by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

When I was in college, dorms were nothing to write home about--architecturally anyway. But that's changed radically since universities began commissioning big name architects like Steven Holl for student housing. I just learned of this gorgeous graduate housing complex on the Charles River in Cambridge, MA, designed for Harvard University by architect Kyu Sung Woo..

The building is expected receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and its building systems are designed and engineered to minimize energy usage. Green-minded finishes include regionally-sourced siding with recycled content; renewable bamboo flooring and wall paneling, and low-VOC paints.

(Photos by © Timothy Hursley - The Arkansas Office)

Projects like this really disprove any notion that institutionalized architecture, whether dorms, schools or affordable housing, has to look, well, institutional! An elegant and well-conceived building like this almost makes me want to go back to school.

by Allison Arieff, Sunset editor-at-large

For the last several months I've been driving by this cool looking building in downtown San Francisco and wondering what it was.

I'm so glad to learn that it not only looks great but there's a great idea behind it. In a city where space is at a premium and home prices remain staggeringly high, Cubix offers small, space-maximizing units (about 250-350 square feet) at a price that more closely aligns with the national median (around $200,000). Other major cities like New York and Hong Kong have long offered tiny but stylish multi-family options; it's an idea whose time has come here in San Francisco.

Designed by Hauser Architects, Cubix takes a lesson from Jane Jacobs and promotes walkability. Apart from the small and efficient square footage of its units (because after all, shouldn't we be out enjoying the world outside our door a little more), the building is in easy walking distance of downtown (and of all of the city's major public transit systems).

You'd do just fine here without a car (and if you needed one, you could just pop on over and get a Zip Car for the afternoon. There's a Whole Foods down the street, the amazing Ferry Plaza Farmers Market just blocks away, and countless amazing restaurants like Fringale, Coco500, and South Park Cafe nearby.

Perfect for first-time homebuyers or empty nesters. Ideal for the environment. I'd love to see more of this forward-thinking city planning happening here in San Francisco and elsewhere throughout the country.

By Sarah Gaffney, Sunset Idea House program manager

It happens every year. Summer rolls around and I have every intention of immersing myself in a good, juicy read and the next thing I know, The New York Times is publishing its year-end list of the most notable books of the year. Summer 2008 was looking like another missed season of reading till today, when The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton crossed my desk. Yes, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this is such a happy cover. The basic premise is how the buildings we walk by, work in or come home to affect how we feel. Looks like a summer read I'm ready to dive into.

By Sarah Gaffney, Sunset Idea House program manager

Whew, it's been awhile since I've been able to post. We start staging our Menlo Park Idea House this week, so I've been consumed with the inevitable last-minute dramas that happen just before the builder hands us the keys to the house. Stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes post later this week as we unload the furniture trucks!

A trip down to our Monterey Idea House is a great escape from the frenzy, even if it is to attend a four-hour construction meeting. In the grand scheme of things, there are worse ways to spend your time.

Here are the views we enjoy during our meetings. This particular view is from the master bedroom. No excuses for waking up on the wrong side of the bed when your bed looks at this million-dollar view.

Here is the shower wall in the master shower. Turn to get your bar of soap, and you see the aforementioned million-dollar view. I'd be a squeaky-clean person if I lived in this house. Who'd ever want to leave the shower? The Sakura Mural Tile is from Ann Sacks.

The hardwood flooring from BR-111 just arrived. How gorgeous is this, especially set against the Oceanside Glasstile that wraps the fireplace.

Before we install the flooring, Uponor's underfloor radiant heating PEX-a tubing goes in. This is one of those cool, hidden products that goes unseen during the open house tour.

There's a circle motif going on in our kitchen. This large circle peeks into the kitchen from the dining room.
Adding to the whimsy, circle cut-outs on the opposite wall look into the family room. Come back soon to see the backsplash tile that surrounds it!

By Sarah Gaffney, Sunset Idea House program manager

Former Sunset home editor (and Idea House architectural guru) Daniel P. Gregory has just published a book on Cliff May, the founding father of modern ranch house design and architect of Sunset's headquarters here in Menlo Park, California. Cliff May and the Modern Ranch House gives an inside look at nearly 20 of May's designs, which in the 1950's and '60s popularized the casually elegant indoor-outdoor floor plan now so familiar to the pages of Sunset. The photography is luscious enough to make me want to fork over the $60 for this beautiful coffee table book. For more of Dan's musings on architecture, check out his blog here.

