Case History: Pushing Boundaries, Advancing a Market

Solar Today- Jul/Aug 2007

How one building team’s mission made San Francisco’s Clipper House a showcase for innovative sustainable design.
High above the San Francisco skyline overlooking spectacular views of the city and Bay, the Clipper House, as it is known, stuns observers with cutting-edge sustainable building techniques. But this house also represents great strides toward the fulfillment of a vision. Six years ago, Mike Kerwin, Joel Micucci and Pat Loughran formed San Francisco-based LORAX Development, named for the Dr. Seuss character who avowed, “I speak for the trees.” Their mission: “To build environmentally responsible homes with renewable materials, energy-efficient systems and smart technologies.”

Spurred by this mission, construction of the Clipper House drew on the talents of three groups. In addition to the sustainable building team at LORAX Development, architect John Maniscalco designed the home; and Jake Tornatzky, of California solar system- installation company SolarCity, led integration of the solar energy systems.

The result is a home that has garnered ink in local and national media not only for its array of green building materials and renewable energy systems, but also for integrating them into an attractive, well-conceived design. Perched at 520 Clipper Street, the 2,600-square-foot (242-square-meter) Clipper House incorporates a laundry list of sustainable elements, including a solar thermal system that heats water for household use and radiant floor heating and San Francisco’s first-ever rainwater-catchment system — which had to undergo special permitting before being constructed. The building materials are green, too: siding, foundation, countertops and decking made from recycled materials; hemp carpets dyed with vegetable pigments; and insulation made from recycled blue jeans.

Despite all the styling and sustainable techniques and materials exhibited at the Clipper House, much of the excitement surrounding the house focuses on its renewable energy and water-catchment systems.