A net zero energy house concept in San Francisco

Evan Williams (Twitter co-founder) has an ambitious plan. He wants to build a state-of-the-art net zero energy house in San Francisco. Even if the project itself is inspiring and admirable, some parts made the neighbors really angry. That’s because, in order to build the house, another building has to be torn down. It’s a $3 million residence built in 1911 and designed by architect Louis Christian Mullgart. It’s also a historically-significant building which makes the whole project even more difficult.

The decision of tearing down this beautiful building in order to fulfill Evan Williams’s green dream was not received well by the neighbors who wrote no less than 240 letters explaining their position. The existing residence is a landmark in the neighborhood. It’s a 5,000 square feet structure featuring details from the Arts and Crafts design movement. It also has a series of unique architectural details such as the angular windows.

The plan is to replace this building with a 7,700 square feet residence designed by architects Lundburg Design. The design is not yet finalized but it will be ‘zero net energy’ home with solar panels that will also have a green roof and a sun-friendly windows. Even though the pan is admirable, the fact that making it become reality involves destroying a historical building makes things difficult. The battle at this point is between nostalgia and substance, past and future.{found on dailymail}.