By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-in-Chief LuxEcoLiving and co-founder Healthy Child Healthy World
“Architect James Chuda’s Green Home has been called the “Fabergé egg” of the green design world.” Barbara Lockhart International Designer of the Year 2006
The Los Angeles Magazine’s Design Green Home of the Year
When international interior designer Barbara Lockhart came on board she convinced publisher Alan Klein (Los Angeles Magazine) to motivate other designers to tap into what would soon become a burgeoning green marketplace.
Klein gave a green light to the project.
Lockhart became Honorary Chair of the Design Committee and summoned Suzanne Furst then president of ASID to assist with the translation of impeccable interiors utilizing green materials. Others followed suit. Troy Adams, Leslie Harris, Sari Ehrenreich, Greg Grande, Kristine Kamenstein, Meg Kalhammer, Carla Sofia, Paula Lechman-Testa and master wood craftsman, Cliff Spencer. Jim Hellinger, landscape architect created an organic vegetable garden with sustainable water conservation landscape features. Pond specialist Peter Logan bridges the connection to nature with a beautiful water garden entry.
Everyone in American got to see The Chuda’s Green Home on Oprah and there are over 32,000 views of the Muse Elementary School visit on YouTube.
Chuda wanted the public to experience a home that truly connects with nature
and nurtures a healthy creative lifestyle.
A virtual Healthe Home was created to educate parents about safer alternatives in their home environment
As co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World he wanted to show why we should eliminate toxic off-gasing materials from or home interiors. Indoor air pollution is the biggest cause of childhood illness such as asthma.
“We seal up our homes, which are filled with toxic materials that off-gas residues, many of which are hazardous to our health. Especially children who are more vulnerable”
Having lost a child to cancer at age 5, Chuda’s inspiration was to build a research laboratory to educate future home owners. “We need to limit the use of toxic materials and provide healthier home environments.”
“American children and adults spend 90% of their time indoors.”
The Environmental Protection Agency ranks poor indoor air quality among the top five environmental risks to public health.
Asthma rates have doubled over the last 20 years, according to the U.S.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Asthma attacks are triggered by indoor air pollutants.
Education is the key. Not only to potential new home buyers but to people like brokers and appraisers who set the bar for real estate.
Jay Tucker Elm from Sotheby’s International calls The Chuda’s Green Home, “glamorous and earthy.”
“This is something everyone in America has to see, the Chuda’s Green Home.” Oprah Winfrey
Buyers need to make appropriate decisions not just based on economics but the real value should be health.
In today’s competitive marketplace the MLS systems lack sufficient means of measuring benefits of environmentally friendly properties.
When it comes to energy efficiency and “green” features in homes, there’s a chasm-sized disconnect in the marketplace among consumers, real estate appraisers and the nation’s realty sales system. On the one hand, prospective buyers routinely tell researchers that they place a high priority on energy-saving and environmentally friendly components in houses. The presence of high-efficiency systems in a home makes shoppers more interested in buying because they’ll save money in the long run.
But the real value is not about saving money. Money can’t buy health.
Editor’s Notes:
A very special thanks to Barbara Lockhart whose lifetime achievements include; recipient of the S.M. Hexter Award for the Most Outstanding Interior Designer in America; the ASID Lifetime Achievement Award; the Beverly Hills Architectural Achievement Award. Voted one of Christie’s Twenty Innovators of Twentieth Century Style.
A Greenprint for Healthy Living is something the Chuda’s spent years developing.
The Green Home includes:
