Hamnett Homestead Center for Sustainable Living (HHSLC): Community Pavilion

Project Type:
architecture

Project Mission/Goal:
improve the human spirit
increase awareness of the environment and/or address climate change
respond to our growing need for clean water, power, shelter, healthcare, education

Project Description:
The Hamnett Homestead Sustainable Living Center (HHSLC) Pavilion is a structure that has been developed for a newly formed non-profit organization, the Institute for Ecological Innovation (IEI). It is the first project to be completed by the Carnegie Mellon University Urban Design Build Studio (UDBS). The pavilion is sited on a prominent corner in the Hamnett Place Neighborhood of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania; a borough located adjacent to Pittsburgh’s eastern periphery. Wilkinsburg, like many post-industrial urban centers has experienced a rapid decline in population and an ever-increasing rate of housing vacancies. Here are the numbers:

- 50% decline in Wilkinsburg population since 1940
- Over half of Wilkinsburg building stock is pre-1960
- Median Household Income in Hamnett Place: $16,786
- Hamnett Place Vacancy Rate: 30%

The site of the project occupies the vacant Jane Hamnett Residence and adjacent lots, where there is currently an active urban community. The HHSLC Pavilion is the first step towards the adaptive reuse of the vacant house, and will demonstrate how to build, maintain an urban context, honor heritage, and provide a vision for the future.

While construction of the pavilion did not begin until June of 2009, investigations by the students in the community of Wilkinsburg began in August of 2008. Multiple community meetings were held with Wilkinsburg residents in order to engage the community in the design process. The pavilion, which is over one hundred feet in length, recognizes and reinforces the rich porch culture that exists in Western Pennsylvania by providing a public space for community residents to gather and engage with one another both formally and informally.

Key qualities of the design are that it is modular and replicable so that strategies may be disseminated and employed widely, which is consistent with the mission of the IEI. The design is made affordable through the use of common building materials that may be readily obtained at any big box home improvement center. Those materials are joined/complimented by a series of simple yet distinct steel connections, which were developed using digital fabrication processes. Materials for the pavilion could be sold as a kit of parts by organizations such as the IEI.

The design also addresses the problem Western Pennsylvania faces with water runoff. In wet weather, combined sewer systems fill beyond their capacity to carry sewage and storm water, and an excess flow is discharged, leading to non-point source pollution in rivers and streams. To eliminate this, the roof of the pavilion collects 100% of the water runoff and stores it in cisterns to be used in the adjacent gardens.

During the summer of 2009 students completed the prefabrication for the structure of the entire pavilion at a location off-site. The structure utilizes bolt connections, which allows all the frames to easily fold up and be stacked for storage or transportation. In a single day, the entire structure was disassembled and transported to the site on a truck.

The UDBS received the 2009-2010 ACSA Collaborative Practice Award for work on this project.

Links and Captions:
http://www.cmu.edu/architecture/udbs/Projects/Wilkinsburg/index.html

Project Details: (Please complete as applicable)
Project Location: Wilkinsburg, PA
Date(s): Prefabrication completed in Summer 2009. Final relocation on site to be completed by December 2010.
Project Phase: In Construction
Client: Institute for Ecological Innovation (IEI)
User Client: IEI
Description and Number of Beneficiaries/Users: Wilkinsburg community members
Major Funding: Heinz Endowment
Concept/Lead Architect(s)/Designer(s): Urban Design Build Studio (Carnegie Mellon University)
Project Architect(s)/Designer(s): Urban Design Build Studio (Carnegie Mellon University)
Structural Engineers: Jim Watson
Electrical/Mechanical Engineers:
Contractor/Manufacturer:
Additional Consultants:
Total Cost/Cost per Unit: Total Material Cost: $31,000 (not including labor)
Area (if applicable): 1489 sq. ft.
Other:
Photo/Image Credit(s): All photographs taken by UDBS members

Nominated by Jared Friedman

Location