Assembling the first LivingHome
In the spirit of the recently announced Wired Home, PreFab Update thought it would be worthwhile to post a video of the construction of the first LivingHome, which was completed in under a day.
Archive for July, 2007
Environmentally friendly homes minus the expense
SFGate has an interesting article on low cost things ordinary consumers can do to help the environment.
It’s not that it’s not important. For most of us, our homes (not our cars) are where we use the most energy and therefore create the biggest carbon footprint. If we want to avert climate crisis, our society must mainstream eco-friendly building materials, solar and other alternative energies, and highly efficient prefab construction.
But most of us are renting and buying homes that were built by developers who probably didn’t have global warming in mind when they broke ground. And even for those planning a remodel or shopping for a new house today, embracing cutting-edge green building isn’t always affordable.
The Wired Home by LivingHomes
Wired and LivingHomes have just announced a joint project, to develop a new prefab LivingHome that will serve as a showcase for both “high technology and high design”. The home will serve as a type of museum, with ticket sales benefiting Global Green USA.
To meet the high standards set by the USGBC and to respond to the market’s appetite for
healthy, sustainable living, the WIRED LivingHome is designed to attain at least a Gold LEED
rating. The home’s anticipated energy use is 36% more efficient than a conventional residence
of a similar size. Sustainable features include a 4-kilowatt SunPower® solar power system,
including high efficiency, all-black SunPower solar panels that generate up to 50 percent more
power than conventional panels.
Sacrificing none of the comforts of modern living, WIRED is installing cutting-edge technology
throughout the home with a focus on automation and simplicity. The home automation system
provided by Control 4 will enable home theater control, smart lighting, temperature control and
security to all work together through both in-home and over-the-web remote control
technology. The first high-tech feature visitors will experience in the Home is the Panasonic BM-
ET330 Iris Reader which uses biometric iris recognition technology to verify identity for entry.
Designed by the Founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-arc) and Southern
California icon Ray Kappe, FAIA, the WIRED LivingHome is located in the Crestwood Hills neighborhood
of Los Angeles, a protected modernist community of architecturally significant homes. It is seamlessly
integrated into the hillside and naturally ascends the site. Priced at $300/sf, the house will feature five
bedrooms that will be designed to serve as diverse living spaces for the showcase.
Interestingly enough, one of the home’s main sponsors is BMW, who will use the house as a place to show off its hydrogen-powered 7 series sedan.
