Sunset Idea House

Today I went with my Mom and Dad to the 2007 Sunset Idea House, which (conveniently for me) was located this year in the Mission District of San Francisco.

It was pretty interesting. It's the first one that I've been to, although my parents have been to many.

The theme of this particular house was "green" - it featured many eco-friendly features: Hot water is provided by rooftop tubes that collect solar energy, electricity will come from SunPower solar panels and a wind turbine installed in the backyard.

The design was too industrial-modern for my taste, but that's probably because I'm a little biased to Victorian and Edwardian architecture in San Francisco. The atmosphere of the interior was very cold to me, because all of the cement walls, floors, counters, etc., Although, I have to admit that I walked around with my shoes on (as all visitors did) so I wasn't able to enjoy the water-based radiant heated floors throughout.

I took a few photos. One is of the main level, as you walk through the front door. It shows the indoor lap pool, with a steam/sauna room adjacent to it. Another is the backyard, taken from the 3rd level of the house. I focused on the "rain chain" - an idea I had seen in a photo before, and really liked.



If you're interested in seeing the Sunset Idea House in San Francisco, better go soon! Tomorrow is the last day. Here's more info.

Oh, and if you're interested in buying the 1,200 sq ft apartment in the building (the actual house is not on the market) for just under $1 million, (price recently drastically reduced!) in San Francisco Mission District ($1,000,000 for a condo, without parking, in the Mission) here's more info: 1303alabama.com.