A newly constructed contemporary-style “healthy” home in Los Angeles, the first in the city to meet the stringent sustainable building standards of the Passive House Institute US, is being listed Friday for $3.895 million.
“Buyers here haven’t seen passive houses before,” said Dayna Campbell of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties Encino Office, who is co-listing it Friday with colleague Marlene Geibelson. “It’s modern and passive, but it’s not stark, empty and cold—it’s the polar opposite. And it’s luxurious.”
She noted that while its price is competitive with that of new-construction homes in Studio City, the buyer will get extras at no cost: health benefits from purified air and enormous savings on electrical bills as passive houses are designed to be energy efficient and to reduce ecological impact.
The net-zero house, near the Beeman Park neighborhood, was built by Kyle and Mary Aramyan Kovacs, the husband-and-wife owners of Los Angeles-based Aramyan Kovacs Design.
The 3,940-square-foot house is luxurious – and sustainable.
Adam Campbell Photography
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Kyle, an engineer, and Mary, an architect, bought the property in 2021 for $960,000, according to sales records.
They tore down the 1948 California bungalow that had been in the same family for four decades and built a passive house, a first for their boutique firm.
“There are net-zero houses in California that are $20 million to $30 million,” Mary Kovacs said, adding that meeting the passive standards added only 6% to 7% of the cost of the project. “We wanted to bring the concept to a larger audience at a lower price point.”
The U-shaped house, whose façade is made of sand-color smooth stucco and sustainably sourced golden balau wood siding, “harnesses the sun and produces more energy than it uses,” Kyle Kovacs said. “There’s zero electrical cost—there are even savings every year because the city issues an energy credit.”
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Mary Kovacs added that “the U shape captures the light, and there’s glazing in all directions so there’s no need to turn the lights on during the day.”
They pointed out that the overhanging eaves reduce heat gains in the summer, southerly facing windows bring in the warmth of the winter sun, and uninterrupted sight lines and high ceilings disperse natural light. The result is net zero: the greenhouse gas emissions the house produces equal the amount of those it removes from the atmosphere.
The passive features of the solar-powered house, which has five bedrooms and four bathrooms, include European windows and doors, an airtight interior and a heat-recovery ventilation system that filters out particulates and allows for continuous fresh-air circulation. Two Tesla batteries provide energy storage at night and during power outages.
The Kovacs noted that these systems all but eliminate allergy symptoms of occupants and, much like a luxury car, insulate the house from street and home-mechanical noises.
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Although the property is small—it’s a little more than a tenth of an acre—its slight slope allowed them to incorporate a basement, a key space-adding feature.
The 3,940-square-foot three-level house is designed, Mary Kovacs said, “to bring people together but also to give each person some private space.”
To that end, the main living spaces are on the first floor, the sleeping quarters are on the second level, and the entertaining/work spaces are in the basement, which has two light wells for natural illumination and includes a flex room that could be used as an office, a recording studio, a fitness center or a home theater.
The outdoor areas, which total 2,300 square feet, are designed to make the most of the small space.
The house, which is on a cul-de-sac, has two 16-foot retractable glass doors that connect it to exterior living spaces.
The kitchen and dining and living areas are in an open layout.
Adam Campbell Photography
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An outdoor courtyard, which includes space for an organic produce garden, opens to a dining and living area that has a kitchen, a barbecue pavilion and a wood-burning fireplace. There is also a backyard pool and spa and a garage with a deck that takes in the views.
The rooftop viewing deck is surrounded by raised planters filled with pink muhly grass, which is drought-tolerant and softens the look of the house.
“The grass transitions from pink tails in the fall to green in the summer,” Mary Kovacs said. “It has a wispy, ethereal look.”
The plants help hide the house, which she said “is nestled into the environment. The front door is 50 feet from the street, so the house looks small and cute,” but it’s the same size as the one that was torn down.
The non-profit Passive House Institute US, or Phius, an outgrowth of the Passivhaus-Institut founded in Germany in 1996, sets eco-friendly high-performance building standards.
It launched its certification standards in 2015 to reduce the negative impact of new construction of residential and commercial buildings. Its building performance criteria, geared for specific geographic regions, place an emphasis on airtightness, ventilation, waterproofing, heating and cooling, and electrical loads.
The Kovacs are working on two other passive houses in Los Angeles’ Sherman Oaks neighborhood.
“We are going to focus on clients who are interested in this type of building,” she said. “We want to set a precedent because this type of building is the future.”