In drought-stricken Southern California, developer Steve Hoiles of Surfside Projects has made it an imperative to create water- and energy-efficient homes in his numerous rebuilds in the Encinitas area, between Los Angeles and San Diego. And he does it all in his imitable style, an approach he refers to as “pragmatic modernism.”
Take, for instance, the Mellow Yellow House, a two-story, 2,600-square-foot rebuild he developed along with Jamie Miller of UF Architecture and Jeff Adams of Wave Crest General Construction. Just one block away from Encinitas’ Moonlight Beach, the Mellow Yellow House features a highly functional open interior, a direct connection to the outdoors, and maximization of the size of the green spaces surrounding the home.
And, as he puts it, the home is 24 percent more energy efficient and uses 17 percent less water than a newly built conventional home in California.