Can Good Design Change A Community?

I've been wondering if it is possible to change a community through design alone.

Imagine small town USA, not ripe with development, or even an economically depressed area with high drug, crime, and unemployment rates. There are issues with kids dropping out of school, vandalism, theft. People dream of getting out. There isn't much of a sense of pride shared by the community. Sound like anywhere you know of?

Is it possible to make these people feel differently about their community through the addition of strategically placed, well-designed, sustainable homes and buildings?

Can you lower drug, crime, and unemployment rates?

Can you instill a sense of pride that transcends the immediate buildings and into the community?

I had a conversation with my professor about this and I'm going to make this the core of my semester thesis. I think the answer is Yes, and that this will be very exciting to study and experiment with. This idea must be proven true for sustainable design to catch on to be more than a niche market. Sustainable design means so much more than being green or efficient, it should improve how people feel and interact with their environment and with each other. It may sound like an idealistic hippie trip, but I think this can be proven and argued. I'll be gathering the data and be posting what I find.

Modular Construction is Essential for a Sustainable Future

A discussion panel entitled What’s Next in Green Design: Factory Built Architecture hosted at the Build Green Conference looked at the current state of modular construction from the perspective of three separate industry professionals; Pat McDonald from the Onion Flats, Scott Kelly from Re:Vision Architecture, and Rick Terry from Pennsylvania College of Technology. What was interesting about this panel was the three different visions these men have for the future. Download discussion as mp3

Pat McDonald's Onion Flats focuses on the rectangular cell and maximizes it for an urban, flexible building. His projects are about as modern and efficient as we've seen, and their price-tags easily top 500k.
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Scott from Re:Vision focuses on the design and thought process, finding the perfect solution for each project. He says each project is unique and will have unique solutions. I couldn't agree more. I was able to walk through his Bancroft Green project earlier this year, and the building lot posed a lot of challenges.
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Finally, Rick Terry has long been a Director of Factory Built Housing, and argues that efficient production lines can create great homes. These are standard fiberglass insulation and stick built assembly. Rick's modulars are usually single family, single story homes. He was taking a beating in the urban modular conversation, but I have to stand up for him: The product he's delivering for rural Pennsylvania is perfect for the market because costs are lower and land ownership is plentiful.
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Of course modular construction has many benefits over conventional site-built structures. Building modular on assembly lines or off site brings these benefits:

• Waste reduction up to 90% compared to site-built
• Increased product delivery time, sometimes out the door in as little as 2 weeks
• Controlled environment prevents moisture
• Cost savings through centralized production lines
• Reduction in carbon footprint - less travel and wasted energy
• Higher quality control

I hope to learn more about modular over the course of this program, hopefully getting a chance to talk further with Onion Flats and Re:Vision Architecture. These are progressive projects that are creating better housing options. Having a higher quality of housing (not always more $) creates a sense of well-being, leads to social equity, and builds strong communities. This should convince anyone who hasn't looked into modular to at least consider it for their next project.
PowerPoint presentations were copied from the Build Green website.

Social at 100k House

Two MSSD students who bought the 100k house had a back-to-school/housewarming jam at their place last night. The 100k house by Postgreen over in the E. Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia is a really cool project I've been following for almost a year. From their site:

100k house is slated to be the first LEED Platinum, single-family home in Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania. Postgreen is also investigating the possibility of the 100K House as being the most affordable LEED Platinum home ever built in the world.

Having Avery and Claire invite everyone over was a great opportunity to see the project first hand, and get to know some of the other students. I wasn't able to show up until late because ofthe Phillies game, around 9pm, and at that point the party was in full-swing.

The house what I expected, but maybe a little more rough around the edges than I pictured. You can see that it's still a work in progress for the developer as they had quality control issues with things like drywall finishing, and a lot of the standard fine finishing were omitted to make the home affordable, which I think most of us would be perfectly fine with. It is really great to see what it's like to live in one of these modern green homes, with a few friends over to see how the space and flow of the house comes together.

One of the interesting networking opportunities that was new to me is Green Drinks. A few of the students frequent the event and have made some pretty good connections from it. I'll definitely try to add it to my schedule.