A Malibu Mansion- Online Sustainable Home

As many homes are turning sustainable to help the climate and environment, people are wondering, "how can I help and make my home sustainable, while keeping the large size?" This sustainable mansion in Malibu, California is perfect for any celebrity or wealthy person who is looking to help the environment without sacrificing any square footage. With this house being located right next to the beautiful Malibu Ocean, it has an amazing view and is overall an unbeatable living area. Using an online house designer program, creativity, and looking at lots of inspiration, I have created a sustainable mansion that shows that you can still be sustainable and eco friendly, even with a big house. This house was specifically created to be in the ocean biome. There are many parts of the house that go hand in hand to work with the environment and climate in Malibu. This home is amazing for anyone who is looking on how to create a sustainable mansion by the ocean

When using an online home design website, very few materials are needed

- an easy to use home design online platform ( I used Planner 5D)

- inspiration videos (heres one of mine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjhibJ-OqxE&t=406s )

A biome is a community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat. There are many different biomes all around with world each with different characteristics and climates. The main types of biomes are marine, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra. The biome that my sustainable home was designed to be in was the marine biome specifically near the ocean. My home is located in Malibu California, USA ( 34.0259° N, 118.7798° W ) right by Malibu Beach. In Malibu is it almost always warm and sunny, the average temperature is 60-80 degrees Fahrenheit. The average precipitation levels in this area are 19.8 inches of rainfall each year. Malibu's warm climate influenced the sustainable aspects in my house because I had to find ways to sustainably cool off the home. The sunshine in Malibu made it possible to have solar panels on the roof to provide energy to the home in an environmentally friendly way. I believe that it is important to make homes sustainable because the effects of a normal house could leave long lasting effects on the environment. It is essential that we try to preserve the beautiful climate and animals that live there before it is too late.

The inspiration of my Malibu beach house mostly came from Kendall Jenner's beachy home in LA. I got ideas from the architectural aspects in her home. Although her house isn't necessarily sustainable, I added in sustainable features to mine. Here is the link to Kendall's house tour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjhibJ-OqxE )

I started by looking at pictures of homes in Malibu to get an idea of what my house could look like. I noticed that many of the houses were bigger because Malibu is home to many celebrities. That is what gave my the idea to make my house be a sustainable mansion to match the other houses in the area. Although having a house with a lot of square footage does make it a little less sustainable, there are many other features of my house that help the environment. A lot of the houses by the ocean had a very modern look and didn't look lived in but I wanted my home to still have that homey feeling.

I never felt the need to sketch out my house before starting to create it because I decided that It would be easier to just start making my house and then applying changes as I went. The advantage to creating your house online is that you always can go back and change things.

The first step in building your home online is to plan out the rooms and layout of your home. On planner 5d all that you need to do is add a room and adjust the size until you like how the rooms fit together. Have an idea in your head about what shape you want your house to be and fit the rooms together in a logical way that makes the house look put together. I found it easiest to start with one room and then add rooms around it. I started with the living room in the center of my house and then started to add other rooms around it. Once all of the rooms were put together, I added in the doors, arches and windows to connect the house. Don't forget to add stairs in a logical space if you are adding on a second floor. On the first floor of my house there is, the living room, kitchen, dining room, two bathrooms, laundry room, office, home gym, an entry way, an entry closet, and a sink and mirror room. My favorite room on the first floor is definitely the kitchen because I feel that is it really unique with the dark green color and I would love to cook in that kitchen. I worked hard on the kitchen and I am very pleased with how it turned out All of my rooms put together come into what is almost a U shape with an outdoor courtyard in the middle of it all. Once I was satisfied with how the first floor of my house look I started adding furniture to make the house come together. Something that I found helpful in making sure that the room looked finished was starting in one room and not moving on to another until you really liked the way that the room looked and that the room looked done and put together. Looking at pictures of rooms I liked in my inspiration, and then trying to replicate them made it easy to add furniture, decor, and other aspects to the room.

The next step of creating your home is to add the second floor. In planner 5d, it looks best if you make the second floor rooms in the same shape as the first floor. You will want to start by adding rooms in the same U shape and taking up the same shape as the first floor. The rooms that I included on my second floor is a tv room/ second living room, glam room, two guest bedrooms, two bathrooms, master bedroom, master bathroom, closet/ storage space. Following the same tips and steps from the first floor, I went room to room adding furniture and details. One of my favorite rooms in this house is the glam room for the possible celebrity living in this mansion. I like how it is cute and the vibes from it. I also really like the design of the master bedroom.

