Chris Paine Will Eco-House You

In Los Angeles nightlife, house parties are big. And I'm not just talking about your friend's cute house party with BBQ and beer; I'm talking like house house parties. Like, multimillion dollar you-will-never-live-like-this-for-real house parties. We went to one such house party on Saturday night, but what made this special was the fact that the house was built by Chris Paine (director and writer of Who Killed the Electric Car?, a movie about how the auto industry and politics combined forces to undermine the electric car movement). And his snazzy house is very, very eco-friendly.

Tucked onto a giant hill in Culver City, Paine had arranged for his gas-guzzling guests be driven up the hill via an all-electric shuttle. As we silently went up the hill, it was clear that this house party at the Marrakesh House would be different in every way.

There seemed to be a garden on the left of the house, and on the back deck, which offered spectacular west side-hanging-off-a-cliff views, we spotted a vertical garden (what looked like a shoe-hanging rack that held various succulent plants). Outside by the pool (of course, there’s a pool), a lemon tree hung over the entrance of a glittery, golden shrine made by an artist named Shrine of 95% recycled materials such as trash, aluminum cans, and glass. If you walked around the front of the house, you could see live animals—an iguana and a small marsupial.

Inside, my friend heard a voice singing over the sound system and realized she knew the voice—it was Aussie singer-songwriter Ben Lee, and he was performing in the courtyard (yes, the house has a courtyard) to an audience that included his pregnant wife Ione Skye.

The house was built using as much as 75% recycled material, including lumber and dirt. Paine pruned the trees used the branches for the fences around the property. The house uses solar energy and supplies about 60 percent of the energy for the space; the paint on the walls is all organic, and the cabinets in the slick, modern kitchen are made of bamboo (formaldehyde-free, of course). It’s the sort of modernist structure that makes you feel like you’re in the great outdoors without actually being outside. You wouldn’t expect anything less from the director of Who Killed the Electric Car?, would you?

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