100-Mile House designs are available for viewing.
I want to sincerely thank everyone for their hard work and dedication toward this class – it’s been a great journey.
My 100-Mile-House design was formed and built around the Kachelofen, which is the central part of my plan. In the early design phases of my project I was quite inspired by the idea of the kachelofen, but didn’t exactly know where I wanted to go from there. Given our climate and the amount of time we generally spend indoors I knew creating a warm environment indoors was very important to me. The kachelofen felt like a great opportunity to do that through its efficient use of small wood fires to radiate heat throughout a house evenly. I struggled early on to organize the spaces in the house in a cohesive manner, which resulted in a complicated layout and form. As I began to draw more inspiration from the central wood stove, a more compact and simplified form began to take shape. The small footprint led to keeping the more public spaces of the house, like kitchen and living room, to the first floor. The bedrooms were moved to the second floor and kept close to the stove structure in order to make them easier to heat. The space above the living room is open to the second floor as the square footage was not needed for functional spaces in the house. This also allows sunlight to flood in from the south, which would directly hit the central stove structure assisting in the thermal heating of the house during the winter. Another theme that began to come through in my design process was this connection with the outdoors and the street through the use of outdoor livable spaces. The house includes three exterior decks, which encourages and strengthens the connection with the street. These three different levels of decks, spanning from the first floor to the roof, provide three unique views of the street and surrounding area; as the seasons and the time of day changes so does your view.
Tags: kachelofen, masonry heater
My project had two major focuses:
1. Textures and materiality of local materials
2. Creating a large living space by formally separating the main living spaces and the private spaces
My elevations below show this materiality.
More on the house:
A truly sustainable building design takes advantage of materials that can be found locally. Having this restriction allows us to design something that truly has a sense of place. This proposal for a 100-mile-house not only looks to local resources, but attempts to understand the textures and patterns that these local materials can create. This design focuses on the ways wood, stone, and other local resources can be used to create a space that is rich is texture and materiality.
Much of this structure is made out of wood. Norway Pine has a great variety of uses and is abundant in central Minnesota. I chose to use this wood for much of my design for this reason. I then explored the ways wood can be cut, layered, and connected to create different textures. From wood shingles to the wood structure to wood interior cladding, this design really takes advantage of this local resource. I also explored several reclaimed wood options for things like railings, cabinets, and flooring.
While wood makes up a large portion of the house, I wanted to use some elements that would help keep this house warm during the long winter. The large southern windows bring sunlight in to the main living space where a tile floor can absorb some of the heat. A wood burning stove acts as an important solar mass as well. I chose to use stone over brick for this because of its ability to capture and maintain heat in the most effective way. An indirect circulation solar thermal system is applied to the roof as well, to take advantage of the sun’s renewable energy.
On top of using local materials, designing “locally” also means supporting the local economy. I incorporated materials like Element Surface’s recycled glass countertops in order to show the importance of looking to your local businesses first, not only to minimize carbon emissions, but to help your local community flourish.
The 100 mile house that I designed is built completely out of materials found within 100 miles. The house sits on a concrete grade beam over crushed limestone. The structure is a combination of glulam beams and staggered stud framing. The building’s insulation is blown cellulose and its interior walls are lathe and plaster. The building’s cladding is salvaged barn wood and the shingles are recycled rubber. The doors, windows, railings and hardwood floors are all from local salvage yards. All of the building’s lumber is white pine that is harvested in Anoka County and milled in Stillwater. The building’s tar paper and house wrap/vapor barrier materials are not made locally and would need to be found in a surplus store or from one of the many personal sellers found on places like craigslist.
The building’s design is influenced by the materials used and a sense of openness in both plan and section. This openness allows the window filled south wall to be visible from all parts of the house. The building itself is set back further in the lot than its neighbors. This setback, an extended roof overhang on the south wall, and deciduous tree placement work together to optimize passive solar heating. The trees also give more privacy from neighbors and add to the view from inside. The majority of the windows that were available from the salvage yard were single pane windows. Because of this they are only used on the south wall and a couple on the west façade to generate cross ventilation to the east patio door. The glulam beams allowed for very large spans which kept the plan very open. The second floor resembles a loft with a long balcony. This voided space, along with interior walls that are left to float, create less confined spaces and allows for the vaulted wood ceiling to be more visible.
The overall process of designing and building within 100 miles creates a very different type of home than homes built today. I think one of the biggest benefits of building like this is how the house would raise the awareness of thinking locally for the residents and their guests. Many advantages of thinking locally can be applied to society and too often people only think of the source of their belongings when they spot the small “Made in ____” on the label.
-Mike Koenig
The main focus of my project is to enforce the idea of the kitchen being a central gathering space to the home. I was inspired through my second precedent study of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Willey House in Minneapolis. In most of his works, Wright incorporates the idea of the hearth being the heart of the home and is therefore central to the floor plan. This concept is where I formulated the idea of who my clients would be for this house. I chose to design for my friend and her husband. Both of them enjoy cooking and often have guests over. I felt that they were the perfect clients as their values were directly in line with the type of home that I wanted to design. To achieve this concept, I placed a pellet stove used to heat the home in a central space in the living area. The chimney extending from the stove to the ceiling is the dominant feature of the space in order to draw the eye to the kitchen.I also wanted to design as open of a living space as possible, since the dimensions of the house are so small, I felt that it was important to have as open of a floor plan as possible to create the feeling of a larger space. The lofted bedroom on the rear half of the house opens up to this space, creating a private, but still open feeling.
Energy efficiency was also one of the ideas I wanted to incorporate into the home. Large windows were placed on the southeast end of the house to bring in sunlight and help heat the home in the winter. The open floor plan also helps to improve efficient heating and cooling. Double hung windows are used throughout the house to allow flow during the summer. I located coniferous trees at the northwest end of the house and minimal windows to allow for as little cold air to enter the house as possible. Deciduous trees were placed toward the south end of the home to provide additional shade in the summer, but allow the sun’s rays to heat the house during the winter.
Overall, most of the materials I used in the project were salvaged. Attempting to find salvaged materials usable in the house’s construction provided an interesting challenge to the project. I found several barns which provided more than enough material to side the house and beams which could be milled down to create the structural support. Since plywood is not a local material, for the subfloor layer, I chose to lay boards at a 45 degree angle instead which was done in most older homes. Windows, doors, and flooring materials were also salvaged. The materials that I could not salvage were found locally, with the exception of the brick used for the chimney, which is only 20 miles outside of the 100 mile radius. The only materials I used in the project that were not produced locally were materials that were impossible to find but necessary to the house’s construction. This included the mesh for the lath and plaster walls, the floor underlayment, and the chimney lining. For these materials, however, I was able to find local manufacturers. The solar and PV panels do contain various parts found outside the 100 mile radius, but once they are implemented into the home, they create energy locally.
