Solar Umbrella House

Lessons Learned

The architects ascribe to the view that a lovable energy hog is more sustainable than an unloved building that uses no energy. Their goal was to create a beautiful, low-maintenance, high-quality building that is also sustainable. The beautiful, energy-generating Solar Umbrella will continue to serve its purpose long into the future.

Proper planning, orientation, and other measures that maximized the passive sustainability of the structure were the key strategies for success on this project. Active systems then became icing on the cake.

The biggest lesson learned was that a holistic approach to energy and environmental design is a must when considering any green project. This approach takes into account the competing performance, cost, social aspects, and regulatory constraints associated with the implementation of a series of energy design measures; it can produce highly efficient buildings that are also of high architectural quality.

Another lesson learned is the importance of understanding exactly how much energy is being used and generated in order to understand the lifecycle costs of the energy systems. The owners have diligently recorded how much energy the solar panels generate monthly. The solar consultant fine-tunes, monitors, and documents the sustainable features through a continuing collaboration. This information is shared with visitors and the public.

The owners and architects see the project as an opportunity to educate others about green design. They made every attempt to demystify green design by demonstrating how easily it can be accomplished and showing the range of strategies that can be implemented along with their respective costs and paybacks. Showcasing solar panels in a way that lets people see they can be beautiful and serve a dual purpose has far-reaching, long-lasting effects. Tours and events have been held at the house for architects, design professionals, contractors, community organizations, and institutions such as the Boys and Girls Club, American Institute of Architects, Venice Family Clinic, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Within one year more than 1,000 people have visited the Solar Umbrella, including routine trips from the eight local architecture and design schools.

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Our thanks to the ENERGY STAR program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and to the U.S. Department of Energy, and to BuildingGreen, Inc. for hosting the submission and judging forms.

For more information about the AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects, contact AIA/COTE. For help on how to use this Web site, contact .