SEATTLE CENTER NEXT 50 | HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
HOUSE OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE DESIGN THINK TANK MILLER HULL OFFICES 71 COLUMBIA STREET, SIXTH FLOOR DECEMBER 8, 2011 3 PM TO 8 PM
HOUSE OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE In 1962, Seattle put itself on the map by hosting the Space Agedriven World’s Fair and creating a dynamic physical legacy: Seattle Center. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the fair, there is cause for celebration and contemplation, as our generation faces an entirely new set of priorities, challenges and opportunities. The Next Fifty is a six-month event which will, once again, place the Pacific Northwest in the global limelight, serving as an interactive platform to illuminate the world’s challenges as we explore and define our possibilities. -The Next Fifty, Seattle 2012, Seattle Center Foundation A collection of homes defined as the House of the Immediate Future became a major attraction during the 1962 World’s Fair. Designers of the time predicted future homes, filled with high-tech gadgets and covered with futuristic finishes, would be built and powered by seemingly endless resources. Fifty years later, the Pacific Northwest is recognized as a world leader in sustainability and we recognize our resources are limited. We hope that by highlighting the similarities and contrasts between these two approaches to housing fifty years apart will be an enlightening educational opportunity resulting in a well-built and thoughtfully designed home for a family in the Seattle area following the exhibition. The Miller Hull Partnership, the Seattle Center Foundation Next 50, and Habitat for Humanity have partnered to design and build a 2012 House of the Immediate Future. Work on the house will begin at the Seattle Center in April and will be completed at its future home in November. Both phases of construction will implement the Habitat method of community building through volunteer labor. The team has prioritized solutions that can be universally applied to other near-term Habitat projects by focusing on the “immediate” component of the design challenge and seeking the right blend of established but forward-looking building systems and construction techniques. Currently, the team is exploring existing prefabrication techniques to apply to the infrastructure core of the home where schedule and cost overruns most typically affect projects. By prefabricating the “wet-cores” (mechanical room, kitchen, bathrooms) of the house off-site, professional labor can be concentrated and performed more efficiently and precisely. Once the cores arrive on site, volunteers can be more effectively utilized on the parts of the house that require less professional skill. Although traditional Habitat homes depend on both professional and volunteer labor, the proposed design concept stems from a clear separation between these components. By employing this hybrid approach, we believe we can most effectively meet the schedule, cost and design parameters of the project while also suggesting an effective model for future Habitat homes.
CONTENTS CHARETTE
PARTICIPANTS AGENDA THINK TANKS PRELIMINARY CONCEPT
BACKGROUND
H4H INFORMATION RESOURCE GOALS & STRATEGIES
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Marty Kooistra Mark Hancock Ed Brown Daniel Perry Roger Williams Bryan Barnett
CEO Community Initiatives Habitat International (Contractor) Architect Architect
SEATTLE CENTER Layne Cubell Tim Lennon Jill Crary Ned Dunn
CITY OFFICIALS Aaron Adelstein Joel Banslaben Ryan Curren Jess Harris John Harvey Michelle Macias Sandra Mallory Jonathan Siu Patti Southard Diane Sugimura Brian Sullivan
Built Green, Executive Director SPU, Sustainable Strategies Specialist City of Seattle Housing City of Seattle Green Building Seattle City Light City of Seattle DPD City of Seattle Green Building City of Seattle DPD King County Green Tools City of Seattle DPD Seattle Housing Authority
DESIGNERS & CONTRACTORS
Peter Alspach ARUP Nate Cormier SvR Design Company, Landscape Buzz Burgett NW Mechanical Julie Jackson MKA, Structural Consultant Robert Leykam Mithun Hill Pierce Architects for Humanity Dave Rodgers SvR Design Company, Civil Brian Abramson Method Homes Mark Rylant Method Homes Dale Sperling One Build Jason Twill Vulcan Ron Rochon Miller Hull, Partner-in-charge Mike Jobes Miller Hull, Principal, Lead Designer John MacKay Miller Hull, Project Manager Jake Labarre Miller Hull, Project Architect The entire Miller Hull staff
3 PM
Introductions Workshop Overview Project Background Preliminary Concepts
Miller Hull Habitat For Humanity Seattle Center Next Fifty Miller Hull
4 PM
Small Groups Discuss “What is Possible?” Reconvene with 3 minute presentations from each group
5 PM
Think Tanks
6 PM