This process has taught me that while it is possible to construct a home with a very large percentage of materials located within a 100 mile radius, a small amount of materials will always be produced elsewhere. The house was designed to be as ‘local’ as possible, but in some instances, it was necessary to go outside the 100 mile radius.
The main focus of my project is to enforce the idea of the kitchen being a central gathering space to the home. I was inspired through my second precedent study of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Willey House in Minneapolis. In most of his works, Wright incorporates the idea of the hearth being the heart of the home and is therefore central to the floor plan. This concept is where I formulated the idea of who my clients would be for this house. I chose to design for my friend and her husband. Both of them enjoy cooking and often have guests over. I felt that they were the perfect clients as their values were directly in line with the type of home that I wanted to design. To achieve this concept, I placed a pellet stove used to heat the home in a central space in the living area. The chimney extending from the stove to the ceiling is the dominant feature of the space in order to draw the eye to the kitchen.I also wanted to design as open of a living space as possible, since the dimensions of the house are so small, I felt that it was important to have as open of a floor plan as possible to create the feeling of a larger space. The lofted bedroom on the rear half of the house opens up to this space, creating a private, but still open feeling. Energy efficiency was also one of the ideas I wanted to incorporate into the home. Large windows were placed on the southeast end of the house to bring in sunlight and help heat the home in the winter. The open floor plan also helps to improve efficient heating and cooling. Double hung windows are used throughout the house to allow flow during the summer. I located coniferous trees at the northwest end of the house and minimal windows to allow for as little cold air to enter the house as possible. Deciduous trees were placed toward the south end of the home to provide additional shade in the summer, but allow the sun’s rays to heat the house during the winter.Overall, most of the materials I used in the project were salvaged. Attempting to find salvaged materials usable in the house’s construction provided an interesting challenge to the project. I found several barns which provided more than enough material to side the house and beams which could be milled down to create the structural support. Since plywood is not a local material, for the subfloor layer, I chose to lay boards at a 45 degree angle instead which was done in most older homes. Windows, doors, and flooring materials were also salvaged. The materials that I could not salvage were found locally, with the exception of the brick used for the chimney, which is only 20 miles outside of the 100 mile radius. The only materials I used in the project that were not produced locally were materials that were impossible to find but necessary to the house’s construction. This included the mesh for the lath and plaster walls, the floor underlayment, and the chimney lining. For these materials, however, I was able to find local manufacturers. The solar and PV panels do contain various parts found outside the 100 mile radius, but once they are implemented into the home, they create energy locally.This process has taught me that while it is possible to construct a home with a very large percentage of materials located within a 100 mile radius, a small amount of materials will always be produced elsewhere. The house was designed to be as ‘local’ as possible, but in some instances, it was necessary to go outside the 100 mile radius.
My 100-mile house is inspired by the 100-mile diet. The clients are very passionate about where their food is coming from and want a house that will support the notion for using local materials. The house will incorporate using the landscape to harvest crops and use passive methods to help cool and heat the house. The clients are also interested in being active in the local community and their house will support their interaction with the neighborhood.
The house contains two stories. The lower level is ideal for entertaining because of its open floor plan. There is a large kitchen that supports the owner’s love for cooking. The kitchen is the most important room of their house. It is where they will spend a large majority of their time and to show its importance and make the room seem more spacious a raised cathedral ceiling was put in place. While in the kitchen the owner can view their precious vegetable garden where they can easily go and pick fresh produce. The upper level of the house contains all the private dwellings such as two bedrooms and a second bathroom. There is a separation of public and private spaces of the house based upon the floor levels.
This house uses passive methods to help heat and cool the house. Coniferous trees are planted on the northwest corner of the house to protect the house from cold winter winds. Also the southern elevation contains the most windows provide large amounts of sunlight in and help heat the house. There is a vegetable garden on the south side of the property that provides fresh local produce to the owners. Also rainwater is collected from the roof and is stored in a cistern. This water is used to water their garden. A compost pile is also located on site to dispose of their biodegradable waste on site. All the electricity will be provided by Xcel WindSource program that has wind turbines within 100 miles.
The lot does not contain a garage because the owners are passionate about a walkable community. A bike rack is placed on site and there are local bus routes to provide transportation. The front exterior contains an upper and lower porch that run the width of the house. They provide an outdoor living area for the owners and enable the opportunity for them to interact with neighbors that are passing by. Having a high importance on being part of the community, the owners wanted the design of their house to fit in with the neighborhood. Just because the house uses mostly 100-mile materials doesn’t mean the house has to look completely different than their neighbors.
The owners used many locally manufactured materials, but were willing to extend the 100-mile radius if they felt like a material was necessary for their home. A stable frost protected foundation was used to provide for a long durability and insulation surrounds the concrete to help keep it a more constant temperature year round. This concrete foundation would be used for the floor on the lower level. The home is well insulated using cellulose and polystyrene insulation to help cut on energy costs. A white pine 2×6 stud framing system was used for the structure of the house. The house was then cladded with reclaimed barn siding. This siding was also refinished to provide flooring for the upper level. Wheat board would be used to provide an interior wall finish. Windows were manufactured locally and a rubber tile roof was put in place.
Alex Bursh
The 100 Mile House began its inspiration from projects that incorporated completely local materials. The first look was to Hassan Fathy’s work into earthen-based structures, then to using untreated wood as structure and foundation. The proximity to the materials and ease of construction is what makes the Starter House a cheap and effective alternative to a standard Minnesotan home. The Starter House is an exemplar performer in terms of meeting sustainability goals in Minnesota; incorporating modular design, local materials, minimal waste, and a consideration for the life of the home.
The Straw House is designed for one individual or couple who is on a budget but would still like their own home. Field grown straw is being grown in hundreds of locations locally, and has the quality of providing excellent insulation and even load bearing capabilities. Construction of these homes can be done thru volunteer work, after a explanation of proper insulation. A 3- String Bale can fit within my modular design. Collecting 150 bales will be enough to surround the home. Reusing telephone poles or rough saw timbers set with a small amount of fly ash from Aggregate Industries in Elk River will provide extra strength.
The floor, ceilings, and walls will be blown with cellulous from Northern Insulation Products in Gibbon. Rough saw timbers will be used for interior walls and Valspar in Minneapolis will treat exterior timber.
Wood will be provided to Cardinal Glass in Eden Prairie for framing of the double pain windows, and doors will have to be hand made. The flooring will be limestone from Mankato on top of the timber framing with cellulous infill. The heating will then be radiated from a masonry floor. All appliances will be bought new and must be energy star approved. In the kitchen, cabinets will be handcrafted and countertops will be a recycled glass from Element Surfaces in Minneapolis.
A unique part of this house is the availability to add an addition. Within the modular design, the east façade has two piers that break the pattern of straw to the roof. If the homeowner decides to expand, removal of the isolated straw columns provides a break that can be the focal point of the addition. The house is placed on the lot as far forward as it can sit, allowing for a wide variety of additions to the rear, and to assume a strong connection to the block.
