West Coast Green: mkLotus Showhouse
With San Francisco's Beaux Arts City Hall as its backdrop, the mkLotus touched down in Civic Center Plaza early Sunday morning for its West Coast Green Showhouse debut, almost fully formed and clad. Modular, prefab, efficient, healthy, and green, the Lotus earns a nearly perfect scorecard on the pressing design issues of the day. And on Thursday it opens its NanaWall sliding panel doors to the public, to model its particular path to this achievement.
On Sunday morning, while the city slept, the crew from XtremeHomes was staring at a shell: They had less than three days to make it seem like the mkd-designed and factory-built structure was right at home on the Plaza's grassy bed. There were hundreds of hours of "detailing" ahead. In a process that normally unfolds over several weeks, the exterior would be furnished with trellises, walkways, a deck, and hundreds of plants; the inside would be outfitted with flooring, paint, tiling, appliances, lighting, and furniture, and up-to-the-minute zero-energy systems would be installed, including an integrated solar array, rain and ground water catchment systems for outdoor irrigation, and an interior gray water system.
Less than thirty-four hours later, the shell had progressed significantly and was turning into a thing of beauty: The interior had been floored in FSC-certified wood and coated in a soothing palette of no-VOC paint, with nary a whiff of that "new house" smell to sound a warning about the wet walls. Low-energy LED lights were being installed in the structures' three rooms—though most visitors will never see them turned on because the house was designed and sited to make efficient use of daylight. And at least a few hundred of those potted plants, many in biodegradable planters, were being laddered and wheeled into place to form a living roof and a lush surround for the glass-walled house.
Architect Michelle Kaufmann watched on the sidelines just long enough to scarf down a cup of soup and then sprang back into action. It seemed clear to her that the tallest of the rooftop plants should be reserved for the rooftop's perimeter. That way, visitors to the house stand a chance of noticing the roof is alive. Landscape architect Nick Thayer of Late Afternoon Garden Design concurred, and his crew organized a bucket brigade around the new direction. The detailing continued on.
Check back tomorrow for another update on the mkLotus's installation.
On Sunday morning, while the city slept, the crew from XtremeHomes was staring at a shell: They had less than three days to make it seem like the mkd-designed and factory-built structure was right at home on the Plaza's grassy bed. There were hundreds of hours of "detailing" ahead. In a process that normally unfolds over several weeks, the exterior would be furnished with trellises, walkways, a deck, and hundreds of plants; the inside would be outfitted with flooring, paint, tiling, appliances, lighting, and furniture, and up-to-the-minute zero-energy systems would be installed, including an integrated solar array, rain and ground water catchment systems for outdoor irrigation, and an interior gray water system.
Less than thirty-four hours later, the shell had progressed significantly and was turning into a thing of beauty: The interior had been floored in FSC-certified wood and coated in a soothing palette of no-VOC paint, with nary a whiff of that "new house" smell to sound a warning about the wet walls. Low-energy LED lights were being installed in the structures' three rooms—though most visitors will never see them turned on because the house was designed and sited to make efficient use of daylight. And at least a few hundred of those potted plants, many in biodegradable planters, were being laddered and wheeled into place to form a living roof and a lush surround for the glass-walled house.
Architect Michelle Kaufmann watched on the sidelines just long enough to scarf down a cup of soup and then sprang back into action. It seemed clear to her that the tallest of the rooftop plants should be reserved for the rooftop's perimeter. That way, visitors to the house stand a chance of noticing the roof is alive. Landscape architect Nick Thayer of Late Afternoon Garden Design concurred, and his crew organized a bucket brigade around the new direction. The detailing continued on.
Check back tomorrow for another update on the mkLotus's installation.
Posted by: Lisa Brand on Sep 18, 07 at 11:48 AM PDT
