Pasadena Eco House | Pasadena & South Pasadena Real Estate

The Pasadena Eco House, a Home Search Story

If you have happen to be in the market to buy a house chances are you have a good idea of what your looking for or then again maybe you don’t. The good thing about Pasadena is that there are many styles available to meet the demands of today’s home buyer’s. If your looking for property built in the 1950′s try Hastings Ranch. Looking for a California Bungalow, try Bungalow Heaven. If you find Spanish architecture more to your liking there are many styles and price ranges available as there are with English Tudors or Craftsman styles. There is Garfield Heights, Madison Heights and Orange Heights.

About the only things Pasadena homes have in common is that they are…..well they are old. Many of our houses were built between 1917 to 1925 and while they are full of character, some folks just prefer something more recent. The problem is as you may know, if you have been looking at houses here in town about the only new construction is in townhomes or condominiums. Not too many single family houses.

The Housing Dilemma

Many people who move to California are surprised to find that their housing dollar buys less than half the house they used to own, and it also comes with a price tag of 2-3 times what they hoped to pay. It’s hard to find a house to fall in love with. It is easy to find a home that meets most of your criteria and you can call home. Most people however never consider building their own custom home. The current density in our area just seems to preclude this from consideration.

Enter the Pasadena Eco House

Our soon to be home owners looked at many different houses and configurations during their home search. Many things they liked but felt these too would need some additional customization to suit their tastes. Remodeling projects can take another 6 months to complete. They started doing research on the benefits of green building technologies on the internet. Green building just seemed to make sense. The increased efficiencies from an energy efficient design, the water saving features and the sustainable materials that would be used in the construction process.

In their home search they discovered an available lot suitable for building with excellent views to the north and the San Gabriel Mountains. This they thought would make an excellent location for a new home. They happened to find a local architect who was designing and developing other projects. They met and after a few meetings the Eco House became a reality.
Picture Description – (Top) back of the lot looking to the northeast (Middle) view to the northwest and (Bottom) view of the mountains to the north

A Greener Pasadena, California

I had the wonderful opportunity this week of meeting with Mr. Robert Mechielsen along with his two clients, who will soon be breaking ground on the Pasadena Eco House. Mr. Mechielsen is the architect behind this phenomenal project that could easily revolutionize the manner in which homes are constructed throughout this country. The home has been designed to utilize a mixture of green building materials including energy savings, environmental controls, building techniques that are ecologically responsible, and the use of sustainable materials. These components will come together to produce a synergistic effect creating a structure which has a greater fire tolerance, is more resistant to hurricane force winds and can be built to withstand more powerful earthquakes. We feel very privileged to be a part of this project and look forward to providing you with an ongoing inside look into the construction, development, and design of this highly awaited endeavor.

How Green Are You?

As we prepare to bring you the details of how ecologically friendly building practices and sustainable materials will improve and enhance our lives, now would be a good time to test your homes to see how “green” your living practices are and what steps can you take to reduce your own personal greenhouse gases? By entering the data in the personal emissions calculator, you will be provided with a number showing your greenhouse gas emissions that will probably surprise you.

Fear not however. Help is at hand. After you pick yourself up off of the floor check out these action steps for an immediate plan of improvement. The City of Pasadena in conjunction with Pasadena Water & Power also has some excellent programs to assist you in your efforts to improve your own “green” initiative. They will provide rebates on certain appliances and fixtures that help save water and electricity. What a great opportunity to replace those old systems with new energy efficient cost saving alternatives.