An Eco Luxury, Net Zero & LEED Platinum Home Under Construction in Montecito, CA

Here is an update on the Eco Luxury House we are building at Butterfly Beach in Montecito, Ca. We collaborated with our friend and colleague Michelle Kaufman on the design of this home. Early on in the process we had intended this house to be a modular or prefab home because at that time we had the belief that this was the most proactive way for us to be as green as possible utilizing Michelle's five eco principles . This was not necessarily the case, and in the end we are actually building a custom home built on site that is as green or greener than our original prefab plan. In fact we are right on track to be the first LEED For Homes PLATINUM CERTIFIED home in Montecito and also hope to achieve and annual Net Zero Energy Equalibrium.  I know that Michelle is thrilled that we are determined to figure out how to make the most sustainable project as is possible now. It is the positive result of what turned into a somewhat unfortunate experience.

There is a sad tale with a happy ending that took us in our current direction. As many people know Michelle Kaufmann's company MKD Homes Closed it's doors in June of 2009.  We were slated to begin the prefabrication process of the original design for this house just as the factory and Michelle Kaufmann closed theirs doors. This was a terrible consequence of the poor economy last year. After we stopped reeling from this unfortunate news, we reorganized our process (at a cost of 4 months and substantial redesign expenditures) and became even more determined to build a sustainable home. In the end, we are building a very high end, high quality, custom, sustainable home. We are happy that Michelle reorganized is practicing architecture and design is still a champion of sustainable and even eco luxury design. Here's the new Michelle Kaufmann Studio.  Also, MKD Homes are now offered by  MKdesigns by blu homes which we think is fantastic that all of Michelle's intellectual collateral will continue on.  We wish Michelle and blu homes smooth sailing ahead!

Here's a Link to Our "Net Zero' Post
Here's a Link to Michelle Kaufmann's Blog Post aout this Eco Luxury House
See Also The New York Time: The Rise of 'Green' Modular Homes by Francesca Lyman

Modernizing A Piece of California History: Before and After in this Hollywood Regency Style Estate

A lot of people have asked us what the East Mountain Drive Hollywood Regency Estate looked liked before we got our hands on it. We collated a few photos here to show you the dramatic way that we blended this authentic mid century style with current technology and more environmentally sustainable ideas 21st Century design.

The pictures above represent the Living Room shot from the exact same location. If you look closely at the center of each photo you will see that we moved the fireplace and expanded the window wall to take advantage of the Spectacular view. We selected the fireplace mantel in London at Chesneys. The Chandelier is Murano Glass from Donghia. The coffee table is Vintage Charles Hollis Jones. The Sconces are peridod "Dorothy Draper in style and from the Palm Springs modernism show. The sconces were literally the first thing we purchased for the house. The Mirror is  a Vintage Donghia Furniture piece. We purchased the mirror at a gallery in Los Angeles, but is was designed in the time that I worked in Angelo Donghia's Design Office in New York before he died in 1985. We used Farrow and Ball paints throughout the residence. I am very happy that F & B is now using producing Low VOC paints and papers.

The Dining Room after we opened the window wall with Hopes Doors. We designed a wonderful waterfall and fire place that spans the water pool The draper fabric is Bergamo. Again, a grey colored hand blown Murano Glass Chandelier from Donghia and Farrow & Ball wall paper. The Dining Table is mid century Harvey Probber, vintage Dining Chairs upholstered in Bergamo Silk Velvet and a vintage Regency style Bar Cabinet.

Recycled Glass Tile: Luxurious & Sustainable for a Modern Estate

Glass bottles take more than 4,000 years to decompose and approximately 5 out of every 6 bottles end up in our landfill.   Oceanside Glasstile creates beautiful art tile with it instead.  It takes more than two million pounds of bottle glass from curbside recycling programs in a closed-loop process that aims to have appositive impact on our communities and the environment.  Their glass contains up to 97% recycled material as well as being durable and making lasting design statements.  They have also developed a co-processing partnership to eliminate their manufacturing waste from going into a landfill.  They are committed to ongoing advancements and environmental leadership.  We have specified this gorgeous glass tile in our current eco luxury project  on Butterfly Beach in Montecito as well as in this luxurious modern estate we should you here.

Post Author: Tamara Wallop for Globally Gorgeous

The Best Sofa Design in the World!

When we designed the Family Room / Media Room / Theater at the East Mountain House in Montecito we selected a sectional sofa called "Dr. Pitt" from Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams in Los Angeles. We selected the sofa for it's comfort and versatility as well as it's unique design and configuration.  It can be purchased with various sized pieces like any sectional, but this one could be set up like a square with three sides and open in the center. Into the center you can push the ottomans, making it a "filled in square. Sounds crazy, but you can jump in that thing like a huge play pen for adults and stay there all day watching playoff games or movies or both in the case of this Media Room / Theater. We designed this room  with 2 professional 65" Panasonic LCD screens.