The Starter House uses local materials, volunteers and craftsman, a low carbon emission footprint, and can be constructed in many ways due to its modular design. It’s simple form makes this straw and timber home the smartest build within 100 miles of the Twin Cities.
Tags: strawbale
The major constituents in designing my 100 mile house were the program as well as the design issue of incorporating a workspace for someone who works from the home. From my precedent study of the house in the Shawangunks, I took away the notion of compartmentalizing public and private space. I utilized that in the plan of my house by making distinct areas, or zones, according to their function. This starts in the entry, where one can either enter the main space of the house or into the office. If entering the home, a living room, kitchen, and dining area make up the public areas. An L-shaped staircase leading to a lofted space creates the barrier between public and private space; the master bedroom and bathroom are located on the other side.
I also utilized materials to translate the separation of these spaces. Elm flooring was employed for a majority of the house, but its orientation was changed depending on the space. The office floor boards lay vertically while the public area’s boards are horizontal (if facing north). The lofted space is also created using these boards, but in a diagonal direction. I used the diagonal boards to signify that the loft was a different space, it could eventually be a guest room, hobby space, television area, etc. depending on the owner’s needs. I used Dakota Burl flooring from Environ Composites to make up the flooring for the private space to give it a clear separation from the rest of the house.
A majority of the materials I used in the home were local, but I decided to go 30 miles beyond the 100 mile radius and use cedar shingles from Duluth, MN. I decided that the benefits of using these shingles compensated for the fact that they were outside of the radius. This is because the shingles, cut from cedar trees, do not need to be finished to be utilized on the house. Their properties make them durable and able to shed water easily. These shingles have been claimed to work for 100 years, so I feel that they add a durability to the home that would be lacking with other types of shingles.
Another component to the home are the windows. For a majority of the house, I used windows with paned glass on the first floor with large windows reaching up to the second floor. The glass came from Cardinal Glass and the windows were made custom by New Morning Windows. The large windows on the second level are made from a type of frosted glass to maximize natural lighting from the sun as well as privacy. This type of glass inhibits neighbors from being able to see into the home from the second level, which is extremely important in maintaining privacy since there are so many windows.
Aside from the cedar shingles and elm flooring, the house is made on a single stud frame, with the framing pieces being white pine. The interior walls are formed from a lath and plaster system while the exterior is from white pine siding. The foundation is a gravel trench foundation with a fly-ash concrete beam and the insulation used is blown cellulose. To hold up the sloping roof, I used a truss system.
The 100-mile house project was very educational and thought-provoking. Starting with very rudimentary knowledge on how to built a house, I learned a vast amount about each zone of the house. I had my doubts about the possibility of getting all materials for the house within 100 miles, and was surprised with how much we could source locally. I think that there are a few fuzzy areas in this, in that some materials are received from different parts of the world, and then manufactured together within the 100 mile radius. This is basically the same effect as just ordering something from a different part of the world. Yet, I think it is important to consider the manufacturing process as a type of local (although not completely local) because without it, it would be much more difficult, if not nearly impossible, to locate some of these materials. I have really opened up my dialogue with the importance of local materials through this class, and plan on continuing to apply this approach throughout the rest of my career as a student and eventually as a professional.
The Power House is a house where the main goal is to, other from taxes and mortgage, to drop off the radar.
By that I mean that the Residence is designed to be self sufficient in electricity and one day to implement a rain water gathering system to not require that either.
The house is a compact, 3-story home that has 2 bedrooms and 2 and a half baths. The second and third floors are dedicated for only bedrooms and bathrooms while the main floor has a very minimalistic approach on what a house needs to do.
The idea of the house has grown from a place that shelters you from the elements and providing a place to eat and sleep to completely encompass what we as a society do. We live most of our lives now inside structures and can completely forget that nature exists.
This house is to provide a space where someone can come eat, sleep, wash and if need be stay dry until the weather is decent enough to go back outside. The theory behind this house is to get out of it. It is to provide your basic needs and that is about it.
Once thinking on this topic I thought of how big of a burden it would be to have large electrical, heating and cooling bills on something that you are barely in. And so I made this to be a building that can sustain most of what it needs to stay “comfortable.”
“Comfortable” entails basic lighting, decent temperature, not overheating in the summer and at least 65 degrees at a minimum. These needs are met by creating its own electricity though PV panels on the roof and keeping an extremely insulated exterior shell with minimum windows to let light in and a breeze come through but not too many to allow the exterior temperature affect a lot of the interior temperature.
*The wood is harvested in Stacy, MN then brought to Von Vett Construction in Wyoming, MN. He can green-treat the wood that is in contact with the ground as well as kiln or air dry it.
*Roofing is mock-slate made from recycled tires in Isanti, MN
*Siding is reclaimed Red Cedar found on craigslist.com. 12,000 – 15,000 lbf of it was listed.
*Inside finish is plaster on shiplap board.
*Concrete footing is made with fly ash produced in Alma, WI.
*Insulation is Blown Cellulose which is rated at R3.7 p/inch
*Solar panels and windows and doors were located on craigslist.com from within the 100-mile rating as well as tyvek, ice and water shield and tar paper.
Tags: solar
The aim of my project was to design a house that would reference the forms of the small, historic bungalows in south Minneapolis but to put a contemporary spin on them. It is also about recycling, relying heavily on salvaged building materials. I love a mix of old and new, so using a newer version of an old form, made out of old materials was an interesting angle to me. I was going for an eclecticism that would make the house stand out materially but fit in with the shape of its neighbors. I wanted to design a home that would be very livable for a young urban family, which meant an efficient use of indoor space in such a small home. The rooms are small but the high slanted ceilings make the spaces airy and light. Outdoor living is also important so the backyard is very private.
Materiality
My decision to use broken recycled glass bottles and mortar as a decorative cladding had two reasons behind it. First, I liked the aesthetics of a sparkly, colorful material that moves playfully around the building. Second, I wanted anyone walking by the house to recognize it as unique and to understand that this house is about re-use. This material can be made at home, using broken glass bottles that could be sourced at a local recycling plant and mortar, which is sand and fly ash cement. Since sheet rock is not available locally, both the interior and exterior walls are finished with lath and plaster, a historical building method that gives the walls a very textured and hand-made look. With most of the materials being salvaged, the house has a shabby and vintage feel. Combining this materiality with the angular ceilings and jagged facade design reinforces the idea of old meets new.
Salvage
I found salvaged materials for as much of the house as I could. At the ReUse Center in Minneapolis, I found all the windows and doors, then animated them in SketchUp and placed them in the design. They all seemed to be in pretty good condition, but I would advise using storm windows in the winter to make extra-sure there is not much heat loss. While I was at the ReUse Center, I found great kitchen cabinets, lots of wood flooring, and beautiful plumbing fixtures. The roof is made of recycled rubber tire shingles, which are long-lasting and look like wood shakes, so they fit with the materiality of the rest of the house. I found countertops made in Minneapolis out of recycled glass bottles, so I thought that would be a good way to continue the decorative glass motif inside the house, which the fireplace does as well.
