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BuildingCircles
Organization
Creating affordable
and sustainable, nature-integrated homes for independent living |
FLOOR PLAN #1
| INTRODUCTION
BuildingCircles Organization is
designing homes that are authentic green, reasonable in cost, and
nature-integrated. With award winning professionals our development
team is combining architectural form with authentic green and
sustainable development. Our Universal
Design Series homes incorporate universal
design and, potentially, a unique approach to affordable
building for independent living in adult communities, whether on Vashon-Maury
Island (VMI) in Washington or beyond.
As baby boomers age many will require
new green housing solutions that allow them to gracefully "age in place."
Compact, single story dwellings utilizing universal
design will permit adults to transition into assisted living without
losing their cherished homes.
BuildingCircles Organization will
work with homeowners who wish to build nature-integrated, easy-to-care-for
homes as a primary or secondary residence or for rental income. The
sample renderings and floor plans on this site are for a 1000 sq. ft. "hobbit-house"
on a property with a pre-existing primary home. In King County
this could be classified as an ADU (Accessory Dwelling
Unit).
Our "hobbit-house" illustrations on
this web site are meant to be inspirational "jumping off points" for your
imagination.
While BuildingCircles Organization
is initially focusing on elder housing, the BCO housing designs, energy
and water systems, and land use planning concepts can be adapted to any
group. |
|
|
An Economic Strategy
for
Rental Income and
Economic Sustainability
in
Rural King County
A BuildingCircles
Accessory
Dwelling Unit:
-
could provide ADU rental income to
cover construction costs and/or property taxes, (while the owner
lives in the primary residence).
-
could later provide an ideal home for
aging
in place (with the primary residence rented for income or
used by a caregiver).
-
could create a financial buffer
from increasing tax, property maintenance expenses, and energy costs.
-
could limit
premature nursing home costs (for each year of home care residency
in the ADU that eliminates premature nursing home care, $30,000 to $70,000
could be used for other expenses).
|
| THE HOMES
Appearance.
These
custom-designed, nature-integrated homes in the BCO
Universal Design Series can appear to “grow” naturally out of the ground.
Gentle contours and landscaped earth-berming rise to the lower sills of
recessed windows. In between the windows and doors the ground will
contour gently to the living roof, blending with nature. In turn
the eaves can support vegetation (i.e. vines or other climbing plants)
which descends down to the top sill of windows and doors. Although
the home is sheltered by earth and vegetation, it's "above grade" siting
will permit abundant light through windows and skylights.
Individual choice of landscaping,
stonework facades, doors, windows, decks, and courtyards will make each
home a unique expression of the owner's taste. The interiors will
also reflect owner choices for maximum comfort, style, and sustainability. |
Nature-Integrated Homestead
"Accessory
Dwelling Unit"
(2-Bedroom, 2-Bath, 1000
sq. ft. Floor Plan in the
BCO
Universal Design Series)
(click picture for enlargement)
|
Nature-Integrated Homestead
"Accessory
Dwelling Unit"
(2-Bedroom, 2-Bath, 1000
sq. ft. Floor Plan in the
BCO
Universal Design Series)
(click picture for enlargement)
|
Authentic
Green -
Beyond "Green
Chic." The heart of our authentic green designs
is a “living house” that
locally collects as much energy and water as it uses. It will minimize
its ecological foot print by using mostly water pervious surfaces and managing
run-off intelligently. Our goal will be to strive for
standards set by the Cascadia US Green Building Council in their "Living
Building Challenge."
That challenge raises the bar even higher than currently established standards
of sustainability in the built environment.
Affordable.
The rewards for downsizing include reduced cost of materials, time required
for building, and cost of financing, which will all contribute to a lower
initial cost for these homes. In addition, they are anticipated to
have low maintenance costs and could result in significantly lower energy
costs than even partly "green" but more conventional larger houses. |
| SEVEN
PRINCIPLES OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN
The
following seven principles of Universal Design are reproduced with permission
from the Center for Universal
Design, North Carolina State University:
PRINCIPLE
ONE: Equitable Use
The
design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
PRINCIPLE
TWO: Flexibility in Use
The
design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
PRINCIPLE
THREE: Simple and Intuitive Use
Use
of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience,
knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
PRINCIPLE
FOUR: Perceptible Information
The
design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless
of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities.
