Modulator

Ecological Oxymoron

This house was built using the latest 'green' construction techniques and I laud the owner, designer and contractor for that effort:

This is also, in case you can't tell from the picture, a large house:

This hilltop site in Corte Madera was once home to the late rock impresario Bill Graham.

Today it holds what its designer says is probably the largest "green" - ecologically correct - house in America.

Designed by Inverness architect Sim Van der Ryn and under construction for more than five years, the 15,000-square-foot house was built for owner Michael Klein, a passionate environmentalist and board member of the Rain Forest Action Network. It replaces the Graham house, which has been razed.

Exactly why is a passionate environmentalist building a 15,000 square foot house? Yes, he can afford it but surely a wealthy passionate environmentalist would set an example for both commoners and his wealthy peers. He would use green building techniques and also build a home appropriate to a human family in the 21st century. I do not believe a case can be made that all 6,492,046,339 of us (as of 01/18/06 at 00:09 GMT) should be living in homes this size as nuclear familys.

It may be a great show place for green building techniques but unless it is to be the home of 30-40 people there is little about it that is ecologically correct.

Via Knockin' On The Golden Door via Grateful Dead News.

Posted by Steve on January 17, 2006