Dinner Discuss results of Small Groups Exercise over dinner Return to Think Tanks-switch Tanks if desired
7 PM
Think Tank Presentations (10 minutes each) Wrap Up
8 PM
End of Charette
The Charette participants have a high-level of professional and/or direct experience with specific aspects of this project. In order to allow greater depth and exploration on specific topics while we’re all together we propose breaking into the following Think Tanks during the charette. Participants may choose the Think Tank that best suits their area of expertise and move between tanks as they see fit to maximize their input. Ideas and sketches will be recorded on blank white cards so that they can be grouped and categorized into broad categories toward the end of the charette. Each group will be asked to select 1 or 2 representatives to present the results of their Think Tank:
01 | CONSTRUCTION : Construction Systems/Portability/Prefabrication Goals: o Determine feasibility of preliminary concept o Determine ideal balance of prefabrication and site built components to match the way Habitat works now or would like to work in the immediate future o Top Three Ideas for exhibiting Construction methods at Seattle Center 02 | ENERGY :
Energy/MEP Systems/Water/Waste Goals: o Set Project Energy Goals (Net-Zero?, Net-Zero Ready? Passive House? LEED, etc.) o Narrow list of potential systems based on performance, efficiency, simplicity, cost and available incentives or donations o Develop approach to systems with prefabricated infrastructure core concept o Incentives available o Top Three Ideas for exhibiting Energy concepts at Seattle Center
03 | PROGRAM :
House Program/Plan for flexibility/Scalable Modularity/Multi-Family Option Goals: o Generate diagrammatic floor plans to maximize flexibility and accommodate typical H4H family profile-how does plan change in the House of the Immediate Future? o Generate ideas to address income generation opportunities, universal access, expansion, indoor/outdoor living, storage needs, solar orientation, prefabricated core relationship to living spaces o Explore how concepts developed for this single-family residence apply at a multi-family scale o Top Three Ideas for exhibiting Energy concepts at Seattle Center
04 | SITE :
Community/Site Opportunities/Agriculture/ADU Goals: o Generate ideas for making strong ties to the greater community o Explore site opportunities: stormwater, agriculture, outdoor spaces, relationship to sidewalk/ street, solar orientation o Develop a list of ideal site characteristics for use in site selection o Incentives available o Top Three Ideas for exhibiting Site concepts at Seattle Center  
HOUSE AS A DIAGRAM OF THE “HABITAT WAY” Community-building through a volunteer labor force has always been the Habitat for Humanity Way. With a large volunteer force, supervision becomes Habitat’s primary effort and liability. There are three levels of Habitat contributors: 01 Long-term Site Supervisors-paid-professional Level 02 Frequent Volunteers with deep Habitat experience but non-professional skills 03 Short-term unskilled labor force Type 03 Volunteers contribute most effectively and maximize the supervisor’s time when given repetitive tasks that can be demonstrated once and repeated throughout their volunteer stint. Volunteers are looking for “experiences of distinction” when they come to work on a Habitat home for a few days. With a majority of labor and materials donated, the major costs on any Habitat home are supervision and infrastructure. A shorter construction duration can result in significant savings in supervision costs. Any streamlining of the infrastructure can lead to shorter construction duration. Habitat often contracts with professional tradespeople to perform plumbing, electrical and mechanical scope. THE DIAGRAM We see an oppurtunity to achieve a streamlined construction duration, better utilize an unskilled labor force and maximize sitesupervision by prefabricating the infrastructural cores of the house off-site then building the remainder of the envelope around those cores on-site. The house as a diagram for the division of labor on a typical Habitat construction site. Panelized exterior wall units could be prefabricated by unskilled volunteers using jigs and focussed supervision under a tent at the Seattle Center during the exhbition, highlighting new methods for wood frame construction. By panelizing exterior walls, the envelope can be quickly closed up and dried in on site giving volunteers a warm and dry environment to complete the house fit-out. Interior stud walls can be framed on-site inside of the dry envelope to reduce unnecessary moisture in the framing and results on a double stud wall that avoids thermal bridging and a higher continuous R-value. Wiring can be installed in space between the studs by volunteers and terminated by professional electricians at the core and at the junction box.
