The Ehrlich House by John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects

Architect: John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects
Project Team: John Friedman (principal designer), Alice Kimm, John Martin, Leigh Christy, Pauline Shu
Client: Craig Ehrlich
Contractor: Anthony Bonomo
Photography: Benny Chan, Fotoworks
Floor Area: 3995 SF
Construction Cost: $1.1 million
Completion: July 2004

This 3,900 square foot house in Santa Monica tests the hypothesis that it is not necessary to sacrifice beauty for sustainability - that one can have both. Furthermore, it suggests that attentiveness to sustainability can inspire and elicit beauty where it might not be otherwise.

The house incorporates a number of passive and active green strategies, as well as a number of recycled and sustainably harvested materials. The structure’s openness and siting not only provide the sense of continuous space and connection to the garden that the client desired, but also allow sunlight and ocean breezes to warm and cool the house naturally. The koi pond cools the air before it enters the house; the concrete floor absorbs the sun’s heat, saving it to be released at night.

Motorized skylights over the stair atrium draw warm air out of the house and also provide museum-quality lighting for the client’s art collection. A diagonal void carved through the house not only allows southern light to penetrate deep into the northern areas of the house, but also intensifies the abstract spatial qualities that are at the heart of the house’s aesthetic.

The house also employs several active strategies including: a rooftop photovoltaic system that provides 85 percent of the house’s energy needs, a gray water system that filters much of the houses’s waste water for use by the garden, and a highly efficient in-floor radiant heating system. The house does not require air conditioning.

Recycled or sustainably-produced materials include: concrete floors; exterior cement plaster walls; cement board siding; recycled cotton insulation; Jatoba wood floors and stairs certified by the Forest Stewardship Council; formaldehyde-free cabinets lacquered with low VOC paint; and quartz countertops.