Creating Communities for the Broadmoor Area
Our goal from the beginning of the project was to design a home in which would enrich not only the lives of its inhabitants, but the lives of the greater community. This project wasn’t about having the most modern design, or using the newest building materials and products; The primary goal for this project was help re-build the Broadmoor community into a vivacious, connected, and rich community though housing that was designed to foster such attributes. By focusing the many required disciplines and practices it takes to build a home, on the central goal of creating communities, you maximize the potential of each and every element of the home, as well as the potential of each and every person in the Broadmoor area.
Design
In keeping with the established context of the neighborhood, our home features the Shotgun Style housing oft seen in the area. This style of housing offers us the ability to provide the future owners with many options in which the home can be oriented, depending on it’s occupants. You will see on our “Flex Plan” that we have 4 different variations in which this house can oriented to fit the occupants needs. Having Private spaces that can be tailored to a specific owner will help the owner use the home more efficiently and allow them to enjoy the home in the manner that best suits them.
Having inviting and accessible Public spaces was an important aspect of our design. Having both a front and back porch allows the owners to use the space with their neighbors for socializing, dinners and company. The front porch assisted in expanding the area of the living room by adding both visual and tangible area to the plan so the owners can easily have multiple guest in their home, and be able to connect with those outside their home. The side porch give added space to the kitchen area and allows the owner to use the porch area as an added seating and dining area for any event that will happen in the home.
The design of the home uses multiple strategies that allow the owner to passively condition the air inside the home. By using the Shotgun home style, we were able to use the main hallway of the house as a ventilation path to help cool the entire home, as well as using the lower operable window panes to cross-ventilate the home. Coupling this, with a very efficient water-to-air heat exchanger to both cool and heat the home, we allowed to owner to have a home that will not only be comfortable to occupy, but also affordable to occupy as well. Also, this home has already been verified as an Energy Star Home by a third party source. This project will attain LEED Platinum with a point score of 107.
From the outside of the home you will notice native vegetation that will be in balance with the exterior of the home. We will have a rainscreen exterior envelope that will allow the home to stay moisture tight, energy efficient, and also connect with the native landscape that will surround the home. By using natural resources to clad the home, our home will be grounded to the landscape, function at a highly efficient level, as well as beautify the area in which it resides. The rainscreen will help keep the home cool by taking on the heat and cold loads of the outside and buffering them from the interior areas of the home.
Cost Estimation and Construction Strategies
In our cost estimation, we incorporated many ideas that will enhance the homes benefit to the community. First, we have priced this home using labor wages that are at a Prevailing Wage level. By making sure our construction budget was established around fair wage rates for the area, not only are we bringing in good homes for the area, but also good jobs and wages for the people of this area to bring home. We feel this was very important for the community aspect our home. By making sure each and every contractor is paying fair wages to their workers, this home will perpetuate the growth and success of this neighborhood.
We used pricing found on-line at the local Home Depot to confirm the pricing on all the home appliances. All appliances for the home have the Energy Star Rating. For compiling the costs of the concrete, wood, steel and other general building materials, we used the average of these costs for the local area as found in ENR 2010 publications. In doing this, we are turning over a verified budget for the homes. By better knowing where the costs of the homes are, all who are responsible for design and construction will know the homes more intimately and therefore, provide the people of the Broadmoor Community with the best, most efficient home possible.
This home will be constructed in a manner that will increase the longevity of the home over standard, spec-constructed homes. We could have chosen some less valuable materials for the home, that would have lowered our budget, but instead we chose to provide the owner with the materials and finishes that would best serve their needs and desires. By having re-claimed wood in the public areas, we allow any disabled owner/occupant of the home to have better accessibility throughout the home, as well as beautify the home using sustainable building materials. In the private areas, we have chosen to use tile flooring that will again, assist the owner/occupant’s accessibility, but also define the private area of the home, and provide a cool flooring surface that will increase the comfort the home for its owner.
In order to address the wind and storm loads and conditions the home will face, we have chosen specific elements of the exterior to that will function in many capacities in order to provide the most sound, and efficient exterior construction for the home. The home will be built using stick-frame wood construction using pre-cut engineered floor joists, 2x6 wall framing, and 2x8 roof framing with ridge beam covered with a metal standing-seam roof, will allow us to limit material waste, use conventional building strategies, and quickly construct the homes. Each of the floor, wall and roof support members will be set of 2’ on center spacing so that they align with each other creating a diaphragm of strength for the home, so that all areas and locations of the home can equally displace wind and storm loads. In addition, we will be using Hurricane Resistant Z-Max galvanized Simpson Strong-Tie Hold downs at the concrete column-to-flooring rim joists connection, joists hangers for all the engineered floor joists, wall straps for the exterior wall hold downs, roof joists holders at the top-of-wall condition, as well as rafter connectors at the ridge beam, in order to provide a structure that can handle the conditions of its surroundings. By better constructing the home, we will ensure that the home will enrich the area, for as long as possible.
We are proud to present this home for the people of the Broadmoor Community, USGBC judging panel and to our peers in this competition.
