21259 ENTRADA ROAD
BUILDING DESCRIPTION
The house began as a remodel of an existing house and ended up being a ground-up rebuild. The only items that remain from the original house are the fireplace and the east wall, both remaining in good condition. Anything salvageable from the original house (such as the interior redwood siding) was carefully removed and reused as outdoor fences, screen walls and even decking around the cabins. The house can be thought of as a direct extension of the famed Case Study House program that was sponsored by Arts and Architecture magazine in Southern California and was active from the 1940’s through to the 1960’s.The house takes the implicit inside/ outside living qualities to a new level. The huge glass wall on the north side of the kitchen opens completely to the patio. The kitchen counters are then revealed to go from inside to outside to create a perfect connection to the outdoor seating/ gas firepit/ dining area. The house also faces almost due south (an unusual situation in Topanga Canyon) which along with the deep eave overhangs and extensive southern glazing allows for beautiful passive solar heating of the concrete floors in winter while remaining shaded in the summer. Low windows on the south side of the house also allow the prevailing cooler breezes that are pulled up the canyon from the ocean during the summer to enter the house. Higher windows and an operable skylight on the north side of the house then allows for warmer air in the house to be driven out by the cooler air moving in low from the south side. Sustainability: Sustainable practices were an important consideration in the design and construction of the house.
©2021 Engel & Völkers. All rights reserved. Each brokerage independently owned and operated. Engel & Völkers and its independent License Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers and fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act.
21259 ENTRADA ROAD
BUILDING DESCRIPTION 1. The wood used in the ceilings (mentioned above), lining the clothing closets and in the fabrication of all the kitchen cabinet fronts is locally sourced western incense cedar. This highly aromatic wood is naturally rot, insect and moisture resistant. The wood was sourced from downed/dead trees in the Idyllwild area of Southern California. These trees are flagged for removal as fire hazards in National Forest locations. They are mostly cut up into firewood even though some of the trees are hundreds of years old. The wood was milled using a portable mill by a friend in Idyllwild who has devoted his life to sustainable practices around forest health. 2. The hot water for domestic use is augmented by two solar thermal panels on the roof that supply heat to a large hot water storage tank. On cloudy days and in the colder winter months the water is heated using a traditional electrical coil. 3. The insulation used is Ultra Touch brand that utilizes waste material from the denim industry to create a sustainable and long-lasting insulating material. 4. Passive heat gain through the extensive south facing windows heats the concrete floors in winter only as described above. 5. Electrical coils embedded in the flooring throughout the house (and in a wall of the guest bathroom) provide floor heat for the winter months. Floor heating is known to provide the most comfortable form of heat during the winter months, (it does not dry out the air and provides heat at the lowest part of the house) warming inhabitants as it moves up from the floor without having to heat the volume of air in the whole house. 6. Mini split air conditioning and heat pump wall units allow the house to be supplementally heated and cooled in areas that it is needed only. By simply closing doors to rooms that are not actively being used the air conditioning/ heating can be targeted to areas where it is needed. 7. Conduits lead into the top of the main panel/ meter of the house allowing for easy photovoltaic panel installation to offset the electricity use for air conditioning, heating and hot water supply. A covered area next to the main panel provides the perfect space for future solar battery storage installation in the event of power outages. 8. The roof was structured to take the additional load of a live roof system (planted roof) that could be added in more shaded areas of the roof not suitable for photovoltaic installation. The planted roof was not installed due to cost considerations. 9. Two 1,600 gallon water tanks were installed at the main house and one 1,600 gallon water tank was installed at the carport. All the roof water from both roofs drains via gravity into these tanks, a combined storage capacity of 4,800 gallons. These tanks fill entirely with a rainfall of approximately 2 inches. The stored water can be used to supplement irrigation or can be stored as backup water in case of fire. Regular hookups for a garden hose as well as a regulation fire hose hookups are provided from the tank locations.
©2021 Engel & Völkers. All rights reserved. Each brokerage independently owned and operated. Engel & Völkers and its independent License Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers and fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act.
21259 ENTRADA ROAD
BUILDING DESCRIPTION The following principles guided the plant selections: 1. Fire safety: we live in a fire prone ecosystem. The selections discourage fuel build-up especially if maintained with some summer water and the pruning of dead wood. Gravel surrounding the buildings acts as a defensive firebreak. 2. Culitvars: I decided to use cultivars to increase my ability to obtain plants. Some cultivars are known as better performers in areas such as heavy soil than their parent plant(s) and I made selections based on these characteristics. 3. Irrigation: I have chosen to use MP rotator stream nozzles to water the garden based on research done by Las Pilitas nursery on drip irrigation and native plants. In some areas Netafim drip tubing supplies water to the plants. There is an automatic controller for efficiency that you can manage on your phone.
4. Habitat creation: I am interested in providing shade, shelter and food for the animals and birds on our proprty. The lists below are broken down into habitat areas. 5. Non-native plants: After purchasing the property we removed a number of non-native trees such as Liquidamber and California Pepper to give the Coast Live Oaks more room and priority. We left a good deal of established non-native plants in situ to hold slopes and prevent erosion. We added some non-native plants such as lemons, figs, rosemary and Aloe arborescens (Krantz Aloe) to create a drought-tolerant, winter blooming “hedge” at the top of our slope to block the view of the road from our house. 6. Aesthetics: The same guiding principles of any design was applied to the plant selections such as color, texture, form and blooming time. The plants were used to create both formal and “wild” areas – their qualities being exploited to create a postive effect on the “human condition”. Many personal preferences come into play from my whole family in this section and may be hard to explain. It is a family garden afterall.
©2021 Engel & Völkers. All rights reserved. Each brokerage independently owned and operated. Engel & Völkers and its independent License Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers and fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act.