Habitat for Humanity Takes a Modern Tack
The longtime nonprofit has half a million homes around the world under its belt. A new book details some of the noteworthiest
Since Habitat for Humanity's founding in 1976, the nonprofit and its volunteers have built more than 500,000 houses internationally. Yet the ambition to provide shelter for those in need has not always been met with equal architectural ambition. Most of the houses are traditional in terms of form and construction, stemming from the places where they're built, the appeal of traditional forms and the volunteer labor. But these and other factors have not stopped Habitat from trekking into areas where typical single-family houses are more difficult to realize — or from working with architects to explore alternatives.
Designed for Habitat, a new book from David Hinson and Justin Miller of Auburn University (the school that is home to the famous design-build Rural Studio), takes in-depth looks at a baker's dozen of Habitat projects that involve architects or design-build programs at architecture schools. This ideabook highlights three projects from the book that take a modern design approach.
Designed for Habitat, a new book from David Hinson and Justin Miller of Auburn University (the school that is home to the famous design-build Rural Studio), takes in-depth looks at a baker's dozen of Habitat projects that involve architects or design-build programs at architecture schools. This ideabook highlights three projects from the book that take a modern design approach.
Designed for Habitat
Of the 13 projects detailed in the book, seven are collaborations with architects and six are collaborations with architecture schools. Each project profile provides the same information: project timeline, "catalysts for collaboration," design process, construction process, lessons learned and floor plans, along with photographs.
1. EcoMOD4, Charlottesville, Virginia
One of the houses in collaboration with an architecture school is the ecoMOD4 project, with the University of Virginia (UVA) and Habitat for Humanity Greater Charlottesville. The house is the fourth ecoMOD project, which is UVA's initiative to utilize advanced construction techniques and technologies to create houses that gobble up fewer resources in both construction and operation. The projects involve both architecture and engineering students.
One of the houses in collaboration with an architecture school is the ecoMOD4 project, with the University of Virginia (UVA) and Habitat for Humanity Greater Charlottesville. The house is the fourth ecoMOD project, which is UVA's initiative to utilize advanced construction techniques and technologies to create houses that gobble up fewer resources in both construction and operation. The projects involve both architecture and engineering students.
The "MOD" of the ecoMOD name refers to modular construction, meaning that much of the house is built offsite, in controlled factory conditions, then trucked to the site to be completed. The ecoMOD4 house consists of two large modules, one for the living spaces on the ground floor and one for the bedrooms upstairs.
As indicated, the two-story house has bedrooms stacked above the living spaces. The T-shaped plan arises from the limitations of shipping the modules, but it also creates well-scaled rooms inside. For reference, the street visible in the first photos of the house is to the right on the plan; therefore the deck (7) is on the opposite side of the house.
Callison Architecture provided planning services for the project, initially putting a dozen units in one building. But residents of the area did not want a large building among the fabric of single-family houses, so Callison revised the plan to provide 10 houses. They are oriented in a U shape at one end of a block. Single-story houses (1) are on 24th and 25th streets, while two-story houses front Roxbury.
Sundberg agreed to take on the pro bono project (all the architects in the book donated their services) if the houses could be modern. He produced Pacific Northwest modern structures that are hardly contradictory to the context, even as the typical gable is inverted with a butterfly roof.
3. Two Homes in Portland, Oregon
The third project is made up of two houses, a two-bedroom and a four-bedroom. Designed by architects Scott Mooney and David Posada in a competition sponsored by the regional U.S. Green Building Council, the project was realized by Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East with relatively minor changes that didn't impact the green building attributes of the design.
The third project is made up of two houses, a two-bedroom and a four-bedroom. Designed by architects Scott Mooney and David Posada in a competition sponsored by the regional U.S. Green Building Council, the project was realized by Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East with relatively minor changes that didn't impact the green building attributes of the design.
This rendering shows an early version of the one-story two-bedroom in the foreground and the two-story four-bedroom beyond; a low roof (not built — the design was a duplex in the early stages but then changed to single-family houses later) connects the two houses and defines part of a shared courtyard. Note the photovoltaic panels on the roof of the four-bedroom house, which were planned but unfortunately not built when a donor for the system was not found.
Green building features are evident in this rendered section. While solid walls on the two-bedroom face the courtyard, clerestory windows allow for natural ventilation through the house; similar ventilation is found with the four-bedroom's narrow footprint. Given that both roofs slope toward the courtyard, this outdoor space is natural for rainwater collection; the collection system is visible beneath the courtyard.