The Solar Umbrella House is a private residence in Venice, Los Angeles, California, remodeled using active and passive solar design strategies to enable the house to function independent of the electrical grid. The design was inspired by Paul Rudolph’s 1953 Umbrella House for Philip Hanson Hiss III's Lido Shores, Sarasota, development. Originally a small 650-square-foot (60 m2) bungalow, the owners added 1,150 sq ft (107 m2) in 2005, remodeling it in such a way that the house is almost 100% energy neutral.
Inspired by Paul Rudolph's Umbrella House of 1953, the Solar Umbrella House produces 95% of its electricity from solar energy. [1] [2] The American Institute of Architects listed it as a top-ten green project for 2006. [2] Designed by award-winning architects Lawrence Scarpa and Angela Brooks of the architecture firm Brooks + Scarpa., [3] The Solar Umbrella House establishes a precedent for the next generation of California modernist architecture. Passive and active solar design strategies render the residence nearly 100% energy neutral. [4]
Richard Koshalek, former President of Art Center College in Pasadena and current Director of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, considers Solar Umbrella an important house at a critical time. “A new generation of architects is intent on environmentally sustainable designs,” he said, “and Mr. Scarpa and Ms. Brooks-along with Thom Mayne and others-are at the forefront of this optimistic trend.” [5]
The Solar Umbrella House is an extension of an initial remodel of a 1920s bungalow. Conserving the original form of the bungalow, Scarpa and Brooks took advantage of the "through lot" condition of the site, reversing the front and back of the house. This strategy allows the house to gain its needed southern exposure for the solar array while also connecting the living area with the back garden space. The result is a contrasting expression with the entry facade of the solar array facing one street, and the more quiet and modest original structure facing the other street.
The organizing principles of the house hinge on the blurring and extension of inside to outside, such strategies create dynamic ways to experience and incorporate the entire environment. A simple but elegant concrete swimming pool cascades along the garden's western edge, linking the outdoor garden to the house. The living room has large sliding glass doors that open out onto the garden, literally erasing the boundary of inside and out. The canopy of solar panels provides a covered space from which the garden below can be viewed from the second floor. [6]
Passively adapted to the temperate-arid climate of southern California, the major design feature of the Solar Umbrella is a shading solar canopy. Rather than deflecting sunlight, this contemporary solar canopy uses 89 amorphous photovoltaic panels to transform the sunlight into usable energy, providing 95% of the residence's electricity. At the same time, it screens large portions of the structure from direct exposure to the intense southern California sun, protecting the body of the building from thermal heat gain. A net meter provided by the City of Los Angeles connects the photovoltaic array to the grid, eliminating both the need for a storage system and the time-of-use charges associated with traditional electricity use. [7]
An integrated solar heating system supplies heat through the concrete floors of the new addition. Three solar hot-water panels preheat the domestic hot water, and a fourth heats the swimming pool. The home's daylit interior requires no electric lighting on sunny days. The house is outfitted with energy-efficient appliances and both interior and exterior lighting-control systems. Materials were selected based on their effects on the environment and indoor air quality. [8]
Steve Baer was an American inventor and pioneer of passive solar technology. Baer pioneered and helped popularize the use of zomes. He took a number of solar power patents, wrote a number of books and publicized his work. Baer served on the board of directors of the U.S. Section of the International Solar Energy Society, and on the board of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association. He was the founder, chairman of the board, president, and director of research at Zomeworks Corporation. He was the creator of Zome Architecture as well as one of creators of Zometool, a construction set educational toy or device that had evolved from playground climbers and other structures that had been created by Zomeworks.
Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment.
A Zero-Energy Building (ZEB), also known as a Net Zero-Energy (NZE) building, is a building with net zero energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site or in other definitions by renewable energy sources offsite, using technology such as heat pumps, high efficiency windows and insulation, and solar panels.
Solar air conditioning, or "solar-powered air conditioning", refers to any air conditioning (cooling) system that uses solar power.
Edward Mazria is an American architect, author and educator. He is a graduate of Lafayette High School, played basketball in high school and in college at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and was drafted by the New York Knickerbockers in 1962. After receiving his Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the Pratt Institute in 1963 he spent two years as an architect in the Peace Corps in Arequipa, Peru. He later worked with the firm of Edward Larrabee Barnes in New York before completing his master's degree and beginning a teaching and research career at the University of New Mexico in 1973.
Solar energy is clean and renewable.
Lawrence Scarpa is an American architect and artist based in Los Angeles, California. He used conventional materials in unexpected ways and is considered a pioneer and leader in the field of sustainable design.
