As a child, Steve Glenn '87 lived on a farm in North Carolina, played with Legos and read books about Frank Lloyd Wright. It should come as no surprise, then, that his new company, LivingHomes, produces eco-friendly, prefabricated houses that the U.S. Green Building Council rated as the most environmentally friendly homes in the country.
A former Sharpe Refectory employee who attended Brown with full financial aid, Glenn was environmentally conscious while at the University. He recalled regularly driving to what was then the only recycling bin on campus - outside the Urban Environmental Laboratory on Angell Street.
"I had a deep appreciation of the built and the natural environment," Glenn said.
Still, rather than pursuing his interest as an architect or environmental activist, Glenn concentrated in organizational behavior and is now an entrepreneur. While still at the University, Glenn founded Clearview Software with a few friends. The company produced software for medical and dental offices and was eventually purchased by Apple.
"I'm most interested in wedding profits and purpose," Glenn said. He acknowledged the challenges of sustaining nonprofit ventures, adding, "I like using capitalism."
LivingHomes has created significant media buzz, including features in magazines ranging from Forbes to Men's Vogue. The California-based company's philosophy is to produce modern-design homes that are healthy for their inhabitants and leave as small an ecological footprint as possible.
"There's no great mystery," Glenn said of his inspiration for this company and his many other ventures, which have included software and high-tech companies. "I just think of what I would want to use."
Every detail of both the construction process and the house itself is optimized for environmental friendliness and the health of its dwellers. The homes use solar panels to generate energy and are insulated by a roof garden that is irrigated by sink and shower water. The house also employs "weather telemetry," which uses the Internet to determine when rain is predicted and, accordingly, only waters the gardens when necessary, Glenn said. To minimize indoor pollution, healthy materials such as paints that do not release volatile organic compounds are used in the house's construction.
The houses' prefab construction in a factory produces 75 percent less construction waste than on-site construction. Once built, the houses are installed on-site in one day.
Architects Ray Kappe and David Hertz designed the homes to be practical, flexible and aesthetically pleasing with built-in furniture, many windows and movable walls that can be reconfigured to accommodate a guest or an additional family member. The company is developing a feature that will allow homeowners to control electronics - everything from a coffee maker to a heater - using their phone.
"The formula is pretty clear ... get great architects, use prefabricated materials to build those homes with less ecological footprint than if we were to do it by hand," Glenn said. "The obvious issue is, can we do this on a sustainable basis? Can we do this in quantity?"
Glenn lives in his own 2,500-square-foot, three-bedroom LivingHome in Santa Monica, Calif., and he said 11 other houses are currently under contract and in various stages of development. Most sales have been to California residents, but Glenn said he plans to expand LivingHomes across the country.
Glenn described potential LivingHomes dwellers as people who "shop organic," drive "Priuses" and "do yoga."
For now, these Prius-driving potential customers will also need a few hundred grand on hand for the house alone (lots are purchased by the buyers independently). A 2,000-square-foot home in the Los Angeles area would cost $600,000, Glenn said. But this price is at least 20 to 30 percent cheaper than the cost of a house of comparable quality made with eco-friendly materials and customized by an architect, he said.
Glenn said ever since he attended a summer design program at Harvard University as an undergraduate, he knew that he wanted to be a developer. In Los Angeles, he co-founded and serves on the board of the Sustainable Business Council and also co-founded the Hope Street Group, a political advocacy nonprofit that seeks to promote economic opportunity and growth. His other community involvements include interviewing Brown applicants and serving on the board of LA Works, which promotes volunteerism. Glenn previously managed the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative's Mozambique project under the direction of Ira Magaziner '69 P'06 P'07 P'10, for whom Glenn worked after graduating from Brown.
"I like trying to add value to the work I do," Glenn said.