| 7/12/07
Is Rural Washington Ready for Affordable,
Green “Hobbit Homes?”
by Laura Worth and Robert Bornn
VASHON ISLAND, WA, July 9, 2007.
BuildingCircles Organization (BCO) has announced new plans to build advanced
homes to enable mature adults to live affordably and independently well
into the future. The organization is looking for forward-thinking
individuals who wish to build an authentic green Primary Residence or Accessory
Dwelling Unit (ADU) on their property. The homes will combine low-maintenance,
durability, and energy efficiency. They will allow environmentally
conscious homeowners to “age in place” gracefully over the years without
fear of unnecessary institutionalization. BuildingCircles is offering
to work with landowners to achieve the future of sustainable housing now.
These affordable custom home design concepts
are by Robert Bornn and Laura Worth of Vashon Island, founders of BCO.
Nancy Henderson, founder of ArchEcology, LLC in Seattle will provide the
architectural and universal design services. As a well-respected
LEED® Accredited Professional, Nancy will assure the highest national
LEED® standards of the U.S. Green Building Council. She will
work closely with the County to assure that BCO advanced architecture is
in compliance or exceeds code. Together the team will combine the
comfort, accessibility, and safety necessary for independent living with
carbon-neutral sustainability and extreme durability. Long-term,
these homes can easily be converted to accommodate assisted living.
These single-story, compact homes will be nature-integrated to blend into
Washington’s rural character while reflecting permaculture consciousness.
Bornn explained, “We take a comprehensive
approach to authentic green housing design that goes way beyond ‘green
chic.’ These high quality but simple homes will reflect strong environmental
values regarding the effort to reverse local and global environmental degradation.
This is a chance for people to not only build a lovely home in which they
can ‘age in place,’ but also to lead the way in modeling comprehensive
environmental and affordable world housing solutions.”
Worth adds, “Most of us older folks would
like to settle into a lovely home that we know we won’t have to move from
if we develop limited mobility. If we have a friend who needs to
spend some time in a wheelchair or needs a walker, we want to know that
they can use our bathroom when they visit us and have room in the kitchen
to keep us company while we cook.”
Under King County code, a Primary Residence
or ADU on a property can be rented if the owner lives in either.
Between rental income, energy savings, and the savings that accrue from
avoiding unnecessary institutional living, the organization says that the
Primary Residence or ADU can pay for itself. Additionally, by meeting
King County Master Builders Association’s “Built GreenTM” standards, permit
fees and other costs may be reduced for either or both the Primary Residence
and ADU.
An added benefit of these nature-blended
homes is a legal increase in density through affordable rentals that will
help to maintain rural diversity.
Bornn stated, “Design of each BCO ‘living
house’ will maximize its capability to heat and cool itself. Over
time they are expected to return as much energy to the grid as they use,
dispose of waste, and manage water runoff responsibly.” He went on
to say “They will achieve low-cost maintenance and reduce risk from vermin,
fire, and earthquakes. Appliances and materials for interior walls,
cabinetry, ceilings, and floors will be chosen in consultation with the
BCO team to minimize environmental impact and maximize energy savings.”
Bornn elaborated that this nature-integrated
housing will be highly insulated, well ventilated, and constructed of durable,
thin-shell concrete with advanced moisture-control for greater comfort.
Living roofs will permit most of each building’s footprint to be permeable.
The load-bearing green roofs can contribute to the surrounding ecology
and be used for gardening or small-scale farming.
Worth added that the homes will nestle
into the earth with a combination of gentle and dramatic slopes, stonework,
and vegetation. Using ‘above grade’ sites will permit abundant natural
light while reducing exposure to the water table. Sunlight can be
admitted through windows on most sides of the house as well as skylights.
She continued, “Individual choices of landscape
foliage as well as stonework, masonry and other finishes to doors, windows,
overhangs, decks, courtyards, and walkways will make each home a unique
expression of individual taste and style.”
Regarding alternative green energy, Bornn
says “BuildingCircles homes will have an option to include aesthetically
pleasing, ‘solar-energy ponds’ for space and water heating.
The SolarHarvester is an invention of Robert Bornn and Jon McWhirter (formerly
of Vashon). These unique ponds will collect solar energy passively.
Earth-sheltered heat storage and a ground-loop cooling system will
provide year-round comfort.
BuildingCircles Organization was founded
by Bornn and Worth to sponsor Bornn’s alternative housing designs.
Originally inspired by Buckminster Fuller, Bornn began to develop his designs
in the 1970s for an artists’ community he founded on an island in Maine.
Bornn and Worth have a long history of
founding teams together in Silicon Valley for such diverse projects as
development of special needs and medical device products and public health-education.
Bornn says that the organization’s development team will work in a collaborative
process with homeowners to translate concept designs into mid-level, affordable
homes that encourage older adult independence and achieve authentic sustainability.
The design team shares a unique commitment to permaculture and living buildings.
The commitment extends to evolving the designs into low-cost, manufactured
housing that can contribute solutions to the global housing crisis.
Nancy Henderson, LEED® Accredited
Professional has joined the founders to design and build these homes using
BCO design concepts. Formerly with GGLO of Seattle, Henderson works
at the intersection of affordable, green housing that utilizes universal
design principals. She says that she left GGLO to “found ArchEcology
out of a passion for housing and sustainable design.” While at GGLO
she founded and chaired its Sustainable Design group for five years.
During that time she lead in-house education efforts which resulted in
a third of the office becoming LEED® Accredited, adoption of an Environmental
Policy, and development of an Environmental Management Plan. She
also founded GGLO’s Affordable Housing Action Team to develop a focused
expertise in the office to specifically address the unique needs of affordable
housing. She serves on the Board of Directors at the Housing Development
Consortium. She is also a member of the U.S. Green Building Council.
BuildingCircles Organization says that
its mission includes the design of small-scale adult communities oriented
around neighborhood centers that are environmentally sound, affordable,
and diverse.
Intelligent placement of each home in relationship
to the topography and to each other will provide visual and acoustic privacy
in what Bornn terms “open clusters.” Energy, water, and waste disposal
systems can be even more efficient when shared in “neighborhood grids.”
The extent of community involvement and mutual support of neighbors can
be personal options.
Bornn commented, “Ultimately, we expect
to work with a variety of public agencies to build carbon-neutral or even
carbon-negative, energy efficient, modest homes that are suitable for rural,
exurban, and suburban living in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.”
He continued, “BCO’s goal is to make environmental advances on a variety
of fronts by using sustainable and recyclable building materials, design,
and technologies. Bornn explained, “The United Nations
is predicting a need for 50 million new homes each year just to keep pace
with population growth. We are designing the initial custom homes
with long-term, rapid manufacturing solutions in mind. Our mission
within 5-10 years is to support variations on our custom designs and technologies
that can be modularized. On a large enough scale, with appropriate
government agencies and visionary NGOs getting involved, widespread adoption
of these low-cost carbon-negative designs may contribute to a significant
reduction in global warming and the well-being of the world’s increasing
population.”
Contact BuildingCircles Organization by
calling Robert Bornn or Laura Worth at 463-4284, robert@buildingcircles.org,
or www.buildingcircles.org. Contact Nancy Henderson at (206) 860-2904
or nancyh@archecology.com.
****
Robert Bornn and Laura Worth are cofounders
of BuildingCircles Organization on Vashon,
designing affordable and sustainable, nature-integrated homes for adult
independent living (www.buildingcircles.org).
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