Colorado Court Housing is a 44-unit housing project designed by the architectural firm Pugh + Scarpa. Colorado Court is the first United States Green Building Council (USGBC) "LEED" certified multi-family housing project, achieving "Gold" certification. Located at the corner of a main offramp of the Santa Monica freeway, Colorado Court's highly visible position makes it gateway to the city of Santa Monica, California. The 44-unit, five-story building is the first affordable-housing project the United States to be LEED certified and is nearly 100% energy neutral (Colorado Court Movie Clip). This project is an excellent model of sustainable development in an urban environment, provides a model for private/public partnerships benefit the community, and promotes diversity in an urban environment through strategically placed affordable housing.
Richard Steven "Dick" Levine is an American environmental architect, solar energy and sustainability pioneer, and professor at the University of Kentucky. He is one of the early solar energy innovators in the U.S., a holder of U.S. patents on structural systems and solar energy applications, and the architect of a number of award winning solar buildings including his widely published Raven Run Solar House (1974). Levine is co-director of the Center for Sustainable Cities at the University of Kentucky. His contributions to sustainable urban planning are in both the theory and practice of the sustainable city-region. He has over 150 publications on solar energy and sustainability research, conducted in Italy, Austria, China and the Middle East.
Brooks + Scarpa is an American architectural firm based in Los Angeles, California, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa are the recipients of the 2022 American Institute of Architect Gold Medal, the institute's highest honor. The firm was also chosen as the 2014 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Award Winner in Architecture. In 2010 they were the recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Firm Award. Los Angeles projects completed by the firm include the Solar Umbrella home in Venice, California, the Orange Grove lofts in West Hollywood and the Colorado housing project in Santa Monica.
Koning Eizenberg Architecture (KEA) is an architecture firm located in Santa Monica, California established in 1981. The firm is recognized for a range of project types including: adaptive reuse of historic buildings, educational facilities, community places, and housing. Principals Hank Koning, Julie Eizenberg, Brian Lane, and Nathan Bishop work collaboratively with developers, cities and not-for-profit clients. Their work has been published extensively both in the US and abroad, and has earned over 200 awards for design, sustainability and historic preservation.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to solar energy:
David Randall Hertz is an American architect, inventor and educator. He is known for his work in sustainable architecture and as an early innovator in the development of recycled building materials.
Kenneth L. Haggard is an American architect, educator, and solar pioneer who has designed more than 300 buildings and seen more than 200 of his designs built. He is a licensed architect in California and Florida. He and his partner Polly Cooper were awarded the American Solar Energy Society Passive Solar Pioneer Award in 1996. They have been leaders in both passive solar architecture and the rediscovery of straw bale building.
Gwynne Pugh is an American architect, born in Wales, who until 2010 was a partner of Pugh + Scarpa. He is known for his use of environmentally sound architecture and alternative energy in his designs. In 2010, he was inducted into the AIA College of Fellows. Currently, he is principal of Gwynne Pugh Urban Studio, a firm he founded in 2010.
Kevin Daly Architects (KDA) is Kevin Daly's architecture firm in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1990 as Daly Genik. Daly has taught architecture and is a fellow at the American Institute of Architects (FAIA).
The INTEGER Millennium House is a demonstration house in Watford, England that opened to the public in 1998. It was renamed The Smart Home after being refurbished in 2013. The house was originally intended to showcase innovations in design and construction, building intelligence, and environmental performance. The INTEGER design included many innovative features, including environmental technology such as a green roof and a grey water recycling system, home automation that included a building management system and an intelligent security system, and innovative technical systems such as under-floor trench heating. In 2013, the house was refurbished and retrofitted with a variety of new and upgraded features, including a building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) array, which altogether halved its carbon emissions and increased its energy efficiency by 50%. Since its creation, the house has garnered numerous awards, appeared on Tomorrow's World on BBC Television, hosted thousands of visitors, and influenced mainstream construction.
Morphosis Architects is an interdisciplinary architectural and design practice based in Los Angeles and New York City.
Angela Brooks FAIA is an American architect based in Los Angeles, California. She is the Co-Principal of the Los Angeles–based architecture firm, Brooks + Scarpa. She co-founded and served as President of Livable Places, a nonprofit development company created to stimulate neighborhood revitalization in Los Angeles.
The Hiss Residence is a mid-century modern home designed by architect, Paul Rudolph. Built as the show home for Sarasota's Lido Shores neighborhood in 1953, the structure blends international style modernism with indigenous tropical design. It is among the preeminent works of the Sarasota School of Architecture and considered “one of the most remarkable homes of the twentieth century.”