Sustainability
I designed my house with a staggered stud wall system on the exterior walls, so that it would have a super-insulated building envelope. The house has a wood-burning fireplace in the most common space of the house to reduce the use of the furnace in winter. The material load of the house was kept as minimal as possible, with a simple floor plan, no major ceiling trusses, and a concrete footing-and-post foundation. The daylighting was carefully designed for each space to maximize interior environmental quality. Low-emission paint and linseed oil wood stain also create a healthy environment. In the backyard, a rain garden helps prevent water runoff and a vegetable garden fosters awareness of living locally.
I think it is possible to build locally. It certainly makes the process of putting up a house more difficult, but those problems can be a positive thing. Such an ethically-responsible home would clearly be worth the effort. I estimated that 3% of my materials came from outside the 100-mile radius. Those two materials are cellulose insulation and concrete, which I need very little of. If a client is motivated to build locally, I think they would generally be okay with salvaged materials, especially if they are used creatively. Personally, I would love to live in a house that combines the old and the new in this way.
Tags: salvage
The N.Orth home is all about the sustainable diet, passive heating, and local materials; and consequentially (or rather by causation) this house embodies the ideals of its “potential client,” and my roommate Nicholas Orth. Here, sustainability meets lifestyle in a place called home. Bay windows welcome precious winter rays; fireplaces provide more than heat: hot food and lasting warmth; gardens are both outdoor and indoor; less is more, and small means cozy; liveliness is local. The abode is constructed from brick (from our neighbors in Bloomington – ACME Och’s Brick and Stone), lumber that may be attained from any one of a number of local and FSC certified sources (like Schlosser Lumber Co. across the border in WI), new efficient windows from a local supplier New Morning Windows and, and recycled windows from Better Homes and Garbage (a salvage contractor). The metal assemblers, fly-ash concrete foundation, and mechanical elements - although not locally produced – were a necessary and essential ingredient.
And these features, as well as a ~94 mile average distance for materials, satisfied the 100-mile house agenda and spirit.
Tags: kachelofen, masonry heater
Precedent studies of the Swedish Summer house aroused some innovative aspects of small buildings that I wished to be included in the 100 mile house project. While the Swedish summer home is ordinarily a place of only limited use – it is a small living environment that provides all the space required for living in a comfortable setting.
Layout – Open plan allows lighting, heat, and life to spread throughout the house. It minimizes waster of unnecessary walls and mass. It creates a mobile and useful space within the entire house.
Heating – The homes are often built around the heat source, sometimes a thermal mass, in order to evenly spread the heat. Wood fired stoves are built into this mass and provide for a variation on the European Kachelofen. In the Studied example, the bathroom was built into the thermal mass to provide better heating.
Lighting – Is based off expansive windows and north facing skylights. The lighting is also used to create a ceiling that does not feel heavy or short. The light is used to make the ceiling feel like a sky and makes the small spaces feel much larger.
While this project focused on local materials, it was also important to integrate the precedent study with a more Minnesotan version. Privacy and a better envelope were needed for everyday living. Because the precedent design was inherently Scandinavian, the Lokal House also needed to include distinctly Minnesotan elements to create a local house.
Privacy – Minneapolis neighborhoods require privacy with regard to outside views. Windows for of the lighting were moved upwards to break the line of sight. Lighting was essential to the form of the building but the picture and view windows of the Swedish Homes had to be changed or limited. Interior privacy and breaks were provided where possible while still allowing a great deal of connection between the spaces.
Envelope – Staggered stud construction on a 10” base plate creates the thermal barrier not present in the Swedish design. The use of windows is scaled back; day lighting and thermal necessity are balanced. The floor is raised and the basement eliminated to provide a stronger insulated package.
Minnesotan – The limestone used as thermal mass was chosen to reflect old construction along the Minneapolis waterfront. The wood for interior walls itself is reclaimed from the site of the newly constructed TCF Bank Stadium. The new wood and reclaimed siding represent Minnesota in both the prairie and forested areas.
Smaller details of the design were focused on simplicity of construction and use. The windows were all designed to fit into the spaces in the 24” staggered stud (12” every stud) construction, to eliminate extra studs for windows. The roof itself was designed in a single plane to create an efficient roof barrier without complex and leaky breaks and pitch changes. The house did not use the footing poles for a frame because of the ease and typical construction technique of stick framing. The foundational combination of the trench and footings creates a building which can both support itself, and be created by the person living in it. The thermal mass and stove are simple shapes to ease with construction; a rough box is easy to create with even an hour of short research. Much was done on this project to create systems that fit together, that were able to be recreated on site, and ultimately buildable by the average tool ready person.
The side entrances and patio are shaped in a way to connect the back yard to the front. It creates a passage that doesn’t necessitate going through the house or living spaces, helping to keep people outside during summer. It also provides direct access to functions inside the house. The front door accesses the kitchen and living room directly; guests are brought straight into activity. The back door is a direct access for the owner to the bedroom, bathroom, and intimate spaces. The door also faces a well at the back, providing a nook for indoor bike storage. Both access points share a common bench and mudroom like hallway, eliminating the extra cost of two entrance points while providing to very different ways of entering the space.
Ultimate solutions reflected a great amount of construction knowledge gleaned during the course. Actually looking at window construction or what material types are available brings our studies much closer to the real world. An example is the wrench thrown into the original design – that 2×16 stringers are probably not possible in Minnesota dues to the size of wood. Instead, parallel chord trusses had to be employed. Despite the added metal, this project itself was created to be a realistic possibility. This ended up benefiting the design by creating an easily run space for electrical and plumbing work, and in the end brought the design forward.
Untouched in some of my drawings is the further development and use. The space was not designed with laundry, or any major systems. Because appliances are often not made locally, they were left for the end while the precedent and form study were the driving forces. The intent was to mount PV panels with a grid tie and net metering – but are optional. The local power buy option could be more efficient. Water systems were left to city water and on demand heat. I do not find it economical in the least to keep heated water around, and geothermal systems simply do not pay out in this region. (Hammond House research, Hammond + Huber).
In all I think the design creates an effective small house that feels large and livable. It can be created without extreme carpentry solutions. The Lokal house is made of mostly local materials, and features them prominently.
As an added bonus, I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much in an Architecture course before. Instead of being taught we got told to figure it out, but guided and keyed in when we needed. It was a workshop, but one of learning. Unfortunately, I’m a little bummed that my project shows nowhere near how much I learned about building materials, conventional building, new materials, orientations, etc. Having real guests come in not only to critique but teach and help us design one-on-one was spectacular. For a course that hadn’t been done before, for one that crammed so much material into a nine week session, I am very impressed. I don’t like school much, but this class was something else. I may not have been smiling every day but it sure made me feel like I’d gotten somewhere in my education.
