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Credit: Courtesy Dominick Tringali Architects
Habitat House
Pontiac, Mich.
What’s to love: All-American good looks at a price point even a journalist could afford.
What can you do with $100,000? Dominick Tringali Architects and Brooklynn Homes parlayed that meager budget into a fine residence that’s not only easy to build, but primed for LEED certification.
Intended as a prototype for a new collection of Habitat for Humanity homes, the handsome little house was built for just $54 per square foot. The pro forma relies on stacked framing and prefab walls and ceilings to reduce construction waste, with room dimensions dictated by plywood dimensions and stud spacing. This simple configuration reduces costs and serves up a structure that’s easy for volunteers to build
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Credit: Courtesy Dominick Tringali Architects
It’s also energy-efficient. Strategic site orientation, window placement, canopies, and porches maximize daylighting and cross-ventilation, while preventing unwanted solar gain in summer and heat loss in winter.
The tight structure is built with rigid insulation on the exterior walls and crawl spaces walls below grade. Add to that a tankless water heater, dual flush toilets, low-flow faucets and shower heads, a high-efficiency furnace, rainwater collection barrels, and Energy Star windows and appliances. Yes, it can be done.
In Pontiac, Michigan, a depressed low-income area where much of the housing is dilapidated, abandoned, and in need of replacement, these affordable homes could prove critical in rebuilding the fabric of community.
Builder: Brooklynn Homes, Novi, Mich.
Architect: Dominick Tringali Architects, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
From the June 2009 online exclusive, “10 Cottage Projects You’ll Love”