Eco-mansion: Enviro-paradox

When you talk about "green" buildings, you usually aren't talking about a gigantic mansion built out in the middle of nowhere.

One such mansion got featured in a documentary, shown at the Elevate Festival of Film and Music last Saturday. I'd never heard of the festival until my friend Elizabeth organized a group to go. I'm glad I did as the carnival-esque atmosphere was a lot of fun. Plus, the festival was free to the public -- though we paid, because we wanted reserved seats.

Anyway -- The Elevate Festival challenged filmmakers to make short films of social and global importance within 48 hours. In the end, 15 films-- 4 short narratives, 6 documentaries, 6 music videos, and 6 commercials -- were screened at the Kodak Theater. And the one eco-specific documentary was about Worldsnest, an eco-mansion.

According to its website, Worldsnest's a "sustainable energy demonstration showcase in Taos, New Mexico, built by Robert Plarr and Victoria Peters." Yes, there're many many eco-elements, from greenhouses to off-the-grid energy and water systems that make the mansion greener than -- most mansions.

These types of mansions are both confusing and ironic in the way they represent the excesses of consumer culture. These isolated mansions affordable only by the very rich are part of what got us into this environmental mess to begin with. But now they are combined with the  hippie-ish green initiatives environmentalists preach -- recycled water, renewable energy, self-sufficiency, and the like.

Compare Worldsnest to the mansion in Manalapan, Florida for which real estate developer Frank McKinney's seeking LEED certification. Yes, the mansion has reclaimed hardwood floors, a massive solar panel system, and a gray water system. It also costs  $29 million and sits 15,000 sq. ft. large -- and has environmentalists totally conflicted.

As a diehard urbanite and happy apartment dweller, my opinion's of coursed biased. I mean, Worldsnest looks pretty damn lonely to me, sitting all by its lonesome sans neighbors. And the thought of having to take care of that much space -- even just keeping surfaces dusted and relatively clean -- seems a daunting chore I'd be loathe to take on, even if the place was bequeathed to me for free.

Yet I also wonder if the creators aren't already aware of these irony. Perhaps they chose to build a mansion simply for media attention, as an effort to introduce would-be mansion owning capitalists to green building ideas. After all, none of the apartment-sized eco-projects popping up around Santa Monica got a documentary into the festival --

Top image from the Worldsnest website; right photo by Siel at the Elevate Festival

Comments

[Julie D]

Architecturally speaking, it looks more like WorldsMess to me. It's just a more expensive, "eco" version of those junker places out in the dez (which in my view have more genuine charm, such as it is.)

Look! Look! We're greeeeeeeeeen!

Feh.

[esa ruoho]

hi! do you have a name for the worldsnest/angelsnest community documentary? ive tried to look through the elevatedfilms website and have yet to find any information. do let me know,please?