I began my research for the 100-mile house studying the 5ive house by Shelter Architecture. This house focused on the full range of life styles a family partakes in as well as the differentiation in private and public spaces. I was intrigued by this house and my initial sketches emulate this idea. I wanted to break down the essential needs of a person, or of a family. In order to survive we need clean water, clean air and shelter from the elements. I wanted to create a space that allowed for its occupants to live freely in it while creating minor limitations to their lifestyle. With keeping all of these elements in mind, I wanted to create a unique house full of character.
For clean water and air, rainwater is collected off the sloping roofs to be used as irrigation or for installation of a grey water system. Numerous recent studies show the effects that chemicals used in our daily lives are affecting us; although some may not have immediate reactions. For clean air I wanted to use a structural and insulative system which is chemical free. Straw bales seemed the most obvious answer for me as the character in the bales and movement in the plastering adds personality to the interior and exterior of the structure.
The layout of my 100-mile house has an open public space and closed in private space. Walking in you are opened up to a living room, dining room and kitchen area. Two bedrooms, a bathroom and utility room are accessed through a door at the end of the house by the kitchen. I also made the plan rather small, just under 1000 square feet. In doing this the owners are encouraged not to buy new items to be placed in their house but to find alternate uses for other materials to accomplish tasks as storage space is minimal.
The materials I have chosen are all local. For my foundation, rock and sand can be found locally in Minneapolis and tires can be salvaged from junk yards. For my flooring system, I will use local reclaimed wood; I suggest using emerald bore ash wood. For flooring insulation cellulose will be used from recycled newspaper or denim jeans. My wall structure will be formed from straw bales from Minnesotan farms, and plaster. The plaster will be made from sand and lime found at a local quarry. For my roofing system cellulose will again be used as insulation and wood for framing. Reclaimed tar paper and rubber shingles will top off the house. To heat in the winter, since the bales have an R value of 40, I have chosen to use a pellet stove, so the owner can use at his or her discretion. Since bales are about three feet long, I have segmented my plans out according to this forcing all openings to abide by this regimentation.
Obtaining all materials for a house within 100 miles is a great idea and it can be accomplished, although most don’t want to take the time to research how it can be attained. Someone moving into a house that they picked out the materials for and met the farmer who made the bales takes more pride in your house, adds character, and doesn’t end up being another cookie cutter house. Supporting local economies and local businesses matters; it’s not just about importing materials from another country, but really understanding why you need that and if there is another way to accomplish a task. Although it can be possible to construct a structure with materials within 100 miles, I do feel it is a game of give and take. If something has a life span tenfold of a product 500 miles closer, I would buy the more durable product so multiple local products won’t end up in the landfill. Thousands of tons of building materials end up in the landfill each year, if people start building like our 100-mile houses, not only will we redirect these materials from the landfills, but we will spend less money and waste less raw materials.
Jenn Corazzo
Tags: strawbale
The Idea behind the 100 mile house I designed was to incorporate the main ideas I found to be local in this region. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Minnesota is “The North Woods”. This is what I began to design my house around. Taking this idea that Minnesota is known for having large forest regions, I decided that I would try to create a house using wood as much as possible throughout its construction. In my opinion I would consider wood to be a fairly sustainable building material considering the fact that there is a fairly large abundance of trees throughout Minnesota and also the fact that we are able to plant and grow more trees, unlike other building materials such as steel or concrete.
Starting with the foundation and decided I would use White Pine or Reclaimed timber pilings that would be driven into the ground to support the structure. This eliminates the need for any other materials beside wood for the foundation. These pilings would also continue up through each floor revealing its main structure on the interior. I planned on using 2×4 stick framing construction for the walls and decided to use Pine shiplap sheathing on the interior and exterior. Pine siding would cover the exterior shiplap to protect it from the elements. To try and stick with my theme of using the same material throughout the buildings construction, I decided to use 100% recycled Newsprint Insulation. The newsprint paper is made out of the pulp from wood. The floors have maple flooring over pine shiplap and to top it all off the roof would be covered with Pine Shakes.
The process of the design started with where the building is located. The North Woods, the outdoors, and its large open areas with flooding daylight have inspired the design of this house. Using a material that is found largely throughout Minnesota and incorporating it from the foundation to the roof, the house incorporates wood in just about every aspect.
Tags: piling
When approaching the 100-mile house, I wanted to create a layout that was centered around spaces for social interaction. In response, my floor plan has a large open span on the right-hand side. The kitchen, dining room, and family room are all open and interconnected to engender social interaction and flowing movement. The table in the dining room and the hearth found in the living room are two main components of the eating and social spaces. A central galley walk-way is bound by two wood columns and serves as a circulation path from the front to the rear of the home. Found to the left-hand side of the galley is where all of the private spaces are compiled together. These private spaces include an office/guest bedroom, bathroom, and utility/laundry room. Upstairs, there is a private master suite with a walk-in closet, bathroom, and sitting area.
As far as materiality and systems go, I wanted my house to embrace a mixture of technology, reclaimed and new materials from local sources. With these ideas in mind, I chose to use a dry-stacked limestone foundation. The limestone can be obtained locally from the quarry in Shakopee, MN owned by Bryan Rock. I have also chosen to buy a listed old barn from Kerkhoven, MN (approx. 101 miles). The barn is 30’x60’ and has plenty of wood siding, large columns, beams, and tin panels. The wood from the barn will be used as much as possible for siding, shiplap, lath, flooring, columns, beams, and dimensional lumber throughout the home. The wood will be taken to “Wood from the Hood” in Minneapolis to be re-cut to dimension if needed. Concerning finishes for the interior walls, a lath and plaster technique will be applied. The plaster will be mixed from local sand and lime obtained from Bryan Rock. I also made the conscious decision to pick out new, salvaged doors and windows from Building Materials Outlet (BMO) in Eagan, MN. Many of the windows at the Reclaim Center are old, single-pained, and not very energy efficient. As a result, I chose to have new windows from BMO that were double-pained for the better thermal properties and energy efficiency. Lastly, I searched Craigslist for Tyvek house wrap. I was able to locate some rolls of the material locally; however, more will be needed to fully encompass the house. Buying the Tyvek that is available locally does help bring more localities to the house design, however.
Overall, this 100-mile house is built from materials that can be obtained as locally as possible. The only exceptions of materials that cannot be obtained within 100-miles are the house wrap, roof and flooring underlayment. All of these materials are not made in Minnesota and are transported here for sale. The remaining materials and energy sources are all from the 100-mile radius and create energy locally. As it has been seen from research, it is next to impossible to design a home that is completely 100% local. There is always some natural resource or some manufactured part that isn’t provided here. However, with the trade-offs of energy efficiency and justification for use, a home in the Twin Cities area can be made local.
