Smart Homeowner Magazine

A Healty Remodel

by Judith Stock
May-June 2006

When Jane Yoo and Jason Chuan decided it was time to buy a home, they began their search in communities near the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of Los Angeles. With a clear idea about location and price range, they found a house in the community of Altadena, one other homebuyers had completely missed in the tight Los Angeles housing market.

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Smart Homeowner Magazine

Spotlighting an Eco-Architect

by Judith Stock
May-June 2006

Duvivier Architects, the green architectural firm founded by Isabelle Duvivier, is one of a growing number of firms across the country dedicated to sustainable building. Projects on which Duvivier has worked incorporate such strategies as passive solar design, water retention and recycling, and the use of non-toxic and recycled building materials. In addition, she is the author of the Santa Monica Green Map, which highlights green businesses and ecological features that contribute to the creation of a more sustainable community.

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Los Angeles Times Magazine

Green From The Ground Up
No Longer Just Hippie, Green Is Finally Chic

by David Lansing
September 25, 2005

Isabelle Duvivier, a Venice-based architect, designed a number of Santa Monica-area green homes and also conceived and designed the Santa Monica and Ballona Watershed Green Map, which features businesses and organizations in the area that provide products or services consistent with Santa Monica's Sustainable City Plan. She has major doubts about the green building movement's longetivity.

Los Angeles Times Magazine

Green From The Ground Up
Softest Sell

by Emily Young
September 25, 2005

When it comes to designing an earth-friendly house, most people want to do the right thing. But the minute the process requires more time, more labor or more money, the impulse to do good quickly wanes. That's where Global Green USA's Green Building Resource Center comes in.

(...)

Venice sustainable architect Isabelle Duvivier appreciates the unbiased approach. "They're able to stay current on the newest and latest," says Duvivier. "And because it's not a store per se, there's no incentive to sell you something."

Outside Magazine

The Best Towns in the U.S.
The New American Dream Towns
Smart Idea #2

August 2005

Smart Idea #2
• Venice, California
Despite being enveloped by a teeming metropolis, this L.A. neighborhood of 34,000 is blessed with ocean views, a small-town vibe, and SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE. Among those designing in Venice are Isabelle Duvivier, whose firm won a 2004 Santa Monica Sustainability Leadership Award; eco-designer David Hertz; and modernist icon Frank Gehry. And Venice's green scene goes beyond the built environment: Duvivier is currently working with the state on an interim management plan to preserve the Ballona Wetlands, the last remaining large-scale wetlands in Los Angeles County.—M.M.

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Santa Monica Audubon Imprint

Homes for the Future

November 2001

The editor of Audubon Imprint reports on his visit to three local houses on the 2001 Eco-Home Tour, including a project in Culver City designed by Duvivier Architects. Unveiling the environmental tactics employed by each of the homes, Mr. Bragg conveys the fact that you can do a lot for the environment and for your pocketbook if you build, remodel or retrofit Green.


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Santa Monica Mirror

Area Watershed Green Map is Unveiled

Oct. 31 - Nov. 6 2001

The Santa Monica and Ballona Watershed Green Map was unveiled at a launch party on October 14.

The two-sided map was developed by Duvivier Architects in conjunction with the City of Santa Monica to make residents and visitors aware of the resources that make it a sustainable community. It focuses on “ecological and cultural resources found throughout the Ballona Watershed, such as important waterways, wildlife migration routes, wetlands, public lands, alternative transportation corridors, environmental organizations and green businesses.”

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Los Angeles Independent News

EcoHome Tour on Show

October 2001

Projects highlight environmental features such as habitat preservation and restoration and incorporate ecological design strategies such as passive solar energy efficiencies, water retention/recycling and use of non-toxic/recycled building materials. Our firm emphasizes the interdependent relationship between the natural and built environments. Our goal is to build shelters and communities for our growing society, while minimizing the impact of the construction on the land and local resources.

Los Angeles Times

Hoping to Add Lots of Green to Orange County

September 1st, 2001

During the course of their research, Duvivier and the students located a new green corridor connecting three large chunks of open space between Santa Monica and Venice.

But it turned out that the corridor's lush green golf courses and cemeteries — which had seemed ideal stopping-off points for birds — attracted few of them.

"We hypothesized that it was because the groundskeepers used chemicals the birds don't like," Duvivier said. So they made note of that for the map.

"We're trying to educate people," she said. They usually don't realize that if they dump a cigarette in Hollywood, it winds up in the Santa Monica Bay.


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American Planning Association

Planning O' the Green

May 2001

Almost a decade after the first Green Map was conceived for New York City, Isabelle Duvivier brings Los Angeles into the global Green Map community. The article traces the history, funding and mission of green maps, citing the development of the Santa Monica and Ballona Watershed Green Map. Duvivier's collaboration with local teens, environmental groups, GIS specialists and the City of Santa Monica helped involve community members in the map project.


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