Panelized wall units
Prefabricated modules
Sustainability at Habitat Habitat for Humanity is famous for building homes for low income buyers. But building houses is only a small part of the overall mission of Habitat. In some ways building houses is simply a means to larger ends: building strong intact families, creating safe livable communities for those families, and bringing a world of committed volunteers together in the shared experience of common devotion to a worthy goal. Building a home takes perhaps a few months, but the larger aim is a lasting impact on people and communities. So sustainability is inherently part of Habitat’s mission and program. For Habitat, sustainability has three dimensions. • Sustainable Building. We want to build homes that are o Durable o Maintainable o Energy efficient o Constructed with minimal waste and maximum recycling • Sustainable Families. We want to build homes that are o Affordable (modest, compact, simple) o Maintainable o Healthy o Within reach of transportation and job opportunities • Sustainable Communities. We want to build homes that are o Concentrated where there are multiple building opportunities and a chance to impact the larger neighborhood. o Built in collaboration with partners who share a vested interest in revitalizing distressed neighborhoods. In pursuit of these sustainability objectives, the Seattle/South King County affiliate has built more than 120 homes in the past two decades. Many of these have been single family detached structures, often on isolated in-fill lots. Increasingly, however, the focus has shifted to higher density projects of multiunit structures located in neighborhoods that are the subject of broader redevelopment efforts. Two recent projects at High Point in West Seattle and at Rainier Vista in the Rainier valley are typical. Both are small complexes of 1-4 unit structures completed in partnership with the Seattle Housing Authority as part of a larger Hope 61 redevelopment.
1
See: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/ph/hope6/about
With the sharp decline in the real estate market and large inventory of bank-owned homes in King County, Habitat has begun a shift away from new construction to emphasize renovation of foreclosed or abandoned houses. With funding from the Federal Government’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP3) and the Wells Fargo Foundation (Priority Markets Program) Habitat is launching programs to purchase bank-owned or short sale properties in Federal Way and Seattle for renovation and resale to low income Habitat buyers.2
2
Habitat homes are sold to low income buyers normally earning at or below 50% of the area median income (AMI). They must contribute 250 hours of sweat equity for each adult in the family and in exchange receive a 30 year no-interest mortgage. Habitat retains a right of first refusal to repurchase the home if the buyer decides to sell, though the buyer has an opportunity to share in any appreciation depending upon how long they have lived in the home.
RESOURCE EFFICIENCY GOALS AND STRATEGIES Energy Goal: Net-zero or Net-zero Ready. Requires efficient energy use plus renewable energy systems, or at least the capability of incorporating renewables in the future. Building Design: • Attention to window orientation/location within constraints of lot. • Roof orientation and tilt for PV and Solar DHW. Minimum 15 degree tilt for PV. Within 45 degrees of south. Building Envelope systems: High performance thermal envelope. Consider air and water performance of envelope systems too. • Roof: lots of insulation. Could be attic with raised heel trusses, deep joists with dense-pack or “flashand-batt”, or exterior insulation. R-40 to R-50 minimum. • Walls: Wood framing, using double-stud walls or single-stud walls with exterior insulation. System R-25 minimum; target R-30 to R-35. • Floors: Fully insulated slab on grade, or insulated joist system over crawl space. • Doors: • Windows: LowE glazing in wood or fiberglass framing. Minimum double insulated glass; consider triple glazing. • Infiltration: Sealed air barrier strategy. Target max 2 ACH50. Heat and Vent: Efficient heating, good ventilation. No forced-air delivery of heat - i.e. no furnace or standard split-system HP. Radiant slabs may be overkill for a small well-insulated house. • Heating system options: 1) Ductless-mini-split heat pump with wall-mounted convector units. 2) Air-towater heat pump with radiant slab and radiators (new technology). 3) Gas boiler (boiler may be too large) with radiant heat - in-slab or radiators. 4) Electric resistance radiators. 5) Gas through-wall units (approx. one per floor.) • Spot ventilation at kitchen and restrooms. • Whole-house fan options: ducted supply system with heat recovery; spot heat recovery units (Panasonic), 1 per floor; exhaust-only whole house fan. Hot Water: • Low-flow fixtures. • Electric resistance water heater or gas-fired water heater. Solar water heater on roof (estimated 50% solar fraction). Lighting: Efficient systems utilizing primarily CFLs. Plug Loads: • Minimum Energy Star appliances. • Minimize phantom loads Renewables: • Pre-wire to roof for PV? Locate inverter area. • Pre-plumb to roof for solar DHW? Expedited Permitting: Need for fast permitting - align with DPD Priority Green program for energy efficiency, water efficiency, construction recycling. Compliance with one of the following: • DPD Alternative Path; 3 points from SEC Table 9-1. • Passive House compliance. • LEED 2009 for Homes Gold or Platinum. Achieve all points for EA2-EA9. • Built Green 2011 4-star or 5-star; 3rd party review and inspection. Water Goal: Rainwater collection. On-site stormwater. Goals to be determined. • Goals will decide system sizing. • Potential uses of rainwater: Irrigation, hose bibbs, toilets, clothes washing. CAM 520. • Comply with LID requirements for on-site stormwater management. CAM 530 series.