Laura Schultz
The home I designed is about spending time together as a family and connecting the home to nature. The client is a young couple with two young children. The most commonly used areas of a home, the living room and kitchen, are located on the south side of the home to maximize daylighting and solar access. These rooms were designed to be large, so there is plenty of room for the family to play together as the children grow up. The kitchen is a large U shape with a dining table in the center, with the hope that the family will sit down together for at least one meal every day. In order to more prominently integrate the home with nature, I placed an outdoor patio/courtyard between the kitchen and living room. This space will feature natural landscaping and will serve as an outdoor gathering and dining space. The more private and lesser used aspects of the home – the bedrooms, bathroom, and utilities – are located along the north side of the building. I wanted the home to have plenty of windows to let in natural light and provide ventilation, but I was cautious to not add too many to preserve the privacy of the occupants.
The site features a large vegetable garden in the front yard for the family to grow their own food in. There is a two-car garage and a smaller storage shed at the back of the site. Between the home and storage buildings is an open back yard so the children have room to play outside. The site will be surrounded by hedges of native shrubbery, and small landscape features with locally native plants will occur throughout the yard. These plants will add beauty to the site without requiring additional watering because they are native to this climate.
I wanted nature to resonate throughout the home through the use of natural materials. Not only are all the components of my home local, but many of them are also natural and sustainably harvested wherever reasonably possible. The major materials in my home are sustainably harvested wood and reclaimed barnwood. The foundation is a gravel trench foundation made from recycled class 5 rubble with a fly ash concrete grade beam. All the windows and doors were salvaged locally.
Dan Stein
Passive/Aggressive Haus
To embrace local design at a conceptual level, the aim of my house is to not only be from Minnesota, but to in fact be Minnesotan. The design not only prioritizes the use of local materials, but examines what makes us unique as Minnesotans. The first driving concept of the home is a rethinking of the traditional Midwestern split-level home. A staple of Metro area suburbs, the split-level thrives on building below grade. With the 100-mile design constraints, a basement is no longer a practical solution, so the way space is organized within the split-level home must be reworked.
Secondly, although the house is located in the dense urban fabric of Northeast Minneapolis, design strategies can be used to exploit the natural aesthetic that is so prevalent throughout Minnesota. Using wood wherever possible not only provides a reasonable solution to local constraints, but creates the feel of an “urban cabin”.
The design process began at the drafting board by analyzing what a split level home is, which would lead to a better understanding of how to manipulate it within the constraints of the course. In its’ simplest state, the split level is three interlocked volumes; two primary volumes a level apart that serve as living space, and an secondary volume at an intermediate elevation to act as a circulation space. The design treats the intermediate “split-level” of the home in a traditional sense; as the main entry on the street-facing side. However, because the lower level of the home is built at grade, the split level is now elevated off the ground. There is a secondary exit at grade so that climbing a half-flight of stairs is not necessary to enter and exit the home.
In examining design precedents for the course, I researched several German PassivHaus designs, which are typically insulated with a continuous thermal envelope. While this house is not super-insulated to the extent of its European counterpart, the absence of a basement allows for an insulated floor frame, keeping heat from being lost through the foundation. Much like the PassivHaus designs, this house uses the relationship of volumes to create and organize space. Each floor frame is essentially a 24 foot square space, but by offsetting each volume 3 feet in either direction, two new spaces are created – a 12 foot by 6 foot entry vestibule at ground level, and an equally sized roof terrace on the second floor. Meanwhile, while the usable space in the building has essentially grown by 150 square feet, the building’s footprint and impact on the site have remained the same.
In an attempt to stay true to my conceptual statement – having a house that embodies the values and culture of Minnesota life –raw materials outside the 100-mile radius prioritized in-state locality over geographic proximity. For example, windows made primarily in Warroad, Minnesota (over 300 miles away) were deliberately chosen over similar wood-frame products from Central Wisconsin; nearly half the distance to the site. Although the house is 88% “local” with respect to the 100-mile constraint, it is a far-more impressive 99% Minnesotan, the only exception being fly ash from a coal plant on the MN/WI border.
Jeremy Stock
Tags: split level
My 100-mile house design intent is to use reclaimed materials and create a serene, comfortable environment. The house utilizes a timber frame structure, a dry laid limestone foundation and cellulose insulation.
The house has a rustic and worn look due to the worn nature of the materials. The layout of the main level is open with a focus on entertaining and gathering around the fireplace. There is a kitchen and dining area, a living room area and a library wall with seating. The upstairs loft is where the bedroom, bathroom and office are located. This separation of public and private space allows for the ease of entertaining without the need to close off space on the main level.
The appeal and interest of the building is due to repetition and pattern in the materials. The timber frame is laid out in an even grid. There are trusses to support the white reclaimed corrugated metal roof. The peak of the roof is offset and filled with operable windows for natural ventilation. The cladding is composed of brown reclaimed corrugated metal and 12”x12” timbers. The timbers are assembled in an interlocking and alternating fashion, creating a rhythm and exterior surface to the house. The timber frame provides support for the cladding as well as for the interior wall finish, which is reclaimed wood from the ReUse center. The wood strips are 4 inches wide and vary in color and length, which is ideal for the aesthetic. Between the timber wall and the wood strips is a gap of space that will be protected with a vapor barrier and filled with cellulose insulation. If any of the materials are visible between the strips of wood, the better. The overall design of the house is raw and encourages materials to show their natural behaviors. The horizontality in the wall timbers, interior wall wood strips and deck railing contrasts with the verticality of metal cladding on the upper portion of the house. A vertical and horizontal criss cross clash relates to the pattern of the grid of the timber frame unifying the overall building with small details.
Since the home is located on a lot with houses on both sides, it is important to have privacy and feel like you have enough light in an open space. The timber walls are assembled in such a way to let light enter the house in strips through a translucent material. The light diffuses brightly into the house through the wall opening and through the roof windows. The clerestory like strip of light illuminates the house during the day, eliminating the need for electric lights during the day. The decks allow the residents to enjoy the outdoors in both the front and back of the house. The reason for the timber frame along side the deck on the back of the house is to help shield from the neighbors and provide a secluded area for the family to eat outside in the summer. The front deck is more exposed to neighbors but larger in size than the back deck. This allows the resident to enjoy the nice weather from a different view and up higher.
Using reclaimed materials was one of my main goals for the project. All appliances, fixtures and furniture pieces are reused and found from craigslist. The wood is harvested in Minnesota and most is reclaimed. The timber framing and metal cladding is salvaged from a disassembled pole barn in Minnetonka. The barn materials provided most of the building materials with the exception of the timbers for the walls. They are to be milled in North Branch. This design project is an amazing opportunity to learn about the embodied energy that goes into making a single house. There are local solutions and design strategies that can be overlooked if locality is not on the agenda. The local deign concept is a great way to think outside the box and be resourceful.
