When architect Isabelle Duvivier of Duvivier Architects bought a dilapidated 100-year-old home in the neighborhood of her dreams, she kept the 950-square-foot floor plan but gave it a modern, environmentally friendly update that won a LEED platinum rating as well as the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2012 Outstanding Home Award. Rather than demolish the 1912 house, Duvivier remodeled. “I wanted to preserve as much of the original house as I could,” she said. A new second-story master bedroom is set back from the street to respect the scale of the Venice, Calif., neighborhood. Duvivier planted a vegetable garden in the front yard, as well as fruit trees and grapes along the alley.
“I’m a green architect through and through,” she said. “I wanted to go for high LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) points, but my main goal was to demonstrate that a big component of green building is not building from scratch, but with what is there.”
Have a green property that needs appraising? Contact the appraisers at: www.scappraisals.com; the forerunners in green property appraisals.
Duvivier’s goal was “to reduce the footprint/impact of our house on the planet through water, energy and material efficiency.” To improve energy performance, the house has carefully placed windows, solar tubes and skylights. High-efficiency appliances and 95 percent LED lighting result in a home that is 53 percent more efficient than California standards. A 4-kilowatt solar array produces more electricity than the house uses 10 months out of the year.
Read more at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/home/sc-home-0401-duvivie-20130406,0,7000731.story
Green Real Estate Appraiser 