By Sarah Gaffney, Sunset home program manager

Our Monterey Idea House is now under construction and slated to open later this summer. The home will be comprised of three connected buildings, with architecture that is best described as modern barn.

The building shown here will house a garage below and a guest suite and artist loft above.

The wood used for the siding is reclaimed from a 100+ year-old barn (and former stage coach station) located in the nearby town of Gonzalez and old water towers from Washington state.

We sourced all the materials from Bear Creek Lumber. More to come as construction continues!

See more Idea Houses

By Jess Chamberlain, Sunset home and design writer

If you're in the Bay Area this season, don't miss our San Francisco Idea House, one of the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified residential remodeled homes in the nation. The house is open 9am-4pm Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through 1/27/2008. Please note: The house will be closed the weekend of 12/21 and 12/28 due to the holidays.

$20 admission; $15 for seniors on Fridays. No children under age 10.

Here are a few teasers to get you there; or if you're not local, look forward to the story (with much better photos—taken with more than my point-and-shoot) in our March 2008 "green themed" issue. I love the variety of modern textures and colors—proof that being green no longer implies hemp browns, hippie status, and an element of granola.

By Daniel Gregory, Sunset senior editor/home

It's hard to believe that the mkLotus green prefab designed by Michelle Kaufmann for the West Coast Green home building expo has already been and gone. But mirage it was not, as the many thousands of visitors can attest.

They asked for information on everything from the recycled ceramic shards used as gravel to the peach pit mulch.

A major attraction was the sleek "mail slot-style" bathroom sink made of concrete and recycled pulverized toilet porcelain—an example of cradle-to-cradle recycling or, better yet, call it bowl-to-bowl!

Another draw was the green furniture, including a sofa bed made of woven craft paper (shown below), and an alcohol-burning fireplace (also visible below).

Get the complete resource list.

By Daniel Gregory, Sunset senior editor, home

The Mayor's view has changed...

Dominating the vista of Civic Center Plaza from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's balcony is Michelle Kaufmann's mkLotus, the greenest prefab around. Sponsored by Sunset and West Coast Green building expo, the contemporary, solar-powered, green-roofed, less than 700 square-foot house  is all set to welcome the Mayor and thousands of other WCG attendees to the City's version of the Governor's Puffing Tent (for green tea, not cigars, of course—this is San Francisco!). Here's a taste of what you can see at the event, Sept. 20-22:

Beaux Arts to Bauhaus in 50 feet—Make that 50 feats, when you consider that this house was constructed in the Xtremehomes factory in Oroville, then driven to the site and set into place between 1 and 5 a.m. last Sunday, then fully landscaped with more than $75,000 worth of donated and loaned plants and trees, raised beds, decking, koi pond and wrap-around decking, and completely furnished and decorated with similarly valued furnishings and artwork (all on loan) in two round-the-clock days.

At least 50 people worked on the house and now it's open and full of visitors. Remember Virgil's famous metaphor of the beehive in The Aeneid? Well, update it with a sleek modern design instead of a battlefield and there you have it: All action figures, all the time. Arthur Brown's big beautiful baroque dome is looking down at all the activity and beaming.

Outside and in. A zig-zag promenade leads through drought-tolerant plants and grasses to an ngawa-like entry deck (a Japanese form of slim deck) made of composite wood. A rainwater cachement system is used for irrigation and there's even a gray water system that recirculates water collected from sinks and shower to the toilet. The entire landscape and bioswale roof was designed by Nick Thayer of Late Afternoon Garden Design.

Setting the stage for what lies within is a rectangular lotus pool with a centerpiece made of 500 recycled Grey Goose vodka bottle bottoms. (How's that for a little liquid serenity—it brings to mind Herb Caen's affection for what he called "vitamin v.")

Open the front door in the cement board and FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified wood-sheathed wall and to the left is the main living space containing kitchen and dining area; to the right are the bathroom and the bedroom. All three rooms open to decks. Windows and doors use double pane, low-e glass. A Green "living roof" is the icing on the gateau—I mean chateau.

A Gallery of Green. All furnishings, fixtures, and finishes are as environmentally friendly as possible.