-Mandy Chial
Mud Utilization Dwelling
The concept of a 100-mile house seems really great at first, and overall it still is a good idea to use local materials whenever possible. I find that I am more inclined to use local products when I can, but there are consequences to designing within a 100-mile radius. Doing so may waste less energy in the shipping the materials, but there are a few cons to consider: local materials are many times more expensive, they are not always as durable, they may cause a house to waste more energy over its life time as opposed to in shipping. That being said, if there is a local source of material that is truly beneficial, then one should try to use it.
As for my design concept of my house, I was really captivated by my discovery of Cast Earth. I really think it’s great to use such an abundant material in a way that I find truly beautiful. It was a focus on this material and passive design that really drove the design of my house. Another factor was my enjoyment of the natural surroundings I grew up in; soaring limestone bluffs and forested river valleys. My house works to do a little bit of evoking the feelings I have towards that area.
The result was a house that made some somewhat literal references to a soaring bluff and forest. The thickness of the wall caused by using Cast Earth created a long and narrow space within the walls. And the windows were carefully sized and placed to reduce the amount of metal needed to create them. They are also placed so that many of them line up with a wall so that they cast light along the surface of the Cast Earth walls. The width of the all but a few windows is equal to the width of the walls: 2 feet. In more private areas of the house the windows are a 2 foot by 2 foot square. In public areas they reach heights of 6 to 8 feet.
The passive design techniques incorporated into the house consist of using the thick, dark walls and floor as a thermal mass to provide heat in the winter and to cool the space in the summer. 4 foot overhangs are added on the house to provide shade in the summer and to protect the Cast Earth from the weather. The birch tree walls at the front and back of the house function as a wind break during the winter and provide more protection for the Cast Earth walls. A few evergreen trees have been placed in the northwest corner of the lot to protect from winter winds. Deciduous trees are on the south. Another feature is the angle of the roof; the whole roof is slanted towards the back of the house where a rain barrel can collect rainwater during the warmer months. The HVAC system in the house consists only of a pellet furnace and a water heater. No air conditioning is used because of the thick walls and large roof overhangs.
When thinking of the spaces inside and outside the house, I used the idea of my client being a couple that like to entertain a fair amount. The downstairs is meant for more private use by the couple, and includes their bedroom and master bathroom. Upstairs is where the kitchen, dining room, entertaining room, and two elevated decks that surround much of the house are located. Guests enter the house on the east and are greeted by a stairway the leads upstairs.
Overall I would describe my house in the following way: a passive house that evokes nature and is meant to provide space for people to interact.
Luke Corson
Tags: cast earth
Locality is not only about local materials. It encompasses much more than just the wood used in a home, it also speaks to human health, the environment, and economics. My 100 mile house is about 3 key elements. It is about bringing the outside inside, transparency/views, and materiality.
First, this house is about bringing the outside inside. The center of this little home is a courtyard in which different varieties of plants can grow. It consists of small trees, flowers and bushes. The reason that this courtyard space is important is not only because the client wanted a open space, but also because of the idea behind the courtyard. This entire semester we have talked about locality and what it means to be local. The obvious answer to that question is that all the construction materials come from the area. However, many other ideas of locality also surfaced within discussion such as community, health, connectivity, economics, the environment, etc. Local is not only about the materials used, but it also encompasses this idea of connecting the community and people together to create a healthier way of life. The courtyard is an area for this family to enjoy and is symbolic of many of the qualities that we are looking for when constructing a local project. The courtyard creates healthy air for the family (thanks to the indoor landscaping), and it connects the family and community together by creating a relaxing and beautiful area that can be used and enjoyed all year round by the home owner and guests.
The second key element to my design is transparency and views. This house is constructed mainly of wood. However, I found that it was very important to not just cover up all the wood. If we are going to create a completely local project, I feel that it is important to show that it is all local. We want people to drive by, or walk in, and realize that there is something different about this house. My 100 mile house is full of areas in which the studs are exposed. The openness shows off the materiality as well as allows for very interesting views and wide open spaces for light to flow through.
Lastly is materiality. All of my materials used are from within 100 miles. I used wood studs, cedar shakes, wood shingles, lath and plaster walls, etc. Everything from the foundation up is found within the 100 miles. When we build using materials from within 100 miles, we create work for local businesses and keep the area that we live in economically healthy and stable.
Iman Mitchell
Tags: courtyard
My 100 Mile House is all about the skeleton, the bones, the structure. It is about celebrating and displaying the beauty of the structure. I am designing for a family who has a child with Spina bifida, a spinal-skeletal birth defect. Therefore, the house will also be wheelchair accessible.
In my first precedent, I explored the Amish tradition of barn raising. I was fascinated by the craftsmanship and quality of the timber frame structure, while using a minimal amount of metal bracketing and screws. I also took note of the Amish community’s self-sufficiency, collaboration, and interdependence. The social framework was equally important to the quality of the wooden framework of the barn.
When designing my 100 Mile House, I was inspired by pretending I was part of a project from ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Although it is a national TV show, it gives a lesson on what it means to be local. Entire communities and corporations volunteer their time, skills, and appliances to give a deserving family an entirely new home in one week. The social aspect of getting a lot of people involved is something I wanted to bring to my project. It takes a lot of input energy to motivate and utilize a large group of people’s energy, but I see people as a renewable source of endless energy! (Plus, we have a surplus.)
My definition of local developed a structure of its own. To me, it is local if you know the person connected to the material in a 1:1 ratio. It requires self-sufficiency and deters from paying a middleman off. For example, take a piece of wood. If you research that Tom Bishell has a mill 20 miles away, and you physically go there to get the wood that is harvested on site; that is local. If you go five miles to Menards where a sales associate directs you out back to the lumberyard; that is not local. For my project, all of the 1:1 connections between all the people and their materials formulated its own network.
The structure of my house not only utilizes locally milled wood, the action and methods in which the wood is used is also, by definition, local. Mortise and tenon joints are employed in order to minimize the need for extra bracing materials. The wood is cut and prepared in such a way that its strength lies in the 1:1 interconnection of two pieces of wood, without any screws. This method, however, requires a lot of precision, preparation and time commitment. Good thing my client’s family has many willing people to volunteer their time and skills.
As seen in the plans, the timber frame structure allows for an open floor plan. This is beneficial for wheelchair accessibility, as walls and doorframes are hard to maneuver. As seen in the wall section, other local materials are used such as recycled denim insulation, glass from locally quarried silica sand, oakum sealant from hemp and pine tar, linseed oil treated lumber, and a fly ash concrete foundation. As seen in the elevations, the pitched roof and traditional style give this special house a sense of “being normal,” a feeling that someone in a wheelchair desires.