PRINCIPLE
FIVE: Tolerance for Error
The
design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or
unintended actions.
PRINCIPLE
SIX: Low Physical Effort
The
design can be used efficiently and comfortably and with a minimum of fatigue.
PRINCIPLE
SEVEN: Size and Space for Approach and Use:
Appropriate
size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless
of user's body size, posture, or mobility.
Copyright
© 1997 NC State University, The Center for Universal Design.
|
|
Universal
Design. BuildingCircles
housing will utilize many principals of universal design. The
BCO Universal Design Series will permit easier habitation for all,
safe and more comfortable independent living for older adults, and less
costly conversion to assisted living if that is needed.
Universal design is an approach
to design that focuses on how the wide range of people, at all stages of
life, use space and products.
The
Center for Universal Design, defines "universal design" as "the
design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the
greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized
design."
|
| Materials
and Structure. The
homes will be solidly built to last with low maintenance. They will
be highly insulated,
ferrocement
structures. There will also be a large underground cistern and
solar heat collectors installed beneath aesthetically pleasing water features.
Floor, walls, and roof all flow together for one contiguous, exceptionally
strong, monocot structure. |
Benefits:
-
Aesthetically compelling
-
Acoustic and visual privacy
-
Comfortable and secure
-
Less costly to build and maintain
-
Footprint returned to the ecosystem
-
Full-scale gardening and "micro-farming"
on load-bearing roofs; solar greenhouses
-
Highly-efficient energy systems
-
Outstanding ventilation design
-
Inexpensive temperature and humidity
control
-
Advanced water harvesting and disposal
-
Progressive choices in composting and
related sewage solutions
-
Reduced risk of fire and vermin
-
Reduced seismic risk
-
Compliance with King County building
codes, public health requirements, and GMA zoning.
|
Nature-Integrated Homestead
"Accessory
Dwelling Unit"with Primary Residence
(2-Bedroom, 2-Bath, 1000
sq.
ft. Floor Plan in the
BCO
Universal Design Series)
(click picture for enlargement)
|
| DEMOGRAPHICS
Age and Disability.
As
we age, downsizing becomes an appropriate strategy for containing cost
of building and maintaining our homes. Downsizing
also minimizes the ecological footprint and smaller size requires less
material, labor, cost of financing, energy needs, and maintenance than
larger conventional “green” houses. The BCO
Universal Design Series will take into consideration the future
needs of residents while creating bold and progressive green housing today.
More than 5 million Americans are
85 and older and by 2040 that could grow to more than 13 million.
Approximately 7 in 10 are women. 53% of those 85 and older own their own
homes and more than 50% are “aging-in-place” with independent living.
The other 50% has had to find other solutions, many times including premature
nursing home residency.
Age-in-Place
Planning. Our
community-oriented clients will be older adults, both individuals and couples,
who have determined that they will build housing in their late middle age
to early elder years that will serve them
into the future for as long as possible. This age-in-place
planning can be achieved through universal
design, downsizing, low maintenance, and a supportive community based
on affinity and humanist core values. The ADU and other homes we
offer can ultimately be “converted” to assisted living to maximize independent
living and avoid premature institutional “care.”
Cultural
Context. Research shows that individuals
termed "Cultural Creatives"
represent approximately 20% of American adults. One of their primary
defining characteristics is an extremely strong concern about environmental
health. Through personal history or current interest and activities
they share progressive and humanist values.
BuildingCircles
designs will appeal to those with a strong commitment to living authentic
green lifestyles and who want their homes to reflect their values while
experiencing personal comfort and security. They will also take pride
in being among the first to adopt the BCO home design because it can help
to point the way to comprehensive environmental and world housing solutions.
