How low impact is a $4 million house?
How low impact is a $4 million house?
I keep asking the same question because I can't come to an honest conclusion!?!?!
The first ever Wired home, built in conjunction with LivingHomes, is coming to Los Angeles this fall. Apparently, environmental frugality comes at a bank-breaking price.
Flash saturated gallery HERE.
I just don't get it.
Of course, I'm the kind of person that will take a $700, Vegas-style bar tab over an iPhone any day. So maybe it's just me.
But isn't there an inherent economic responsibility in green design? Bueller?
LivingHomes, the pioneer in green, prefabricated environment(s), would/could/should have a better conceptual understanding of what this movement actually entails.
Pioneer [pi-o-neer]: one who is first or among the earliest in any field of
inquiry, enterprise, or progress.
It's a straightforward concept: modular design and prefab construction are driven at their cores by a lust for simplistic efficiency, both in labor and waste reduction, AS WELL AS ECONOMICS.
4057 square feet in what is destined to be a 2-person home is extravagance at its worst, regardless of the LEED rating. Even at half that price, I still think that luxury and the environment were never meant to live in harmony. Life is supposed to equal subsistence, not proof of existence.
Still, the one-day installation video is kinda cool. Size it down to 900 square feet and you could race an Amish barn by sun-up!
The press release can be found here.
Fortunately, projects such as these are beginning to be seen as the financial flops that they really are, and (woohoo) a "small house" movement is afoot.
From the SF Chronicle: Open plans, unpretentious design characterize new, small houses
Wanna take it to an extreme? Take one of Jay Shafer's courses. He's been living in small houses for a decade now. How small? Really small. How worth it? Really worth it. Under most circumstances, building costs for a home affixed to a permanent foundation range from $100-$200 per square foot.
I'll take a B-52 Bungalow: A not-quite-so-tiny tiny house, the B-52 interior has many great features - porch, daybed, cast-iron stove, ten gallon water heater, tub, toilet, vanity, four-burner range, stainless steel refrigerator and sink - with the addition of a bump-out over the porch. The form of this house was inspired by the airplane bungalows of California. Here it is pictured with optional cedar siding and a cedar shingle roof.
More?
The M-House.
Alchemy Architect's Wee House.
The Small House Society.
On wheels?
On wheels ala the circus?
As far as I'm concerned, you can keep your Wired home.
Unless you're giving it away.
In that case, I'll take it.
No?
Damn.