You'll see:

FSC-certified wood cabinetry and flooring

Concrete counters using recycled fly ash and rice hulls

Bathroom sink made of recycled pulverized toilet porcelain

Recycled glass tiles in the shower

The latest low-flow plumbing fixtures (including a dual flush toilet)

Walls covered with no-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint

Energy Star appliances

Furnishings and artwork from a wide variety of green-oriented manufacturers, artists and websites. For example the sofa bed in the living room is made of woven Kraft paper and the living room rug is 12% wool and 88% paper.

In short, there's a whole lot of green going on. Like an architectural version of compressed files on a zip disk, mkLotus expands horizons the moment you enter. It remains in place until the end of West Coast Green—this Saturday.  And then, like San Francisco's famous fog, it moves on.

Green delicious kitchen: pale green no-VOC wall color from Yolo Colorhouse; concrete counter containing recycled rice hulls by Concrete Works; wall art by Lisa Bartleson;  bamboo-themed elements from Dandelion; cork bowl from Branch.

Weaving eco-friendly materials together: curved chair made of sea grass from McGuire ; leather and wood chair from Palecek; wool and paper rug from Merida; vase from Dandelion; bamboo coffee table by Alex Suvajac.

Shower power: The walls are covered in recycled glass from Bedrock Industries.

Dream of green: sustainably harvested cherry bed from Room & Board; 100% wool bedspread from Fold Bedding; pillows from Branch. (That's Sunset photographer Tom Story, shooting for an upcoming issue.)

By Daniel Gregory, Sunset senior editor

The cavernous XtremeHomes factory at Oroville, an hour north of Sacramento, was full of activity last Monday as the media gathered for an update on mkLotus, the latest green prefab. We saw the fully installed folding glass panels, which are called Nanawalls, "Disapparate"—to use a J. K. Rowling term—three sides of the living-dining room. They silently glide away to unite inside and outside: this is how to live large in a small space. Bedroom and living room walls are almost completely taped. Next will come the cabinets, flooring, siding, plumbing fixtures, appliances, and paint. And soon the house will roll down the highway to West Coast Green. It was exciting to see the progress and though the drive back to SF took a while, a timely root beer float kept the occupants of my hybrid happy. How green, I mean, cool, is that?!

By Daniel P. Gregory, Sunset senior editor, Home

The countdown has begun: Construction of mkLotus—the green prefab destined for San Francisco Civic Center as part of West Coast Green—is well under way at the factory. The architect Michelle Kaufmann just sent this snapshot. The big corner windows are framed in and most of the walls are up. I'll post more images after I tour the factory myself in a week or so.

By Daniel P. Gregory, Sunset Senior Editor, Home

Today it’s just a patch of lawn below the Mayor’s balcony at San Francisco’s grand Beaux Arts style City Hall, but in September a warmly contemporary, eco-friendly, modular home will materialize there, competing for Gavin Newsom’s attention.

ABRA...

CADABRA! (Or to be a little more Harry Potter-hip with a Transfiguration Spell: "Pre-Fabius Greenus!")

Called mkLotus, the one bedroom structure—seen here in drawings and a model—is architect Michelle Kaufmann’s latest demonstration house. You remember Michelle, the prefab pioneer who began her career with Frank Gehry. We hosted her Glidehouse at Sunset  headquarters in Menlo Park, which drew 20,000 visitors over two frenzied days. And then, with input from Senior Writer Peter Whiteley and me, she produced the Sunset Breezehouse, which prompted yet another blockbuster weekend.

Now she’s designed a prefab that’s as green as possible. I think it’s terrific. Note the sod roof, the way accordion doors open entire walls to expand the living space, the sunshades, and the photovoltaic panels. The name is fitting: Michelle liked the simple sculptural shape of the lotus flower (Nelumbo)—an icon of tranquility—and the way it blooms in water and opens to the sky.  She says:  “The mkLotus™ was designed as an oasis.  We wanted to create a house that provides a sense of calm. It’s about connection.  Connection to the natural, and to the landscape.  It can be perfect for a vacation home, or a home where you feel like you are on vacation.” The interior will be eco-friendly as well.

The house is a showcase for West Coast Green, a huge green building conference and expo taking place in Bill Graham Auditorium at Civic Center Plaza September 20-22. Built by XtremeHomes in partnership with Sunset, mkLotus will be an unusual and eye-catching, if temporary, addition to the neighborhood.

Come to think of it, this could be Mayor Newsom’s answer to the Governor’s Puffing Tent!  No cigars here, though: strictly green tea.

Stay tuned for more updates.