Baltimore Housing:

From Rows to Dots

Location:  Baltimore, Maryland

Services:   Architecture

Type:         Research, Urban Design, Housing

 

 

 

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This urban infill housing integrates brick and wood ‘harvested’ from Baltimore’s vacant housing stock with energy efficient, environmentally friendly building systems in the form of a net-zero energy, mass-produced housing prototype. The proposed base unit is a compact cubical volume containing 840 gross square feet and 790 square feet of living area. The architectural concept is an open living space that can adapt to the changing needs of the occupants. 

 

The creation of specific use areas within the volume  is accomplished with the user’s mass-produced furniture. The building components include: concrete foundation and concrete slab on grade, 8” insulated SIPS wall panels, 12” insulated SIPS roof panels, IPE roof deck tiles (walkable roof surface), triple insulated low-E wood windows, pull down roof ladder, gabion fences, Energy-Star appliances, tankless water heater, and a gabion-type rainscreen integrating the wood and brick harvested from the abandoned adjacent building  structures. The appearance of the exterior surface will depend on the materials of the specific houses harvested. The house is designed for net-zero energy consumption and utilizes thin film solar tubes for energy production. This system is designed to generate 7,930 kWh of electricity annually.