Introducing Aster, a new Zero Energy Ready Home Community
Inside the 2025 Gold Nugget Award winning Best One-of-a-Kind Home
The Zero Energy Ready community, Aster, sits in an idyllic surrounding of lush greenery, expansive trails and harmonizing streetscapes. Aster was recently recognized with the Award of Merit for “Best One-of-a-Kind Home” at the 2025 Gold Nugget Awards. It is a serene suburban retreat in the town of Roswell, GA. Being just an hour north of Atlanta it is convenient for commuting.
“Aster is such a special community and each home there is truly one-of-a-kind,” said Tara Brown, Brightwater’s Vice President of Strategic Development. “Working with the modern Scandinavian style as inspiration, this winning home design allowed us to blend together curated style, thoughtful livability and high performance for sustainability, inside and out – all the things that mean so much to our team and our homeowners. That makes this especially exciting.”
The project’s construction began in 2024. Now homes are available with up to five bedrooms, five and a half baths and a three car garage.
Better with Brightwater
For Brightwater, a builder known for their holistic approach towards creating thoughtful custom homes, this project continued a storied standard. Founded by Charlie Bostwick, Brightwater recently celebrated its 15th year of excellence in homebuilding, architecture and design. The design-build firm is led by an experienced team of in-house architects, designers and contractors. They have previously won two Grand Awards at the 2023 Gold Nugget Awards for “Custom Home Design” and “Best Building Design”. The company is currently building in Georgia and South Carolina.
For the project at Aster, Brightwater collaborated with renowned partners, Atlanta-based Sol Design for interiors, architect Rob Hull of C2 The Creative Collaborative and architectural designer Valentina Sanclemente.
Harmonizing, Not Harming Nature
A quick stroll down the streetscape at Aster showcases the stunning Scandinavian-inspired architecture alongside the land’s organic lines. The unique style of the European design reflects clean yet striking silhouettes in natural color palettes. The team at Brightwater drew on wildscaping principles. By using native plants and conserving natural spaces to design with the natural landscape, not just on it.
“At Aster, the thought was what is the land telling us to do,” said Brightwater founder Charlie Bostwick. “Part of that was designing around the views, designing around the connection to nature – this idea of biophilia and how do people better connect with nature. So, we thought about what style that wanted to be, if we wanted to connect to nature and design around that. And that’s what Scandinavian architecture can be about.”
A Balance of Form and Function
A home at Aster reveals the beautiful balance of form and function achieved in the home’s unique design. Large Andersen windows and doors cultivate airy, light-filled interiors. The integration of regionally sourced natural materials on the exterior and interior of the home like Azalea Lane Windsor Park prefinished hardwoods are integral to Scandinavian design. The space is designed to invite indoor-outdoor living with the thoughtful inclusion of covered porches that complements the natural environment.
“Rather than being an object in the landscape, it’s about spaces that people can be in. It’s the thought of form follows function, the window goes where the view is, but all while keeping that aesthetic balance,”said Bostwick.
Beauty Meets Practicality
The elegant architecture is supported with practical building and sustainable fixtures. Quality and durable construction is the key to a Zero Energy Ready Home. The technique of staggered stud walls combined with non-toxic open cell spray foam create a semi-continuous insulation.High performance construction continues at Aster by using single, zoned, variable speed 18 SEER electrical HVAC systems from Lennox with 2 or 3 thermostats, which ensure low energy consumption without sacrificing comfortability. The use of Rinnai tankless water heaters with a recirculation pump ensures the maximization of energy savings.
Contributing to the homes’ superior energy performance are Energy Star certified Thermador appliances and LED lighting. The garage is also equipped with an Electric Car Charging Port for the all around eco-conscious buyer.Ambitious design is the standard when building with Brightwater, Sherwin Williams low VOC paint contributes to a non-toxic home environment. Each home in the Zero Energy Ready community is fitted for optional QCell solar panels, for the possibility of creating more energy than consumption.
Sustainability without Sacrifice
Each of Aster’s home sites feature a unique custom floor plan designed to work organically with the natural landscape. Homes scale from 3000 to 5000 square ft. and prices range from $1.49 million to over $2 million.
Brightwater aims to build graceful homes without sacrificing sustainability features for healthier living. Aster is an opportunity for buyers to step into a lifestyle present and appreciative of nature.
This feature appears in our September / October Issue of Green Home Builder.
