The Urban Frontier House in downtown Billings, Montana is an off-grid, net positive water home that provides an excellent illustration of how energy and water efficiency can be optimized when designing sustainable homes in urban settings. The Urban Frontier House became the lifelong dream of Architect Randy Hafer of High Plains Architects in 2016. With high desert rainfall and cold temperatures designing the Urban Frontier House to be comfortable and sustainable presented many challenges for Randy and the team at High Plains.

The Urban Frontier house is an example of how each element of a building water infrastructure, including stormwater collection and retention, water supply & treatment, water distribution, wastewater collection, wastewater treatment, water reuse, and water consumption in building materials are addressed with emphasis on water conservation. These concepts should be integral in the future of sustainable building design.