During the past year, a net-zero beachfront house in Southern California recently built for Emmy Award-winning actor Bryan Cranston has garnered much attention from green building and design professionals. Known as “3Palms,” the 2,450-square-foot, three-bedroom beach house provides an excellent model for cost-effective, high-performance green residential building.
From the beginning, the goal of the project was to build a home that epitomized the balance between form and functionality while meeting the highest standards available for green residential building. To achieve this goal, Cranston assembled a project team headed by three California green building and design thought leaders—the architect of record, Alliance Design Group; the project’s designer, Turturro Design Studio; and builder, Allen Associates Construction. Through the team’s resourceful work, 3Palms is on target to receive both LEED for Homes Platinum and Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) certifications—levels reached by only a handful of homes across the country.