As plans were being made to transform Walter and Leonore Annenberg’s private home into a retreat center and diplomatic venue, The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands pursued a conversion strategy with a modern-day imperative: Reduce water and energy consumption.
The goal, established in 2009, set the stage for a series of infrastructure improvements at the Midcentury Modern estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and the subsequent use of Sunnylands as a living laboratory for experiments in environmental sustainability.
Now, that culture of environmental stewardship, coupled with a state mandate to conserve water during California’s extraordinary drought, has produced the largest water savings at Sunnylands to date.
