KKC and Dean Nota: Creating Together

Olivares Project

KKC Fine Homes has teamed up with local Architect, Dean Nota, to design and build a single family residence for longtime residents of Manhattan Beach. The Olivares house has undergone an 8-9 month planning process, and it will entail a modern style construction, with a clean and an open living plan, level changes, and an abundance of light.

Dean Nota graduated from Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1973. Nota went on to design the much recognized Marsh Residence in 1988, in Hermosa Beach, CA. He has been featured in many forums, books, and periodicals. Nota is known for his sculptural building plans, which are gorgeous and light filled.

“Living in a modern house is a choice of lifestyle”, says Nota, and “the most important thing for a client to do is to take some time to figure out how they want to live and what they need, and then find someone who understands that”

With all the focus on “green living”, Nota says in his Beach magazine interview, “The ultimate green building is a modern building, with the idea of doing more with less”. In June 2007, Nota created the Harless residence, which was subsequently featured in the book, “Green is Beautiful: Building Sustainable Houses”, by Claudio Santini.

Our current collaboration with Mr. Nota is sure to be yet another work of art, and we are confident that Manhattan Beach will yet again appreciate the concept of Southern California modernism.

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Green Building Trends Are Taking Over

We have talked quite a bit about Green living and building in concurrence with this trend. Earth Advantage Institute has released “Top Green Building Trends” and we are very excited to bring these ideas to you.

Energy conservation has been a concern of homeowners for many reasons in the past, and now, more than ever, we are hearing how our clients are conscious of this. There are a lot of ways to save energy, but one of the more recent concepts is called a “smart grid”. This device uses custom and web-based display panels to show real-time home energy use, and even real-time energy use by individual appliances.

We will continue to discuss these exciting new trends in the coming months. Topics will include such things as reclaimed flooring, water conservation, and eco-district communities.

Our beach is precious to us, and everything that we can do to help conserve our beautiful community is a step towards preserving and honoring that. KKC Fine Homes uses only the best designers and architects in order to provide our clients with options which serve the community, as well as their individual needs.

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Could Your Home Be Making You Sick?

One of the great ironies of the twentieth century is that the very technologies intended to enhance our well-being have often undermined our health. Chemical additives, mass produced synthetics, and composite construction materials all have the potential to make us sick. Breathing in toxic fumes every day can have devastating health effects.

The healthy home nurtures those who dwell inside and also protects the world beyond its walls. Designed with sensitivity for the environment, it is energy-efficient, economical, sustainable, and non-polluting.

You don’t need to set up housekeeping in a monolithic dome or an earth-sheltered dwelling to live in harmony with nature. Even the most traditional home can be adapted to incorporate the key principles of healthy design.

Living at the beach, every day that we watch a sunset, or enjoy the ocean, we see the importance of preserving this wonder of nature. KKC Fine Homes would like to help you build the healthy home of your dreams.

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Feng Shui and the home design

Feng shui (pronounced fung shway) is an intuitive art. This ancient art prescribes lengthy and complex rules that may strike modern homeowners as quirky. For example, your home should not be built at the end of a dead-end road. Round pillars are better than square. Ceilings should be high and well-lit.

Yet even the most baffling practices have a basis in common sense. For example, feng shui principles warn that a kitchen door should not face the stove. The reason is that a person working at the stove may instinctively want to glance back at the door. This creates a feeling of unease, which can lead to accidents.

Despite the numerous complicated rules, feng shui adapts to many architectural styles. Indeed, the clean, uncluttered appearance may be your only clue that a home or office building was designed according to feng shui principles.

The beach life adapts well to the simplistic feng shui philosophy. KKC Fine Homes, and the architects we work with, are ready to help you implement this into your home and create the “ch’i” or “positive energy” which you desire.

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Sub-Zero Goes Green

KKC Fine Homes is aware that environmental awareness has become the way of the future, and we are committed to providing the latest and best that is available to our clients. Here is some exciting news about sub-zero appliances which are not only professional quality, but also environmentally sound.

Sub-Zero – Rated Top Green Brand

For Sub-Zero, green is more than just an Energy Star rating. Even the largest refrigeration product, the Sub-Zero PRO 48, uses less energy per month than a 100-watt light bulb. From being built in the USA, to supporting organic farmers and food artisans, to using renewable energy, to extensive recycling, to sourcing environmentally friendly materials and supplies, to providing living wages to the factory workers – Sub-Zero & Wolf have been ‘green’ long before the term even existed.

As a result of more than 60 years of being green, Sub-Zero was ranked on the Top 10 list of Green Brands in 2007 by the ImagePower Green Brands Survey. In this independent, 3rd party research, more than 3000 consumers in the United States and the United Kingdom were polled to rate the most ‘green’ brands. They were asked to rank only the brands they were familiar with. The survey also indicated that an increasing number of Americans are displaying positive green attitudes and behaviors, which illustrates that consumers are demanding that more companies implement sustainable business practices.

Top 10 Green Brands according to the ImagePower Green Brands Survey:
Whole Foods Market
Wild Oats Markets
Trader Joe’s
Toyota
Honda
Sub-Zero
Ikea
Body Shop
G.E.
Aveda

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KKC Fine Homes Joins Forces With Designer Jon Starr

One of the things we love about living and working in Manhattan Beach (and the surrounding beach communities) is that talented designers are drawn to this area. Many local designers have built national reputations for themselves here, in part because this area has a clientele that gives them the freedom to be truly innovative.

We're fortunate to be living in a place where many clients looking to buy or build a custom home are progressive in their thinking. They are successful at what they do, and that success is a result of their unique way of seeing things.  These customers look for homes that express this individuality – they are not people who will settle for cookie-cutter design; they require talented designers. In the coming months, we plan on featuring a number of these local talents on our blog.

One of them is John Starr. He is prolific in his work, and he designs homes that are truly one of a kind.

“Starr describes a design as a continuously evolving dream, a process rooted in creative problem solving.”¹

To build a home in a place with as much warmth and character as Hermosa Beach, a creative team must truly know the town – they must personally breathe in its fresh sea air, see the soft waves of hills and valleys that define the land, be acquainted with the locals – and understand how to achieve that perfect blend of efficiency (of space), sophistication of design, and casualness that defines beach living.

Like KKC Fine Homes, Starr Design Group lives that description.

We are  excited about our upcoming collaboration with Starr Design Group. We break ground on what will be a yearlong project at 112 Manhattan Avenue in March of this year. If you saw the pictures that accompanied the recent piece on Jon Starr in the Easy Reader, you would know why the already beautiful city of Hermosa Beach has something unique and elegant to look forward to in early 2011.

We’re excited to be a part of Mr Starr’s “evolving dream”.

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¹Kessler, Ashley, Concept and Collaboration, Luxury & Lifestyle, July/August, 2008.

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