Dream Finders Homes is following current building code standards, and returned to the use of natural gas. Dream Finders Homes is, however, staying true to the Geos' design regulations which require optimum passive solar orientation of homes and winter solar access. Phase 3 is also planned to meet these standards.
The design of Geos won seven design awards, including a 2009 National Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. The name Geos comes from the merging of Geo and Solar – earth and sun.
It's hoped that as new residents move in to Geos, they can contribute in their own ways to the sustainability mission of this model community.
financial stresses of the housing market collapse placed borrowing constraints on the developer. By proceeding slowly, it was difficult to pay off infrastructure loans within their time limit. In 2020, Norbert Klebl lost control of the development beyond Phase 1, and the remainder of Geos was purchased by a development group headed by Chad Ellington of Peak Development. Chad and his team took responsibility for seeing that the rest of Geos was built out to completion. 