They will enjoy the cachet of a one-of-a-kind, lovely house at a reasonable
cost.
Modern
culture tends to design houses that serve as monuments. Because they
are typically multi-story and not nature-integrated, they require enormous
spaces between them to permit a reasonable amount of visual and acoustic
privacy. In contrast, BCO homes are nestled into more natural shapes
with a lower profile. They may significantly reduce visual and acoustic
challanges through nature-integrated designs. They may also even
achieve a more “progressive” density in rural, exurban, suburban or even
outer urban areas.
World Housing
Context. One
third, or 2 billion of the world’s people today are living in substandard,
unsustainable conditions. In only 20 years, if uncorrected, this
group is expected to increase to 6 billion people, or two-thirds of the
world’s population at that time (9 billion people). The UN
estimates that 50 million new houses will need to be built annually just
to keep pace with population growth.
The majority of the world's housing
significantly contributes to global warming. As the number of people
escalates, efficient, non-polluting use of energy, water, and land for
human shelter and agriculture will increase in importance to the point
where global security will depend on the fair distribution
of life-sustaining resources.
Additionally, more than 40% of the
world's land has been removed from natural ecosystems by human settlements
(including agriculture and animal raising impacts). Currently, much
of the world’s most fertile, flat land has been converted from agriculture
to meet our increasing human shelter needs. Conversely, the world’s
moderate slopes, ideal for terraced and roof agriculture and for capturing
solar energy for human habitation are seriously underutilized.
Globally we see:
-
poor land use planning for maximizing
human density with high agricultural yield.
-
chronic energy and water shortages and
waste.
-
pollution and lack of composting and
other alternative sewage and water management.
-
a short life cycle for conventional building
technology.
We believe BuildingCircles dwellings
can ultimately have a positive impact on world housing in the next 5-10
years. Once established, it is anticipated that this innovative approach
may stimulate development by NGOs, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations
to design and build higher volume, lower-cost versions. They can
be designed to use specific regionally available resources and meet local
needs in variety of locations worldwide. This may even be achieved
in some areas that lack sufficient infrastructure, through modular housing,
manufactured off-site, that includes self-contained subsystems for solar
heat and power and on-site water collection. This BCO approach to
affordable sustainability may serve to guide others toward housing innovations
that are both pragmatic and human-friendly. In addition, if adoption
is widespread, the homes using BuildingCircles' approach may also improve
energy and water efficiencies while significantly reducing CO2 pollution
from housing.
It should be noted that with nature-integrated
dwellings and other "living buildings" it
may be possible to inhabit areas that might be too marginal with conventional
land and housing approaches. One simple way to visualize this is
to imagine that the world population has grown to 10 billion people.
With 10 billion people globally, a land mass approximately the size of
the United States would be large enough to house 5 people per acre.*
When urban density is factored in, new areas of population would be significantly
less populated than 5 people per acre, even with 10 billion people.
However, we need to find ways to populate marginal land so that urban
density is not the only solution to population growth. The development
of living buildings that can grow food on
their roofs and locally collect their own energy and water is one solution.
* 640
acres = 1 square mile; 10 billion people/5 people per acre = a need for
2 billion acres. 2 billion acres/640 acres = approximately 3 million
sq. miles, or approximately the land mass of the U.S.
ADULT COMMUNITIES FOR
INDEPENDENT LIVING
In time, these BuildingCircles housing
designs will become building blocks of an “open cluster” community design
for widespread, domestic and international housing. We plan to facilitate
affinity-based, older adult, co-housing-like communities for independent
living based on these affordable, authentic green, nature-integrated
homes. The adult communities we build now will be viable for people
in their coming elder years and allow more graceful aging
in place. These projects will demonstrate that community building
using universal design will serve
individuals with special needs of all ages and will result in stronger
communities for society.
