In The City and Off the Grid

Edmonton architect Vivian Manasc’s 19th-story rooftop penthouse is sustainable and colorful, offering the perfect solution to downtown living. Photo by Garth Crump.

While the proportions of the old brownstone’s facade remain congruous with others on its street, the stone has been replaced with stucco over foam. When knocked, it sounds entirely hollow.

All of the Jenn-Air appliances, including the washer and dryer, are electric, as the owners asked the city to cut the gas line to the house. The kitchen cabinetry is from IKEA and features custom, matte-gray doors and Silestone countertops. The floorboards are reclaimed maple from an old tire factory, sanded and stained gray.

Auburn 7 developer and resident Michael Kyle hangs with his dog Moxy in the front yard of the unit owned by his codeveloper Todd Wexman; he is joined by residents Francisco, Camille, and young Sophia Apple Owens.

All but one homeowner at Auburn chose to install solar panels supplied by Buel Solar on the “solar-ready” roofs.

In Scarpa and Brook' own house, they’ve mounted luminous solar panels in a rusted-steel-beam grid to form a modernist canopy that frames the façade. This imaginative “solar umbrella” hides the household power plant in plain sight, part of an artful composition that includes a hanging screen tied with bristles of industrial brooms. Photo by Marvin Rand.

A steel-beam canopy with solar panels shades the house and provides electricity.