By: Johnny Hartsfield

If you missed Michelle Kaufmann’s custom Sunset Breezehouse open house in Santa Barbara last weekend, here is your chance to check it out.  In conjunction with the Built Green Santa Barbara Expo, Conference, and Tour, the open house revealed some great sustainable features including; permeable walkways and decking, a LouvreTec open roof system, solar integration, rainwater collection, natural cooling, and radiant heating.

The Breezehouse is centered around a site-built glass-enclosed breezeway which “lets the green in” to the main living and dinning areas.  The units on either side of the breezeway, including the framing, insulation, electrical, flooring, tiles, walls and plumbing, were constructed in a factory in Tacoma, Washington and transported via flatbed truck to the site in Santa Barbara. 

To make way for this new modern prefab home, a 1960’s era home was deconstructed, diverting as many materials as possible from the landfill through salvage and donation to Habitat for Humanity.  In addition to the sustainable features typically found in Michelle Kaufmann’s work, there was a strong focus on creating a sustainable landscape to compliment the building.  Oftentimes in a project, a thoughtful landscape is ignored or cut from the budget but Margie Grace of Grace Design was given the freedom to blend form with function. 

Source:  Michelle Kaufmann Designs  Via: Jetson Green

 

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