By: Johnny Hartsfield

Our friends Robert Humble, Joel Egan and Ben Spencer at Hybrid Seattle together with ORA recently submitted the winning entry for the 99k House Competition.  182 entrants were challenged with creating an innovative design for a small house in Houston, Texas that is affordable, sustainable, and energy efficient.  Designed for a low-income family, Hybrid/ORA’s winning design is a compact and highly adaptable home responding to both social and environmental concerns.

The 1,200 square foot, CORE, can accommodate 1 to 4 bedrooms and converts easily to two 600 square foot duplex units.  The square plan can easily be rotated and adjusted to maximize solar gain, natural cross ventilation and rainwater collection.  This home is also built on piers which not only protects from high water flooding but also minimizes the impact to soils and potentially sensitive habitat.

Built on four foot modules, this home minimizes material use and can be constructed traditionally or with prefabricated methods.  Additional sustainable features include: regionally made wheat panels for partitioning and moveable storage, low-embodied energy magnesium oxide boards, solar powered fan pulling summer breezes through the home, and a cistern collecting rainwater to flush toilets and irrigate plants.

Will this type of project happen in Seattle?  The answer is yes, although with a higher cost of living in Seattle, 99k is probably not feasible.  How will it happen?  Developers and builders must be determined to bring good design to Seattleites at an affordable price and the city review process must favor these efforts.  As you can see with CORE, the design and technology are there - what is missing is financial creativity and a dedication to social justice.  Let’s make this happen Hybrid - GreenFab is definately on your side.  

    

 

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