Inhabitat » SUNSET IDEA HOUSES

October 1, 2005

SUNSET IDEA HOUSES

by Sarah Rich

Sunset’s 2005 Idea House event features two side-by-side “zero energy” demonstration homes that show how much can be done with green as the guideline.

The homes open this Friday, October 7, in Menlo Park, CA, and will be available for viewing until January 22, 2006. One home has a fully decorated interior with contemporary furnishings, and the other is empty, with cutaway segments that allow viewers to see the inner workings of the eco-friendly home, which include formaldehyde-free insulation and radiant roof barriers.

Among the more visible green details are recycled glass kitchen tiles, low VOC paint, wheatboard cabinetry and flourescent lighting with fixtures that do not accomodate incandescents. There are auto-shutoff light sensors, composting and worm bin setups, water-efficient landscaping, and the list goes on. Some really beautiful photos of the more innovative green interior design work, such as Fireclay’s Debris tiles and 3form’s resin encased thatch cabinet panels, are available on the Sunset site (see link below).

These Idea Houses are slated to become the groudwork for a 47-home development in Menlo Park, including “affordable” homes for under $375,000. I’ve never particularly smiled upon cookiecutter housing developments in the suburbs, but if they’re going to keep popping up, at least they’ll be growing a little greener.

Via: San Jose Mercury News

Link: www.sunset.com

Link: Detail Features from Sunset

(Top Photo: Rick E. Martin, San Jose Mercury News
Lower Photo: Thomas J. Story, Sunset)

3 Responses to “SUNSET IDEA HOUSES”

mike Says:

October 5th, 2005 at 1:05 am

Fake lawns!
Eeek!

Couldn’t we plant wildflowers and indigenous grasses to encourage bird, butterfly, and local insect habitat?

Inhabitat » Blog Archive » 2006 SUNSET IDEA HOUSE Says:

August 7th, 2006 at 5:32 am

[…] One calendar year seems like a decade when considering the evolution of green building. So compared to last year’s Sunset Magazine Idea House, the 2006 Celebration Idea House represents years of innovation, just completed and currently sitting in Sunset’s parking lot on a steel-pier foundation in Menlo Park, California. […]

gail mason Says:

September 18th, 2006 at 5:34 am

I saw the house last year and thought the synthetic grass was surprisingly real looking both in appearance and in feeling. I would like to find out about having a small area at my daughters high school turn their old raggedy grass rectangles in the student art court into the nice synthetic grass. How can I get ahold of the folks who make the grass, do you know?

Thanks for letting me know. And also, there were floors made of squares of cork but were, in fact, some sort of linolium. Any way to also find them?

thanks so much for your trouble.
Gail Mason

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