It’s a bit south (Santa Monica), but the house is still worth noting for two reasons: 1. it’s the first home in the country to be “given ‘platinum’ status in the U.S. Green Building Council’s influential LEED rating system (for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design),” and 2. it’s the prototype for LivingHomes, a builder of prefabricated homes. (In fact, the “bulk of the house was built at a factory in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., and assembled in one day.”)
According to LivingHomes founder, “We’re targeting consumers who buy organic food, do yoga, and shop at Design Within Reach.” We’re guessing there just might be some of those folks around here. And despite what some might think, we’re guessing they’ll actually pay a premium to live in a well designed (and located) green house.
∙ LivingHomes [LivingHomes.us]
∙ The Greenest House On The Planet [BusinessWeek]
∙ A Tale Of Two Green Houses [SocketSite]
When I lived in LA, I had the pleasure of living in an apartment building designed by Ray Kappe, the architect of the Santa Monica green house. Ray Kappe was the founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).
His son is an architect here in the Bay Area:
http://www.kappedu.com/ron.html
So how much did this pre-fab house cost? Not including the lot cost, of course.
“For Glenn, the two-story, four-bedroom structure (about 2,500 square feet) is more than just a place to live. It’s the prototype for his new business, LivingHomes, which sells prefabricated houses based on his model for about $250 per square foot. That price doesn’t include land, site preparation, or transportation of the components, which brought the total cost of Glenn’s home to more than $1 million.”