LEED-Certified Platinum Homes—By The Box

The United States Green Building Council has awarded LEED Platinum to a three-unit multifamily project in Los Altos, according to its builder, LivingHomes.

The project is the first multifamily buildings ever to be certified LEED Platinum in Silicon Valley. The two, two-bedroom townhouses and one studio are rentals; one is deeded an affordable unit. The units feature decks, floor-to-ceiling glass and sliders that facilitate an outdoor/indoor lifestyle. One of the units includes an indoor garden.  

"We are extremely honored to have been certified LEED Platinum," said Steve Glenn, founder and CEO of LivingHomes. "More important is what the certification represents: LivingHomes that use far less energy, water and material resources than typical homes, and that have far better indoor air quality."

LivingHomes is a Santa Monica-based developer of modern, prefabricated homes that combine aclaimed architect-designed buildings with healthy and sustainable construction. 

The units on Lassen Street were designed by L. Ray Kappe, founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture and an internationally known architect. LivingHomes has three lines of single and multi-family homes by Kappe, founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture. Twelve projects by LivingHomes have now been certified LEED Platinum. 

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council is a widely adopted standard for green building. Platinum is the highest achievable level. The rating system takes into account building performance in five areas: Energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, materials selection, sustainable site development and water savings.

"We built the first LEED Platinum home in the nation and the first LEED Platinum multifamily project in San Francisco," Glenn said "So Los Altos is part of an expanding tradition which we're quite proud of."

The Los Altos units were designed to achieve the "Z6" environmental goals: Zero energy, zero water, zero indoor emissions, zero waste, zero carbon and zero ignorance. It features exposed structural steel frame and a FSC-certified wood (Forest Stewardship Council) exterior that make up the modules, photovoltaics (solar power panels) that provide 100% of the energy to the units, zero VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint, recycled content counters and super low flow water fixtures.

Patch covered the units in November 2010.