Three new ‘eco-homes’ win design contest in Greensburg

The town of Greensburg, Kansas was destroyed after a tornado ripped through their community in May of 2007, but it is not only coming back stronger than before, but much greener.

One project currently taking place in Greensburg is the Chain of Eco-Homes. When completed, 12 homes will serve as a “living laboratory” for unique environmental building. Two Eco-Homes already exist, Silo Eco-Home, equipped with a vegetable garden green roof, and Solar Eco-Home, the winner of the 2005 Solar Decathlon Competition and donation from the University of Colorado.

Greensburg GreenTown and FreeGreen.com invited designers and architects from all over to submit sustainable designs for the next three homes in the Chain of Eco-Homes Design Competition. There were more than 230 entries submitted.

“This Chain of Eco-Homes contest is a great way to show how the concept of crowd sourcing can help advance green residential design. With over 439 participants in this contest, Greensburg, Kansas was able to gain access to the world’s best green designers,” said David Wax in a statement, FreeGreen’s CEO and founder.

Steven Learner, Mike Stevens, and their team at New York-based Steven Learner Studio submitted the winning design, Meadowlark House. Their modern style home is 1450 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. While their design will be featured as one of the houses in the Chain of Eco-Homes, the first place winners also receive the grand prize of $10,000.

There are many environmental components to the Meadowlark House. Perhaps the most unique aspect of the design is the use of an HIB modular wall system. HIB consists of recyclable wood blocks made from sustainable resources that stack together like LEGOs. They provide a high level of insulation, reducing energy costs, and are designed to resist the forces of strong winds, and all without the use of any chemicals.

“The home is planned to be 50% more energy efficient than a typical code built home. We would like it to be net-zero energy, but are waiting to hear back from a number of renewable energy companies which we have solicited for donations on that,” said David Andrew Goldman, Global Communications Director for Expansion Media.

Other sustainable elements include:

Building is oriented along an east – west axis, maximizing southern exposure
Evergreen landscaping along the north side of the site deflects cold winter winds
Roof drainage ties into an underground cistern for reuse in site irrigation
Deep roof overhangs to the south and west reduce summertime solar glare, while allowing winter sun to provide light and warmth
A whole house ducted energy recovery ventilator (ERV) provides fresh air while recycling the home’s temperature
High thermal mass floor receives and absorbs solar radiation during the day and re-radiates it at night
Low-E triple glazed, operable windows allow ventilation while minimizing heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer

“Our goal was to design a house to meet the needs of the people of Greensburg. We wanted to provide a sustainable, comfortable home that can be built quickly and affordably, with flexibility to accommodate many families’ different needs,” said first place winner, Steven Learner.

The winning design is estimated to cost “$154,000 to $200,000 without Renewable Energy Systems (i.e. with the home saving 50% vs. a typical code built home),” said Goldman.

Stuttio Workshop’s Root/Breathe/Endure Design came in second place winning the Enviro-Ment Masonry Unit (EMU) category. Their EMU wall system is a lime-based masonry block that naturally absorbs carbon dioxide from the air.

Daniel Day, an architechture and design studio in Dallas, placed third overall with its design Linear Villa, which won the Insulating Concrete Form (ICF) category. Second and third place winners each receive $1,000.

Construction for all three houses is planned to begin early next month.

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