First-Time Homebuyers Settle into Sustainable Design Home
Chris and Hillary Danz are happy to call Durham’s Lyon Park neighborhood home.
The couple moved into the 1020 Kent Street house in Durham’s Lyon Park neighborhood in spring 2009. The house was designed and built as an example of affordable sustainable design. It isn’t “green” simply because the shade of paint: the one-story bungalow features numerous environmentally conscious elements designed to maximize energy efficiency and sustainability at an affordable price.
Upon entering their home, Chris and Hillary are excited to show off the details that keep their heating and cooling bills down and make for a comfortable environment throughout the year. The house has passive solar technology with numerous south-facing windows, a generous roof overhang and strategically placed trees for shade. In addition, the home features a manifold plumbing system for quick and efficient water use and a well-insulated, tight building envelope to prevent air leakage and moisture penetration.
The home was designed by North Carolina State University architecture students Emily Axtman, Katelyn Baird, Maria Hill, Will Lambeth and Josh Wheeler. The foursome won 2007’s N.C. Sustainable Design Competition, in which they competed against 52 other teams to plan and design a sustainable home for low-income buyers.
In addition to having their plan built by Self-Help, the first place winners won a $3,000 cash prize and represented North Carolina in the National U.S. Green Building Council’s Emerging Green Builder Design Competition.
Getting the plans to the point that the house could actually be built required “taking a much harder look at the cost value of each individual strategy,” said Randy Lanou of BuildSense, Inc., the firm hired to construct the house.
Almost all of the sustainable design features from the original student design – such as passive solar design, the manifold water system and the tight building envelope – were kept. One significant change included switching from wall panel construction to more conventional 2 x 6 stud walls.
Other “green” features were added. The house features low-flow faucets and shower heads to save water and efficient roofing to reduce the cooling load. In addition, the home also has FLOR™ carpet tiles, which minimize the release of toxins, are modular for easy installation and repair and are made from recycled content. As a result, the home fits the budget constraints of an affordable house but stays true to the students’ original vision for design and sustainability.
Self-Help uses green and energy-efficient building techniques that directly benefit low-income homeowners. Reduced utility bills help families preserve their limited incomes for other necessities, and high air quality standards help prevent the health problems that disproportionately impact disadvantaged communities.
Chris and Hillary have settled into their new home and neighborhood. The couple enjoys sitting on their front porch and getting to know neighbors. The green house has a special personal importance, since it is the first home they’ve owned.
This initiative not only provided a young couple with an ideal starter home. It has also provided important lessons in practical and affordable green building. Student designer Will Lambeth says he expects to do a lot more work in this field. “The world doesn’t have enough help in the sustainable and affordable housing area.”
