EQUAL BUT NOT SEPARATE
After being built as an exhibit for the Next 50 Celebration at Seattle Center during the Summer of 2012, the Habitat for Humanity House of the Immediate Future will be diassembled and moved to a permanent location in the New Rainier Vista neighborhood adjacent the Columbia City Link Light Rail Station.
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY HOUSE OF THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE
Even in Hood River, famous for its wind, on-site wind generation was deemed insufficient to generate the amount of power needed for the house. Using Federal and State incentives, PV became the only feasible on-site power source. The sail-like form of the arrays was exaggerated to capture the town’s windsurfing obsession.
ECONOMY: THE HABITAT WAY
Our hybrid-approach to construction systems includes prefabricated “wet-cores” (mechanical room, kitchen, bathrooms) built by Method Homes in their factory in Ferndale and a panelized double-stud exterior wall assembly constructed by Habitat volunteers. By prefabricating the infrastructure cores, professionals, such as plumbers and electricians, can work unencumbered by a less-skilled but enthusiastic volunteer force so important to every Habitat for Humanity project. Volunteers will build the walls in unitized panels that can be erected around the wet-cores at the Seattle Center exhibit and then moved to the permanent site without requiring a complete disassembly.
SPECIAL DELIVERY: PREFABRICATED “WET-CORES”
SUSTAINABLE: NET-ZERO ENERGY
A “dream team” of residential energy experts were assembled that typically work in parallel but separately, including our in-house energy-guru, Jim Hanford along with Buzz Burgett of NW Mechanical, Tadashi Shiga of Evergreen Certified and Brad Liljequist of Z-Home. This team reviewed all of the latest technologies to find the most simple and cost-effective blend that could result in a home that can produce all of its own energy needs on-site. It is the blend of existing technologies rather than a pursuing costly development of new technologies that most captured the “Immediate Future” aspect of the project’s name. Habitat for Humanity plans to use the house to develop techniques that fit their volunteer-model to minimize air-infiltration and maximize insulation to reduce the energy loads and resultant costs of renewable energy sources an all of their subsequent Northwest homes. In a way, this may be the most long-lasting legacy of this ambitious project. To kick-off the project, Miller Hull hosted a Think Tank workshop attended by over 60 local experts from across the spectrum of residential design, engineering and planning. The Think Tanks were focused on four major topics: Construction, Energy, Program and Site that prioritized repeatable solutions for near-term Habitat projects by combining the right blend of established but forward-looking techniques.
Regional Residential Energy Experts Think Tank
Double stud walls reduce thermal bridging and increase R-value
ADAPTABILITY
Beyond building science, the team is pondering the question, “How do families live now?� To address this question, the house and site are planned to optimize flexibility for a widening variety of family configurations, aging-in-place and income-generation possibilities for the global family of the future.