BobVila.com's newest project, the EnergyWise House, is a stunning 50s-style, multi-level home located in the tony community of Palm Springs, California, home to the stars, celebrities and key personalities of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Designed with a focus on energy savings and the environment, this home is a showcase for energy-efficient design ideas, high performance building materials, and environmentally sound products that outperform traditional building products in any building or remodeling project.
Exclusive EnergyWise House Video Report
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Product Previews - Steve Easley previews a few of the energy-efficient building materials planned for the EnergyWise House.  Watch Video!
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Model Home Tour - Energy expert Steve Easley tours a model home built by EnergyWise House builder Dennis Cunningham. The home, which has 50s-era flair, incorporates many of the design elements that will be featured in our Palm Springs, Calif., project house. Watch Video!
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This desert home is essentially a jumping-off point for discussions of energy-saving measures that could be used to achieve similar results in other homes and climates. "Homeowners want to save money. Using less energy to heat or cool a house is a good place to start. If you are building or remodeling, you can do a lot in the planning stage to reduce bills," says Bob Vila. Leading experts in homebuilding have been involved in the project from design to details. Their combined expertise covers products, practices, installation, design, and innovative energy programs offering rebates and incentives for energy-wise solutions.
The Site
All energy-efficient design begins with the site. For our EnergyWise House we chose the desert, not because it's hot, but because it's beautiful 9 months of the year. The house is built into the slope of a west-facing lot, surrounded by existing homes. The architecturally significant design of the multi-story glass, steel, and stucco home will refer back to the heyday of Palm Springs architecture while showing the way to energy-efficient design for today. The home will be sited to take full advantage of the lot, its views, and natural features, while downplaying the elements that typically challenge a warm-climate home.
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Reverse Engineering: This hillside home locates two bedrooms on the lower level, with kitchen and family spaces on the upper level.
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The House
This two-level home has an open floor plan, with ample space for outdoor living. It has two bedrooms in the main house, each with its own bath, and an adjacent one-room guest house. The sections of the home connect one to the other via railing, window, and stucco details. These details invite the eye to travel across the design and the site from roof lines to rails, rocks, stairways, decks, and the pool below. Heat-beating cool roof design, shade giving roof lines and decks, thermally responsive walls, exterior finishes, and concrete floors all play into the home to bring lasting energy savings.
The Goal
The EnergyWise House will demonstrate how site, design, and materials combine to bring maximum energy efficiency to any home. Efficiency expert Steve Easley, a recent guest on Bob Vila's Home Again and regular contributor to several magazines and television programs, is working with builder Dennis Cunningham of Palm Springs Modern Homes to outline the various stages of design, construction, and installation required for this 2,000-square-foot home.
All of the materials being used to construct the home are off-the-shelf products readily available today. Strategies for placing and selecting windows, detailing the roof, working with shade-giving rooflines, building with thermally responsive materials, and insulating for a tight, well-ventilated home will be explored and explained. "This house is built for efficiency," says Cunningham. "The floors are concrete and can store or emit warmth or cool temperatures, the windows are the highest efficiency models available. The exterior walls are SIPS [structured insulated panels] on top of an ICF [insulated concrete form] foundation. The appliances are the highest efficiency, California-mandated units available for sale in the U.S. These measures are easily affordable to anyone building or remodeling a house," says the builder.
"The emphasis here is on innovation, especially when it comes to energy savings and environmentally conscious building design," says Vila. "The goal is to bring site, climate, the environment, comfort, and design together in one affordable project."
The EnergyWise House in an ongoing project that examines energy efficient building techniques, materials, and methods. For more information on the materials and companies participating in the project, see the EnergyWise House Video Resource Library.
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