I have a 3600 square foot home in central New Hampshire that is very similar to what you are proposing. It is built into the side of a south-facing hill and is U-shaped around a central courtyard. The site was originally a granite quarry, so little blasting had to be done. We were also lucky to hit an underground spring that supplies all of our water needs, it only needs to be pressurized.
The main design points I would emphasize are structural integrity and waterproofing. I insisted that my architect go overboard on both of these issues. Our house was covered with approximately 5,000 tons of backfill (12 feet on average) after construction and there is no sign of cracking or settling. Likewise, there is no seepage or moisture anywhere after 12 years of occupancy..
The interior of the house never exceeds 75F in summer, no air conditioning, only shading the windows (triple glazed). In winter, we keep a temperature of 65–70F sing 1–2 cords of firewood and solar water heating for a hydrionic (under floor water tubes) heat system. This system provides all of our domestic hot water as well. We have point-of-use electric water heaters in the kitchen and bathrooms, but have never used them. Only the hot tub requires supplementary water heating, a wood/propane heater.
Our house is part of a 647 acre farm. With the addition of a third (5 kW) wind turbine this summer, we expect to be totally self sufficient electrically, actually a net seller of electricity to the Co-op over most of the year. This is from a combination of wind, photovoltaic and small hydro. Although grid-connected, we have storage battery capability to run the house up to a week.
In addition to the house and farm, our electric system provides charge for a converted 1964 VW pickup converted to electric, good for 150 miles per charge at about 35 mph.
I second @kevbo s recommendation of the “Solar Living Sourcebook”.