Aspiring to nothing
A COUPLE TRANSITIONS to an airy, modern confection in Santa Monica that is nearly ‘net zero’
Tina Beebe, an architectural colourist, painter and landscape designer, and Buzz Yudell, an award-winning architect, have a sneaky way of making everything they touch look easy and inviting. But transitions can be difficult even for those who are accomplished in the art of living well in homes of their own invention.
The couple, who have been together since their days at Yale and are now both 66, have been collaborating at work and play for most of their lives. Still, moving on from their most celebrated residence, a cascading oceanview villa on the outskirts of Malibu, to a more constrained lot in Santa Monica hasn’t been altogether smooth.
She misses her garden and the stars and seeing storms approaching on the horizon. He misses the rugged landscape and that sense of openness. And it goes without saying that Zephyr and Phoebe, their golden retrievers, miss their old leash-free life.
“Buzz has always been more urban than I am,” said Beebe, who grew up in Oregon. “I cry when I see my old garden; we could eat from it.”
What they don’t miss is all the upkeep, or the constant worry about fires. Or the crazy drivers and the erratic commute along Pacific Coast Highway 1 to the Moore Ruble Yudell offices in Santa Monica, where they work during the week.
As Yudell said, “We found that the distance to Malibu was a little too remote as we got older.”
There is nothing remote nor hidden about the airy modern confection he de- signed to maximize every bit of sunlight and space on the 60-by-150-foot lot they now occupy in a neighbourhood of multmillion-dollar homes here. They tore down the 1924 Tudor they bought for $2.75 million in 2007, which was in bad shape, replacing it with a 4,500-square-foot house that cost roughly $500 a square foot to build — a considerable sum, to be sure, but then again, it is nearly net zero, meaning it produces almost all the energy it consumes.
One solar-powered energy system heats the radiant floors, household water and the pool; another supplies all the energy for the home’s electrical needs, sending excess back into the communal grid. And there is no need for air conditioning because Yudell incorporated many of the features of a passive house, so the home stays a livable 26 to 27 C even when the temperature outside reaches the mid-90s.
The interior is spare and uncluttered, thanks in part to cabinetry from Henrybuilt in Seattle. Beebe likes to tease her husband about all the fossil fuel it took to get those cabinets to Southern California. “It’s a good thing that you saved all that CO2,” she said.
Out of view, there is a closet with the few mechanicals the house needs, as well as a two-storey cavity, in case they ever need an elevator, Yudell said. (For now, it’s being used as closet space.)
“These are things,” he added, that “as a young architect, you don’t think about.”
The aging dogs have been taken into consideration, too, with shallow steps into the pool, so they can continue to swim.
About the only contingency that hasn’t been provided for is overnight guests. Apart from a convert- ible couch tucked away in a library alcove, which Beebe calls the “we-hope-you-don’t-stay guest room,” there is a notable lack of bedrooms other than the master suite.
On a recent sparkling December day, as a visitor savoured the everchanging light, the food, the conversation, the art and design, it became obvious why guests may need to be discouraged from overstaying their welcome.
Of course, the neighbourhood is noisier than Malibu was, and that takes some getting used to. That particular day, there was construction going on in the house behind them and jackhammers on the street in front, where workers were upgrading the gas lines. Then, all of a sudden, a SWAT team descended on the vacant house next door.
Nothing to worry about, the ranking officer told the couple. It was just a city training exercise based on a hypothetical set of circumstances: An officer responding to a domesticviolence call was down, and a hostage had been taken.
“We never had this in Malibu,” Yudell said.
Beebe added, “Just forest fires.”