The final step in building the main parts of your house are adding on the roof and making the outside look nice. The first thing that I did was add on the roof. Because of the unusual U shape of my home, I had to add many roofs onto my house. I fitted each roof part to size and put the pieces together like a puzzle on top of the house until they all fit.

Next, I worked on the backyard courtyard area. I added grass everywhere around the house and then in the courtyard area, I added stone. I included an outdoor eating area which connected to the dining room for outdoor seating options, since the weather is so nice in Malibu. I also put some lounge chairs to soak up the Malibu sun. I included a fountain to allow for animals and insects to drink from. Lastly in this backyard area a flower and tree garden was added to provide a habitat and food for some animals and insects.

In the front of the house is a driveway and a place to park cars and other vehicles. There is also a walkway up to the front door of the house. Landscaping lines the front of the house and walkway to complete the front yard.

FSC makes the house more sustainable because it will be made out of wood from a responsibly managed forest. It is socially beneficial and environmentally conscious. Using this kind of wood makes the size of the house be much more flexible meaning that the house can be bigger and a more comfortable living space. This house was built on a very large and clear piece of land near the ocean. This means that no trees had to be cut down to make space for the house. The floors and walls are made out of the FSC certified wood, as well as any furniture made out of wood.

The windows in my house are double paned windows. In Malibu, it is pretty hot so the double paned windows will keep the house cooler in the summer. This is beneficial because it will allow for less air conditioning to be used, therefore less energy being used. There are curtains on all of the windows to help control the temperature. There are many floor to ceiling windows in my house to let in lots of natural light. This is sustainable because then you won’t be using electricity to light up the house during the day.

The arches will make this house more sustainable because they will be used in place of some doors. They are a common design in houses in Malibu. This will use less wood and also allow better air circulation/ airflow throughout the house to regulate the temperature. The arches also give the house a more open feel which makes the house more comfortable.

Solar panels will make my house more sustainable because instead of using electricity to power the energy in the house, it is using power from the sun. This will work very well in Malibu because there is a lot of sun here.

In Malibu, it is hot for most of the year which makes air conditioning essential. Geothermal cooling is a more sustainable way to cool the house in the hot climate of Malibu. Geothermal cooling works by moving temperature-conducting fluid through an underground loop of pipes beneath or near your home. The air conditioning is circulated back into the pump and then distributed evenly throughout your home using your duct work. It is basically using recycled energy and cold air. Geothermal cooling panels to control the temperature are located around the house.

A water desalination system makes the house more sustainable because instead of wasting water in the house, water from empty parts of the ocean will be desalinated and used. A water desalination system uses kinds of osmosis to take the salt out of ocean water to be drinkable and usable by humans. Taking water from empty parts of the ocean will not harm ocean life in any way. A very large amount of water will need to be used though. Since the Malibu house is right next to the ocean, getting water will not be a problem. The water desalination box is connected to the ocean and pumps water into the house using underground tubes.

The lighting of my house will be very energy saving and sustainable. Natural lighting will be used as much as possible but when light bulbs are needed, LED light bulbs will be used. The lights will have a sensor on them and will only turn on when movement is sensed in the room. This will save energy and cause the bulbs to last for a much longer time meaning less replacements.

All of the furniture in my house is made out of sustainably made fabric and materials. All of the items are made in a way that wouldn’t harm the environment.

The at home gym is sustainable because it will reduce pollution by not having to drive to the gym everyday. All of the equipment is powered by the solar panels, which means less energy is used to power the equipment.

Using sustainable and reusable materials in everyday life will help make your home more sustainable. Use metal straws instead of plastic straws, reusable bags instead of plastic ones, metal water bottles that can be reused instead of plastic ones. Basically anything that can be used to replace plastic waste. In Malibu, by the ocean, there are lots of local businesses that make products with less packaging and use sustainable materials so consider buying from and supporting those instead of larger brands where shipping is required. ( I wasn't able to add pictures of these items from my home but I got some from online instead.)

The trees provide a nice shady place to rest and also help to purify the air by adding oxygen. The world can never have enough trees because they are so helpful to the environment. The flowers can provide a habitat for some animals and insects. Flowers can help insects with pollination. Flowers also can be food to certain creatures.

In conclusion my biggest take away from building this home and learning all about my biome is that it is much easier to be sustainable and help the environment than you think. Making simple changes to your home and everyday lives can make such a big impact on the environment in a positive way. Remember that research and creativity are key when creating a project like this! I hope you had fun creating and remember to stay sustainable!