Mark Izeman’s career as an environmental attorney has given him a passionate perspective on the dynamic between city and country. “New York City obviously couldn’t exist one day without the Catskills,” he observes. “You need healthy countryside to have healthy cities—they’re interdependent.”

So when Izeman and wife Tanya Khotin decided it was time to establish a family home in the Catskills, green was not just a consideration—it was an obligation. “We looked at already built houses,” says Khotin, “but it’s easier to go green when you’re building new. We had purchased two apartments in the city, and Lynn [Gaffney] was the one who helped us combine them—so we knew she understood what we were after. We were a little nervous. We’d never built a house before.”

The family undertook the project at what some might consider an unusual moment—on the eve of an overseas departure. “I had the professional opportunity to go work in Moscow, but I wanted us to have a home first,” says Khotin.

Architect Lynn Gaffney was more than happy to be entrusted with the creation, serving as Izeman and Khotin’s eyes and ears as they headed to Russia, where they would live during the entire construction phase.

The result, which Gaffney calls “a modern interpretation of the Adirondack style,” is a spacious yet not ostentatious 2,300 square foot dwelling set well back into a remote corner of a hillside in the Catskills, commanding a luscious view of a rolling meadow. Refurbished mushroom wood and barn wood blend sweetly into the setting, and care was taken to minimize the impact on the local viewshed. A metal roof with recycled content also provides generous eaves that help the home stay cool on even the hottest days.

Inside, the house is open and welcoming. The living room/kitchen space with its many windows offers plenty of room for relaxation. A small office with a stunning view abuts the master suite with large sliding doors, bringing the outdoors in. On the other side of the house, a comfy media room and pretty porch offer more possibilities for family fun.

The kids’ suite features a guest room where Sasha, 9, and Misha, 7, can host sleepovers—and upstairs is a generous playroom, big enough for various projects to remain undisturbed in various corners should the boys decide on a game of indoor floor hockey. The design lends itself to family togetherness while offering plenty of room for privacy. Much of the upstairs is guest space, allowing the couple to host relatives with ease and comfort—or, as they soon will, an entire family of Russian guests including their three children.

Throughout, great care has been taken to minimize the environmental impact. The tight envelope is insulated with high R-value Icynene spray insulation, and utilizes highly efficient Anderson windows and translucent panels, which provide both high insulation value and daylighting. The exposed concrete floor with local bluestone aggregate is highly effective for radiant heating. Solar thermal hot water and heating are backed up by a high-efficiency propane system. Strategically placed windows and glazed doors, polycarbonate panels at upper levels for the main spaces, solar tubes in smaller rooms, and skylights for the second floor studio mean that electric lights almost never have to be switched on in the daytime.

Gaffney’s design was executed with considerable enjoyment by local contractor Al Mohr. “Mark and Tanya were easy—they had a plan and we worked it,” he said. Originally trained as an architect, Mohr soon realized he wasn’t cut out to sit in an office all day—and his love of the environment helped guide his work as a builder from the very beginning, while watching his industry slowly catch up. “But I’ve never had a prior client go to Lynn’s extent. She found us a lot of neat products [such as the polycarbonate panels and polished concrete] that are seldom used residentially.”

The upstairs floors are Marmoleum, a new generation of linoleum product made from materials abundant in nature and produced according to an environment-friendly procedure. Once installed, Marmoleum is hygienic and anti-static, as well as fully biodegradable after 25 to 40 years’ use. The kitchen countertops are Icestone, a durable surface made of 100 percent recycled glass in a cement matrix.

Outside, local bluestone pavers line the spacious patio. Outdoor lighting is provided by compact fluorescents and solar LED fixtures, and strategically located trellises minimize light pollution. “There’s very little hardscape,” Gaffney points out. “Almost everything is permeable. We wanted to protect the water table.”

Solar panels in the meadow handily offset the family’s minimal electricity use. That system is monitored on Izeman’s office computer. “I have Sunny Portal software; it generates daily reports and shows us the greenhouse gasses we’ve avoided generating,” he says. “We’re part of a rural electric co-op, and we’re the first home in it to be net metered. We buy and sell electricity with them for 10 cents a kilowatt hour.”

All the family’s appliances were selected with efficiency in mind, from the Electrolux fridge to the low-flow toilets. Strategic cross ventilation eliminates any need for air conditioning, and a woodstove in the main living area can take the chill off the coldest winter evening.

The family returned from Moscow in 2009 to find Mohr and Gaffney triumphantly ready to welcome them to their country escape, and have been furnishing and adapting to it ever since.

Extremely active professional lives—Khotin is in international finance—still keep them in the city and traveling a good deal of the time, but it’s clear that this is home—the kind of home that a family can live in with pride for generations. Sascha and Mischa’s grandchildren may more than likely have many a wild rumpus in the spacious playroom and out in the lush meadow and pristine Catskill forests that their parents’ wise choices are helping to preserve.