Fall 2002

Student housing for Prescott College

This project for a liberal arts college whose focus is the environment required that the maximum level of sustainable practices are employed. The client also challenged the students to produce a sustainable building at the same cost as a standard building.

This project began with a series of meetings with students faculty and administration staff. The program was developed as a result of these dialogs.

The brief developed for this is project required a high level of sustainability and a low budget. Located in a residential neighborhood with one frontage facing a residential street it was required to fit in with the scale of the housing

Designed to create a secluded courtyard incorporating a wetland pre-treatment system the single story residential blocks are passively heated and cooled and feature both water catchment areas and living roof systems.

Skylights enable passive solar heating to all rooms. Lofts for sleeping or storage are a feature of individual rooms here the shared areas show light penetration to the back of each building

El Salvador development

A redesign of a standard development plan for low income housing for a client working in El Salvador. The client required a more sustainable approach to the project without sacrificing the number of units on the lot. A high level of research was required to understand the culture El Salvador and what would be acceptable to the target market.

The client for this project had an engineered plan for the site which had few positive features. The central “green space was a government requirement for new development. The road grid passed every building lot. No natural features of the site were acknowledged.

Research determined that there was a potential for encouraging a local small scale economy. This led to looking at ways to configure the buildings to encourage that possibility. The concept was to create spaces where many potential activities could occur.

Alternative configurations were studied to provide a variety of spaces on the site. It was important to keep lot line as the potential was for individuals to buy a lot or an extended family to purchase a group of lots.

The final design for sustainability included the same number of units but had extra open space that was distributed throughout the development. Biological wetland treatment systems treated the graywater. Composting toilets were incorporated to reduce the possibility of groundwater contamination. Spaces for community buildings and a small shopping center were also added. While each lot has a vehicle access, a one way system makes walking a more viable option for short journeys. A small local industrial area was identified.

Construction materials were selected for local availability and acceptability. The walls are constructed with rammed blocks which use a manual hydraulic ramming process. The manufacture of these blocks from local earth could become a local small industry.

The building plan was kept simple to allow for owner building. The main structural walls are the exterior walls allowing the owner to position interior walls to meet their own needs. The open porch can be used for sleeping or can be enclosed to create another room at a later date.

The materials reflect acceptable local materials and the building form echoes indigenous buildings. The color indicates the kind of vibrant paints that are used on local buildings. In a hot humid climate cross ventilation is achieved by opening shutters that also provide night time security. High and low small vents also allow cross ventilation when the
large windows are open.

This perspective shows the two building cluster forms and the kind of open spaces within and around these clusters.