In a city known for its architecture and now Green building, the Sunset Idea House hasn’t stirred up so many “ideas” since the Transamerica Pyramid made its way into the SF skyline. We’re all about tossing the Green spotlight on Green building but we had to step back from this one before going on a rant.
Before we even entered the $4 million plus display home, one of the City’s notable Green builders mentioned to us after touring the Sunset House, “ That house is going to set Green building back 10 years”. Gasp. Not the super-hyped Sunset Idea House.
At first glace, the house looks like a green museum containing an abundance of sustainability. The house contains energy efficiency and renewable energy systems (solar hot water, a five Kw photovoltaic system, hydronic floor heating, and the hard to miss 52-foot tall wind turbine), a dumpsite load of reused and recycled wood, framing and other materials, and water conservation attributes like the 4,000 gallon rainwater collection tank.
But like in a David Lynch film (like Blue Velvet), things aren’t always how they appear at first glance. The fact that owner/builder Robin Wilson built this costly, 3,600 square foot suburban sized mansion (along with the attached 1200 SF unit) in a poorer part of the Mission, where someone could have built a tall multi-unit Green condo to house more families doesn’t ring so green to us.
We don’t exactly think that people should live in Gilligan’s Island shacks but the SIH gets a little ridiculous. It’s surprising that no one fell into the large indoor exercise that swallows up much of the ground floor, or got lost in the steam room and sauna. Even the bathrooms seemed over-the-top with four shower heads in each shower. And what’s with the un-Green esthetics of the acid washed second story floors. Acid washed?
Despite the Green attributes, we like to call this house eco ego. We appreciate all the Green bells and whistles that went into the house but we just bring up one question: Can’t residential green design be both affordable and attractive at the same time?
eco ego hydronic floor heating photovoltaic system rainwater collection recycled wood renewable energy systems robin wilson solar hot water sunset idea house transamerica pyramid wind turbine
Maybe you are looking at it upside down. People are still going to build large single family homes in San Francisco. Why not build them as eco friendly as possible? The green community needs to be a little more friendly to contractors who are trying to make a difference with green building. It seems to me some in “the green community” are as intolerante as “the christian evangelists”. Is it really all or nothing?
Tough crowd!