The Art Deco home situated on a Colonial Lane property in Palm Beach, and designed by architect Jacqueline Albarran recently received the LEED Platinum certification. The home was completed in November 2013, and took two years to build. This home is the first in the Palm Beach area to receive this, highest LEED certification. The building team consisted of architect Albarran, as well as the local contractor Tim Givens and Kyle Abney, a Palm City-based LEED consultant.
The home measures 3,000 square feet and is designed in the unique Art Deco style. The fact that such a large and modern home can still be energy efficient and sustainable is great news for the future of responsible, eco-friendly building around the country. The architect was careful to keep the indoor spaces as large and open as possible. The house features a roof mounted solar photovoltaic array, while there is also a 3,000-gallon cistern located beneath the house, which harvests and stores rainwater from 100% of the home’s roof. This water is then
used for irrigation of the garden that contains carefully selected native and drought-tolerant vegetation.
The home achieved a HERS Index of 50 achieved, which is 50% better than the national average and 41% better than Florida’s energy code. The home is fitted with ENERGY STAR rated appliances to further reduce energy demands. The home also features Royal Wall Construction, which is a prefabricated lightweight insulated concrete wall system. Local materials and managed forest products as well as recycled materials were used wherever possible.
The builders used low-e impact glass for the windows and doors, which has a high insulation value. To achieve LEED Platinum status they also had to make sure that the windows and doors were airtight, which also increased the efficiency of the air-conditioning system. During the building process, the team used locally and managed forest products available materials whenever possible. In this way they were able to reduce construction waste by more than 90 percent.
They also strove to use recycled materials, like for example the terrazzo for the floors and glass for kitchen countertops. Only low-VOC paint was used throughout the home. To further reduce the toxic elements, only formaldehyde-free cabinetry was installed. Among other environmentally friendly features of the home are pavers made of shell and recycled glass, and a pool deck made of Resysta, which is a product made from rice husks.
The home was commissioned by an American woman who has spent the last 25 years living in Switzerland. She bought the property in May 2010 for $799,500, but she did not wish to disclose how much the building of the LEED home cost. This is only the third home in the Palm Beach area to have applied for LEED Platinum status, and the first to have been awarded the certification.
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