Not to sound like sour grapes, but usually when I see photos of homes that have been given the total green wall treatment (aka living walls or vertical gardens), I tend to think they look a bit gimmicky. One or two small walls, fine, but blanketing nearly an entire home with lush vegetation seems a bit much. I guess maybe I’m still getting used to the idea of non-horizontal gardens.

 

The Brooks Ave. House in Venice, California, however, has won me over. I think it’s a stunner. The 2,000 square foot home has been given a beautiful green addition, a 1,700 square-foot structure clad on four sides — three walls plus the solar-paneled roof — with native shrubs and grasses and a thriving veggie garden. There’s also a knockout, grassy courtyard. That’s a lot of vegetation to feed, I know, but the plants are low-maintenance and the water used is a combo of recycled household grey water and harvested rainwater. 

 

Vancouver-based architect Marc Bricault and his team carried the green theme into the home’s interior, too, a space that’s seamlessly connected to the exterior space with oversized glass doors. It boasts LED lighting, low-flush toilets, low-VOC paints, radiant infloor heating, cork-rubber flooring, and a spiral staircase that links the ground floor to the roof and doubles as a cooling chimney. Check it out.