Project7ten

One of only a few LEED Platinum Certified homes in the country, project7ten was built as green as possible to serve as an educational model that creates a forum for smart discussion about environmental awareness.

"I just put solar panels on my house in London. You wouldn’t think there was enough sunshine would you? But there is enough sunshine to provide my house with electricity. I sell electricity back to the national grid that I get for free from my roof. Now shouldn’t everybody be doing that?"

- Ian McKellen
Real Time with Bill Maher

It was this acknowledgment by actor and activist Ian McKellen coupled with the viewing of the film An Inconvenient Truth that spearheaded Tom Schey into action. Schey quickly began conceiving different ways in which he could broadly educate society about reaching environmentally conscious choices in their everyday lives, while leaving an indelible mark and message on our planet. As a West Side Los Angeles participant in the real estate business, Schey decided that he would start there, and thus, project7ten was born.
project7ten with the majority of proceeds being donated to Healthy Child Healthy World (HCHW), an organization dedicated to educating the public about environmental toxins that affect children’s health—along with HCHW will lead the effort to making the insides of our homes healthier to all who live there.
According to Schey, "I realized long ago when architecturally significant homes are built they will most certainly outlast [our] time on earth. They become permanent structures attached to the piece of earth they sit on."
Therefore, opting out of creating a green footprint or using sustainable and recycled alternatives can no longer be a choice in the face of global warming. This realization planted the seeds for project7ten’s first venture, the building of a completely environmentally conscious home, designed to achieve a Platinum designation from The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, (LEED) Green Building Rating System, in Venice, California.
Along with Schey and his partner, environmentalist Kelly Meyer, the plans for project7ten have been put into place. project7ten (710 Milwood Avenue) will be the first conventional constructed platinum leed home in CA; designed to achieve a Platinum designation from LEED
The project is also a part of the Architecture and Design Museum’s Enlightened Development, which opened on March 29th, 2007 a show which aims to inform the public of important environmental ventures, and cutting edge efforts in this vain.
The completed home will emit no harmful gases into the atmosphere; solar panels incorporated in the cutting edge design of the house will produce its own energy, rarely—if ever—rely on the public utility system; will be built with numerous recycled materials, including insulation, concrete, counter tops, Forest Stewardship Council certified lumber, reuse rain water to irrigate landscaping, recycle grey water, etc.; will be surrounded by trees to provide shade in the summer and sunlight during the winter. The Ford Escape Hybrid, the official automobile of project7ten, will be sold with the house and the owners will get a free one year lease. As well as be outfitted with GE’s Energy Star qualified appliance and Kohler fixtures.
With the help of Melinda Gray —a highly credentialed and widely published architect in both design and environmental awareness in all of her projects— project7ten will be outfitted with cutting edge architectural design. The finished home will be an example of exquisite, modern design exemplifying that being green can also entail looking great, while not compromising the environment and/or atmosphere.
project7ten will be a great teaching tool to change the current mindset of home builders and home buyers alike. By building an earth friendly integrated sustainable structure, project7ten will provide a fun-friendly, easy to understand cutting edge message: A Home, its inhabitants, and its relationship to the piece of ground it sits on, are one entity, interrelated.
The home will be an example that engaging in environmentally conscious habits does not have to be expensive, difficult, or have a boring look and feel to it. project7ten will present an opportunity for the public to walk through, feel, touch and be educated on the possibilities that can be achieved today, not at some time in the future. Through project7ten, the public will be inspired to make changes in their own lives and communities. Come along for the ride (and innovative commitment) that is project7ten.
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The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.