Sustainability in Action ?!? – The Edge’s Malibu Housing Project

2011-04-02:  While ‘sustainability’ may be a difficult concept to understand and implement … our collective consciousness of what is not sustainable … unsustainable … should be improving.  Does this, or that, intuitively ‘feel’ wrong ?   Please discuss.

This item came to my attention a few days ago, via an Architectural e-Newsletter from the ‘US of A’ … and it is a sad, sad reminder of the unsustainable construction frenzy which infected so many people in Ireland during the Celtic Tiger Years.

The Edge is one of our own … we delight in his success, and we are proud of him !

Colour photograph, extracted from the Project Fact Sheet (available to download from the 'Leaves in the Wind' WebSite), showing the view from Surfrider Beach of The Edge's Proposed 5 House Coastal Development in Malibu, California. The hilltop locations of 4 of the houses are indicated by white arrows. Where is the last house ? Click to enlarge.
Colour photograph, extracted from the Project Fact Sheet (available to download from the 'Leaves in the Wind' WebSite), showing the view from Surfrider Beach of The Edge's Proposed 5 House Coastal Development in Malibu, California. The hilltop locations of 4 of the houses are indicated by white arrows. Where is the last house ? Click to enlarge.

At the beginning of a slick and convincing promotional video, the Proposed Coastal Housing Development by The Edge (David Evans) and his wife Morleigh Steinberg, is described as follows …

Leaves in the Wind is an innovative five-home green building and organic design project in Malibu, California.  Each home is actively seeking LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

All five terrain-appropriate, environmentally sustainable homes will be built on just over 1 acre of the 156-acre site, leaving most of the land untouched and in its natural state.”

A vague ‘artistic impression’ of each of the 5 Houses, available to download from the Project WebSite, shows that the designs are far from being earth-shatteringly innovative … and, in the case of at least 4 of the Houses, they will break the skyline at the top of the hills …

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David (aka The Edge) … some Questions and Comments …

  1. A building which breaks a hilltop skyline has an enormously adverse visual impact.  Just visit the Bodrum Peninsula, in the south-west of Turkey, to see exactly what I am talking about.  Please move the houses in Malibu.  They are not ‘terrain-appropriate’.  Don’t destroy the visual enjoyment of the landscape for everyone else in the local community !
  2. Yes … there are 5 Sites available for constructing 5 Houses.  BUT … do you really have a desperate urge to build all 5 ?   Why not just 1 … or 2 at the most … and find a ‘sustainable’ use, or uses, for the rest of the landscape ??   Are you familiar with ‘sustainable’ management ?   Would you like to do something to slow down the rate of, and perhaps even reverse, biodiversity loss in Malibu ?   If you have not done so already … would you like to consult, meaningfully, with members of the local community about your ideas … even at this advanced stage ?
  3. Have you fully considered the large range of adverse environmental impacts during the long, difficult process of construction ?
  4. Finally (for now) … I regret very much that you have been an innocent victim of Ubiquitous American Greenwash Marketing … with profound apologies to Canada, Mexico and the rest of Central and South America !   The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Building Rating System is only concerned with certain environmental aspects of Sustainable Human & Social Development.  There are many other aspects to sustainability which are equally, if not more, important.  LEED is not a Sustainable Building Rating System.  And the Green Building Council, itself, knows this !   Please do some proper research !   And PLEASE … do this before the ‘real’ design process commences … and definitely, before any work starts on site !!

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1 Response

  1. GOOD SITE + GOOD ARCHITECT = GOOD ARCHITECTURE AND REASONABLE SUSTAINABILITY

    GOOD SITE + GOOD ARCHITECT + BAD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER
    = BAD ARCHITECTURE, NO REASONABLE SUSTAINABILITY

    GOOD SITE + BAD ARCHITECT + BAD REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER
    = BAD ARCHITECTURE, SITE DEVASTATION

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