During the playoffs last week we were having fun with our godson and realized if we pushed out the two smallest ottoman pieces and left the two large ottomans to closed the "pitt" we could create a play pen for our young Ravens Fan. Naturally we threw in a few safe cooking utensils to make sure the young one was getting balanced and well rounded weekend football. He was BUMMED about the Ravens but not nearly as much as his dad.

More cooking lessons at half time...

This Eco Luxury Home Will Produce As Much Energy As It Consumes...Making It Net Zero

Maienza-Wilson's current project, in addition to being slated for LEED for Homes Platinum certification is a Montecito, California beach house that will also be a net zero energy home.  The concept of net zero is that a home generates the same amount of energy that it consumes on an annual basis. This is accomplished with the right combination of very efficient mechanical systems, lighting, building materials and appliance choices matched with properly sized solar systems to achieve an annual + net zero energy equilibrium. 

The project team worked with David Knight and his team at Monterey Energy Group to create a beautiful home that will also have a light touch on the earth.  

On the production side, the butterfly roof will hide 40 south facing solar photovoltaic panels, producing over 12,800 kWh (kilowatt hours) per year.

On the consumption side, spray-in foam insulation, high-performance windows and doors, an air to water heat pump for super efficient space conditioning and water heating, radiant floors, Energy Star appliances, and LED lights will make the home highly efficient so that the solar panels can provide all the power needed to run the home.

By being tied to the electric power grid, the home can actually feed power into the grid on bright, sunny days when it’s producing more than it needs to run the home and draw power at night and on rainy days when it needs more energy than it’s producing.  By balancing the supply and demand of energy over time, the result is a net zero energy home.

Guest Post by:

Patsy Stadelman, AICP 

Patsy is a Land Use Planner for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP (http://bhfs.com/) in Santa Barbara, California and is on the Board of Directors for the California - Central Coast Section of the American Planning Association.

Farrow and Ball Designer Paint and Wallpaper goes Green - Low VOC paint is eco-friendly

I am thrilled that Farrow and Ball paints have finally gone green with their product line by producing environmentally friendly, eco- friendly low VOC paint and wallpaper.  I have always thought of Farrow and Ball as producing the most beautiful paint and wallpaper products. They produce the chalkiest flat paints I have ever seen and the highest gloss paint I have ever used, in combination the effect is stunning. 

At this Luxurious Montecito, Ca. Estate we created a Grey on Grey palette. Using Farrow and Ball Wallpapers in combination with chalky grey flat paint on the walls and with a very high gloss white trim paint. The Bedroom Charcoal wool carpet from Stark Carpet.

Grey flat wall paint  with high gloss white trim paint.  

Silver Travertine Floors and Oak Flooring with beige wax rub.

 Murano Glass Chandeliers are from Donghia. Bedroom Ceiling Fixture is From Boyd Lighting in San Francisco.

Grey Stripe wallpaper and stripe drapery  Charcoal Starck Carpet

Read more about A Greener Farrow and Ball on their terrific website;.

Recycled Glass Tile: Luxurious & Sustainable for a Modern Estate

In all the Bathrooms in this Modern Estate in Montecito we tried to use glass tile that was at least 50% content of recycled or post industrial glass tile.  The result was modernist elegance in every room.

The entire room is tiled in glass. Floors and Walls. The pattern is an offset running bond pattern installed vertically. The glass tiles are a mixture of sizes and vary from matte, to glossy. The floor is a 1" grid of matte glass mosaic and we used a 1/4" x 6" "pencil glass rectangular tile to finish the edges between the wall and the floor, like a tiny lining border. This room has a serene modernist and timeless quality to it.

This mosaic tile in the Pool House Bath is a mixture of stone and glass tiles. The colors were chosen to reflect the surrounding colors of the landscape and ocean beyond.

Modern Powder Room. We used very thin Glass Mosaic tile in conjunction with a counter to ceiling mirror simply applied to the drywall and tiled right up to the mirror. The Dornbract Faucets were plumbed to come through the mirror. Farrow and Ball Wallpaper is on the adjacent walls.

Copper and Wine colored Glass mosaic tiles on softly arched ceiling and illuminated from the sides above the wine racks was the perfect accent for the wine cellar.  Oceanside Tile is a great resource that we specify all the time for recycled content glass products. Here's a link to Oceanside's Sustainability page.

Construction Progress - Eco Luxury Home in Montecito ...Is Slated for LEED for Homes Platinum

The Steel is going up on our LEED for Homes Eco Luxry Project in Montecito, CA. 
This is a very exciting time to be "out of the dirt", especially before the really rainy season here in California.

LEED For Homes - Eco Luxury Home Montecito Construciton Update: A Maienza- Wilson & Michelle Kaufmann Design

Heres a construction update on our Hill Road Project at Butterfly Beach in Montecito, Ca.This will be the first home in Montecito slated to be LEED For Homes Platinum certified. LEED is "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design".

Here's a link to Michelle Kaufmann's Blog about our collaborative project.

Perspective From 1147 Hill Road, Montecito, CA

Clearing the Site. Construction Underway

Foundations Formed and Poured

Modeled Perspecitve  from the North West Looking towards Butterfly Beach

  

Concrete Pour: Pool and Foundations