Teresa J. Logemann
Tags: accessible, timber frame
After thinking about various ways to make my design look industrial and heavy I found much of my design was defined and inspired by the recycled materials I found. During the design process I visited Bauer Bros, which is a local salvage yard of building materials. The first time I went there I just spent the time looking through everything they had and took pictures of potential materials I wanted to use. Once I had a photo library of materials I could use I began to design with them in mind. The height of my floors was determined by a metal staircase that Bauer Bros had. The exterior cladding of my design was also heavily influenced by the reclaimed material I found. There were tons of old corrugated metal paneling at the salvage yard. The size of each panel ended up defining the shape of my windows on the facades. I chose to completely redesign my windows to make them fit into the pattern the paneling created. There were many other pieces of salvaged materials that I used as well. Using salvaged materials definitely added to my industrial look, the hardest part is rendering my design to actually appear weathered like the materials are. Here is the picture of the salvaged staircase and a rendering of the interior of my home.
Mike Stark
Tags: salvage
Here’s a good link for information about staggered-stud framing.
Decatur, Georgia, by Robert Cain, 2009
The Rain Shine House is a LEED Platinum Home. It was built for a retired couple. Everything this couple needs is located on the main floor so they don’t have to change levels. The materials used are all low toxic and low VOC. All the appliances are high efficiency and Energy Star rated. This house features a unique butterfly roof that captures rainwater and stores it in a 500-gallon cistern. The roof contains PV solar panels that collect all the electricity they need. Also there are windows directly under the roof that brings light in 360 degrees around the house. They can be opened to allow for great natural ventilation or sunshades can be lowered if the house is getting too warm. Many materials used for the interior have been recycled or salvaged. The landscape uses all native plants and there is no grass. Careful planting of trees help shade they house. There is no garage because the owners like to ride their bikes, and it encourages for a walkable community.
Galley House was design by Donald Chong. The building is on a lot that is only 16 feet wide and has a 3 foot set back on one side resulting in a house only 13 feet wide. This house is of interest for a few different reasons:
1. It shows that a house can be beautiful and functional without being very large.
2. It responds to its site and works with what is available rather than trying to be a normal house squeezed into a small space.
3. The arrangement of the spaces in relation to the windows was important because two sides of the house can’t have them due to fire codes.
Galley House front facade and neighbors
(photo courtesy of http://www.toronto.ca/tuda/winners/2007/2007_building _awardex_galley.htm)
This house represents what I would like to bring to the 100-mile house design because I prefer smaller houses that require less material and energy overall, and because the 100-mile house will have to work with what is available (be that space, materials, etc.).
Luke Corson
The Seike House II is a steel and glass construction house in Japan by Kiyoshi Seike. I chose this house because of it’s small footprint and open floor plan. All the major utility spaces like kitchen and bathroom are condensed into a smaller corner of the room while the rest of the floor plan is relatively wide open. They were able to rearrange and create new spaces throughout the house by installing and moving around plywood panels that are covered with a fabric. This material is also used to create storage and shelving units. This idea of being able to change and adapt your house to new functions as your family changes and grows I think is what caught my attention the most. A typical house in the US generally has very solid and defined spaces that cannot be changed or addapted to any other purpose and generally limits the function of the house. The small footprint of the house also allows a person to have more freedom when deciding how and where to place it on a lot. A typical city lot is generally about 30′ by 100′ and this house has a footprint of about 20′x40′, which leaves a lot of extra room for other things on the property and also means less material use. I think one challenge will be determining which local materials I can use in the structure that can acomplish the same things the steel does in this house.
Given the surrounding site conditions, Joachim Wendt’s Einfamilienhaus (literally translating to ‘single family residence’) built in 2005 stands in unique contrast to its neighboring buildings. The timber frame construction formal geometries on the interior are contrasted on the outside of the building with simple aluminum frame windows and standing seam metal siding, making the building itself a combination of architectural styles – reflecting the amalgam of styles contained in Darmstadt.
The patterns of city development in Western Europe had formal implications on Wendt’s design – namely that the site would have to be exploited creatively to make the home as efficient as possible. Wendt took advantage of these constraints to make his design creative and energy efficient. Not only does the home have a small footprint (roughly 25 feet square), but the south-facing orientation of the gable roof allows for maximum solar gain. Furthermore, the home’s thick walls reduced thermal bridging to the outdoors, helping to trap heat inside during the winter months, and keep it outdoors during the summer.
Jeremy Stock
The Y House is a single-family home on a small, narrow lot in Saitama, Japan. To utilize the small amount of space, the architect included a large privacy screen at the front of the house as a major element, which creates well-lit but sheltered outdoor space on the first and second floors which allows the living area to extend outside the house. I find modern Japanese houses very interesting in general, because they represent very innovative responses to limited space. This home is generous for a three-person family by Japanese standards, but it still displays the spatial efficiency and incorporation of small but well-designed outdoor spaces to extend living area, as seen in many Japanese homes. A slideshow of this home is available on Dwell’s website.
-Sam Walker
Photo: BAU|KULTUR
The Wohnhaus in Enns, Austria is a single-family home built by the architecture firm BAU|KULTUR in 2006. What I found interesting about this house is how extremely open it is and how connected to nature you feel in the house. There are two blocks in the center of the house that contain the bedrooms and the bathroom. Each of these blocks provides just enough privacy for the residents without closing them off from nature. The way we think about the typical spaces that make up a house are drastically changed in this house. The kitchen is a simple L shaped counter on the backside of the bedroom while the dining room is the space that lies between the two blocks of the house. The study, library and living room are essentially over-sized hallways. This house also has an interesting structural system than what we typically use. The two room blocks in the center of the house support the roof plate which cantilevers out, allowing for any arrangement of the facade/cladding. The house uses mostly glass to clad the home butits thoroughly glazed so it still has good thermal properties. This house serves a good way to think about redesigning the shape and layout of space for our 100-mile-house.
-Kyle Johnstone
3773 Studio was a project by DRY Design in Los Angeles, CA. It was designed in place of a code-mandated detached garage, so it is a guest house/work studio on the property of a larger house. However, it can be used as a fully functioning residence, since its innovative design packs an entire home into the small space. I was drawn to this project because of its materiality; it uses beautiful wood beam construction for both structure and aesthetics. Since wood is one of the easiest local materials in the Twin Cities, I was looking for a home that took advantage of the versatility of wood. The most unique feature of this house is the loft that is hung from the rafters, adding a room where there would otherwise be unused space. Personally, I would love to live up there, but it doesn’t afford much privacy; this house would clearly be best for someone without children. As far as sustainability goes, the house was built using many materials recycled from the previous garage. It was designed to be passively heated and cooled through good ventilation, so it does not need an air conditioning unit. Its large glass double doors open the space to the outdoors, taking advantage of southern California’s warm climate. 3773 Studio is very site- and climate-responsive. It has a bamboo palate that absorbs the water coming from an outdoor shower. There are several gardens on the property, and it was designed to blend well with the surrounding landscape, with no one element taking attention away from the landscape.