Grass Is Greener, So Is New Venice Home Addition

Because Venice is one of the few remaining “walkable” neighborhoods in Los Angeles, the owners of the Brooks Avenue House were hesitant to leave their 2,000 square-foot home to accommodate a growing family. Instead, the owners tapped a team at Vancouver’s Bricault Design, which came up with a remodel and 1,700 square-foot addition that created a courtyard space, a new master bedroom and a covered carport. Green tech means the new addition is heated and cooled without the need for air-conditioning. A central staircase links the bottom and second story, providing an open chimney space for an air exchange fed by ground floor breezes that ass through an array of  pivoting doors installed on the ground floor. A new living roof was also installed, split between a vegetable garden and low-maintenance herbs and grasses, which along with all the home’s landscaping are now irrigated with captured rainwater and recycled greywater. [via archdaily]