Ultimately, with motivated people,
available land, and community support, older adults can build cooperative
communities. The communities we envision will be based on environmentally
and human-friendly land planning, structures, and relationships.
|
| DEVELOPMENT
TEAM and PARTNERS
Our growing
design-build
team of architects, project planners, engineers, and contractors
has extensive experience in producing affordable, green homes utilizing
universal
design and advanced energy systems. We will work with King
County to achieve the highest standards of sustainability with their Green
Building Program. We will also seek the highest level of LEED
certification from the U.S. Green Building
Council. Our team also accepts the Cascadia U.S. Green Building
Council's "Living Building Challenge"
as a difficult, but possible-to-achieve goal: BCO homes should be
as "elegant and efficient as flowers," locally collecting as much
energy and water as they use. As Buckminster Fuller said, "We
do not seek to imitate nature, but rather to find the principles she uses."
"Living
Building," The World_and_I, October, 1999."
If you have
interest in building an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)
or other home, please contact
us.
Habitat and
energy-oriented inventors and innovators may also participate in research
and development of important new technologies to be implemented in BuildingCircles'
designs.
|
Nature-Integrated Homestead
"Accessory Dwelling Unit"
(2-Bedroom, 2-Bath, 1000
sq. ft.
Floor Plan in the
BCO
Universal Design Series)
Floor Plan by Nancy
Henderson, LEED, AP)
(click
for enlargement - 903KB)
|
HOMEOWNER QUALIFICATIONS
The first project to be undertaken
by BuildingCircles Organization will be Accessory Dwelling Units or second
homes. We will partner with individuals who own land and live in
a primary residence on a sufficiently large property to meet zoning requirements
for adding an ADU; or we will partner with individuals to build a downsized
second home on another property. Other Washington State and King
County permitting requirements, such as those related to water use, water
run-off, and waste disposal are site-specific and can be discussed in personal
consultation.
The BCO development team is commited
to working in concert with the many permitting authorities to achieve shared
environmental goals. Participation in King County's Green Building
Program can lead to assignment of a no-cost, hands-on County project planner.
They can advocate for us in managing the permitting process, including
analysis of tradeoffs between current site limitations and environmentally
sound mitigation.
We will help our clients organize
the planning, financing, and construction of an affordable, sustainable,
nature-integrated BuildingCircles home utilizing universal
design that is conducive to independent living.
|
Key
Requirements for
Detached
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in Rural King County
(Title
21A.08.030.7.a, Permitted Uses)
| King County provides code to
guide homeowners in balancing the legal resolution of issues that relate
to the need for increased population density in rural areas while
still achieving GMA compliance. |
(1)
There is only one primary single detached dwelling unit.
(2)
The rural lot is not less than minimum size for one primary dwelling unit.
(3)
The primary dwelling unit or the accessory dwelling unit is owner occupied.
(4)
One of the dwelling units shall not exceed a floor area of one thousand
square feet.
(5)
One additional off-street parking space shall be provided.
(6)
The accessory dwelling unit shall be converted to another permitted use
or shall be removed if one of the dwelling units ceases to be owner occupied. |
|
| LIFESENSE INSTITUTE
BuildingCircles
Organization works with LifeSense
Institute to provide environmental education with a focus on affordable
and sustainable contemporary building technologies that use universal
design. These technologies will support the building of authentic
green, nature-integrated, living
homes for independent living. LifeSense Institute is
a nonprofit corporation on Vashon-Maury Island founded in 2006 by Robert
Bornn and Laura Worth.
NEW!
August, 2007
Vashon
Ivy Program
Currently LifeSense
Institute's Vashon
Ivy Program is working on organizing neighborhoods in a self-help
program that enourages the survival of healthy trees by managing invasive
ivy infestation.
NEW!
August, 2007
Composting-for-Heat
Project
In connection
with the LifeSense Institute ivy management program on VMI, we have initiated
an innovative technology project with Erin
Durrett at Point Robinson Farm. The project is designed
to demonstrate ivy disposal using hot composting methods for low-cost thermal
recovery to heat water and interiors.
Stay tuned for photos and reports
about LifeSense Institute's neighborhood-based
ivy management program and composting-for-heat projects.
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