House as Garden in Illinois

Like many Black communities across the USA, the West Woodlawn neighbourhood on Chicago’s South Side had its glory days some fifty years ago. The suburb has a high ratio of vacant lots, many buildings are in a state of deferred maintenance, and disinvestment exacerbates the challenges. The House as Garden project shows how community can be regained and sustained by applying rational and appropriate technologies, self-reliance systems, and a spirit of sharing.

A modern reinvention of a classic

This project helps to ensure sustained affordability across generations with a rooted sense of belonging. Neighbours do not merely live next door to one another, but live together through shared elements including an on-site greenhouse, raised garden beds and common spaces. Residents also share a guest suite for visitors and/or rental income for the micro-village as well as common areas for gatherings, parties, and other collective activities.
The building design deviates from the east-west orientation typical to Chicago. Its orientation to the south makes best use of sunlight. Composed of four residential wings that unite to form a mews, the design is a modern, flexible reinvention of the classic Chicago four-flat.

Sustainability demands economy, efficiency, and connectivity

The project focuses on passive measures including thick, heavily insulated walls, thermal glazing, cross ventilation, and seasonal shading to reduce energy use and costs of operation. Photovoltaics provide power for the heat pump and appliances, topped up by storage batteries and a new local grid. The building will be net carbon positive, thanks to key systems and materials and its extensive greenery and lush orchard.

Rainwater is collected in cisterns. Blackwater is remediated via anaerobic digestion and resulting grey water is recirculated for toilet flushes (all appliances low water and energy) and watering the garden. Recycling and composting will be easy. Cars and bikes are shared. A focus of community pride and place, it will celebrate the logic and ease of truly sustainable living.

Read the full interview “A living organism” in Sixth Holcim Awards

The construction process promotes local participation and training using simple and easy-to-assemble timber elements. Engagement in sustainability is encouraged through the instructive visibility of environmental systems. The building achieves a net positive energy demand thanks to a rational and appropriate use of passive and active design strategies for energy efficiency. Water treatment, collection and reuse is also conceived as a part of the sustainable concept.

Jury appraisal

The Holcim Awards jury North America considered the project to be an impressive gesture of “organic” regeneration that is energetically focused on designing a socially viable and autonomous environment to empower the community. The proposal suggests an innovative residential building typology that not only gravitates around the value of sharing as a means of human empowerment, but that is also environmentally friendly and aesthetically pleasing. The jury particularly appreciated the great potential for flexibility and replicability of the project which promotes transferable sustainable practices under many aspects. The interesting and compelling way the architecture integrates “off the shelf” technologies (including solar PV panels, heat recovery ventilation, thermal glazing, greenhouses, etc.) was highly commended, especially in consideration of the affordability of the project. This proposal exemplifies how sustainable architecture can be designed to be both economical and beautiful – and can offer communities in need a new opportunity for their future.

Sustainability is Both Condition and Tool, Realized Socially, Technically, and as Art

Rational and appropriate technology is at the core. Our project offers a new interpretation of the classic “four-flat” that’s both flexible and replicable. Construction is timber with four basic elements: columns, beams, CLT plates, and modular exterior panels. All are dimensioned for ease of erection and fabrication by local small contractors, carpenters, and apprentices: a school and a lab for building, sustainable adaptation, agriculture, and community organizing. This spirit of sharing is central and includes, on site, collective recreation, agriculture, community meeting spaces, a “spare bedroom” for guests (or Airbnb) and the instructive visibility of environmental systems. These houses will be an “export” product, transforming and enriching neighborhoods and spreading the word.

Sustainability Demands Economy, Efficiency, and Communication of Means and Techniques

First sustainable priority is to passive measures: thick, heavily insulated walls, thermal glazing, cross ventilation, and seasonal shading. House As Garden is built of manufactured wood. Photovoltaics provide power for its heat pump and appliances, topped up by storage batteries and a new local grid. The building will be net carbon positive, thanks to key systems and materials and its extensive greenery and lush orchard. Rainwater is collected and cisterned. Blackwater is remediated via anaerobic digestion and resulting grey water is recirculated for toilet flushes (all appliances low water and energy) and watering. Recycling and composting will be easy. Cars and bikes are shared. A focus of community pride and place, it will celebrate the logic and ease of truly sustainable living.