On a cloudy day in April 2006, a crowd of curious onlookers gathered on a hillside street in Santa Monica, California, to watch the installation of the first LivingHomes prefabricated house. Over the course of eight hours, 11 modules were hoisted by crane onto a concrete slab in a dramatic departure from traditional residential construction. Published 2006.1206
In light of rising energy costs and potentially disastrous environmental policies, timing couldn't be better for the opening of Colorado Court, one of the first 100-percent energy-neutral housing developments in the United States. Located on a busy, urban street corner in Santa Monica, California, the award-winning five-story, "green" building is designed not only to reduce energy consumption but to return unused power back to the city's electrical grid. Published 2003.0212
In the mid-1940s, as the United States faced the postwar challenge of housing three million returning soldiers, a few architects in Southern California rejected the idea of identical houses in suburban developments. The "Case Study House Program" initiated in 1945 by Arts and Architecture magazine, enlisted the talents of eight architects including Richard Neutra and Eero Saarinen. Published 2002.0424
Architecture Design and Building in Santa Monica, California, USA