Open House Event: This Cozy L.A. Home Pairs High Design With Down-to-Earth Sustainability

Dwell’s Open House: Los Angeles event offers a rare opportunity to step inside three architecturally amazing homes on the east side. Read on for a peek at one of the projects our ticket holders are touring—and sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know about other upcoming Open House events.

The boardwalk path that snakes through the garden at Lizz Wasserman and Isaac Resnikoff’s Highland Park home leads past aromatic Mexican marigolds, Matilija poppies, and swaths of cardoons, down stairs below peaches and persimmons to a shady spot beneath an old black walnut tree. Further down the slope, a self-watering, raised wicking bed regularly produces tomatoes, basil, chard, cucumbers, and fennel.

"We hardly ever water," notes Lizz with a mix of pride and wonder as she surveys the backyard that she and Isaac conjured from a bare hillside. Given the record high temperatures in Southern California this summer, that’s no small feat, but look closer and you’ll see that the couple has woven environmentally conscious features throughout the property that rely less on devices than on thoughtful choices and solid planning. Yes, there’s a solar array on the home’s roof, but just below it are high-efficiency insulated panels that help keep the house comfortable no matter what the weather.

When the couple decided to build a house for themselves and their family, efficiency and sustainability were top priorities. Fortunately, they had two environmental champions at the helm: architect Louis Wasserman and landscape architect Caren Connolly, who also happen to be Lizz’s parents. The result is an elegantly simple home that incorporates passive heating and cooling strategies, such as operable skylights that create a kind of "heat chimney."