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| Passion Investments: Property |
A Green Haven
Ernest Beck
10/01/2004
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Anderson ended up installing many of the
features that architects and consultants say are in demand, such as
energy-efficient appliances and solar power. He says it was a particular
struggle to find experts to install the photovoltaic panels that convert
sunlight to electricity, because so few engineers specialize in the field.
Daylight Savings
Picard gravitated to eco-houses after a career as a
builder and project manager for homes costing between $10 million and $70
million. When one house he built rang up a monthly utility bill of more than
$300,000, Picard realized that he needed to find a more efficient method of
harnessing energy.
The design for his 2,100-square-foot home, a few steps
from the water in Manhattan Beach, Calif., grew out of that quest. Because his
lot is relatively small—35 by 40 feet—Picard downsized the original plans to a
more reasonable square footage, because he wanted the appropriate scale. For the
interior, Picard and architect Tanya Chan devised light and ventilation systems,
along with solar-powered radiant floor heating, that would illuminate and warm
the home, which has high ceilings and a spacious, open floor plan.
Picard
says the key to a successful eco-house is wringing several benefits out of each
component. One notion is daylighting, in which natural light is used on a
grand scale to save energy. In the kitchen, for example, a large
floor-to-ceiling glass wall, which has a layer of prismatic plastic, allows a
soft white light to flood the space. The $5,000 glass wall is the major light
source for the entire third floor of the house, where the kitchen is located,
and it significantly decreases energy usage, Picard explains.
Picard, like
Anderson, had to surmount hurdles obtaining the materials he sought. He selected
a special wood from South America, that comes from a sustainable forestry
program wherein only the branches of the tree are harvested. The cost was about
10 times more than regular wood, he says, and it took over a year to secure
delivery. Yet not all environmentally sound materials cost more; Picard used a
line of eco-paints from Benjamin Moore, with organic compounds, which cost the
same as standard house paint.
Picard says his goal was to build a high-end
house that operates in a low-tech and sustainable way. It was also a good
investment: The house cost approximately $800,000 to build; he recently sold it
for more than $2 million.
Rick Joy, an Arizona-based architect who is
building a 3,000-square-foot, off-the-grid home for Francis Ford Coppola in
Rutherford, Calif., says he tries to assure his top-tier clients that they can
“care about the environment and be environmentally advanced, and also have
high-concept architecture."
Combined, these attributes add up to an
intangible and powerful statement about a commitment to the environment. “I
proved that it could be done—that an eco-sensitive house could be built and that
it doesn’t cost that much,” Anderson exults. “It’s a start.”
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