This 3,000-square-foot, ranch-style welcome center is a prototype whose earth-savvy building practices earned it a platinum LEED ranking from the U.S. Green Building Council. Sustainable features include salvaged construction-site stone for the fireplace and chimney, and ceiling trusses that were reconstructed from a dismantled pier, along with wheat-board cabinets, cork kitchen flooring, and sunflower husk countertops. More than 90 percent of construction debris was separated at the site and recycled.
See all 2007 Builder's Choice Award Winners
Category: Green design/building;
Entrant/Interior designer: Design Line Interiors, San Diego;
Architect: Nick Fullerton Architects, Kalispell, Mont.;
Builder/ Developer: Black Mountain Ranch, San Diego;
Landscape architect: Vita Planning and Landscape Architecture, San Rafael, Calif.