Design Narrative

Eco-Zero Bill Houses

The Eco-Zero Bill Houses (EZB House) aims to design affordable family housing for farmworkers with high energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon reduction strategies. The design used selective technology and materials to reach a high level of eco-friendly housing. Several carbon reduction strategies were used, such as material recycling and ecosystem irrigation. The zero landscape concept was implemented to reduce energy use, water consumption, and maintenance. Our houses are designed with responsibly sourced timber frames or cross-laminated timber (CLT) to offset carbon emissions. Using such sustainable architectural material is a highly versatile structural timber panel used to form sustainable walls, roofs, and floors in a wide range of structures, as we use it here. Central farmland was designed to provide agricultural products to the residents. Moreover, 13 Storage systems were distributed around the site to save space for the electronic battery and farmworker bikes.

The EZB houses design results, a lower Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 106.1 KWh PER /m2/y than the AIA 2030 challenging baseline of 137.8 KWh PER /m2/y. Around 1,000 Pv’s panels were used to balance the EUI produced on the site. The cost of the energy bill is nothing, yet around 123,098.63 kWh per year of extra energy will be preserved on the battery for the site's energy consumption, and the extra will be sold to the energy and power provider. The budget that will be gained from extra energy can be used to maintain and improve the resident life quality.

The design engaged several resilience strategies to respond to surroundings, such as poverty, air quality, climate change, and extreme heat (refers to resilience strategies essay). The EZB House provides an equitable design, considering the social vulnerabilities and helping strengthen community engagement.

Equity

Equity extends beyond architecture. In addition to designing for clients, architects must consider the communities that use those buildings or pass by them. The architect must plan for all potential users of a building. By incorporating equitable design qualities, The Eco- Zero Bill Houses include coordinated crossings, drop-off/pick-up points, parking lots where all other modes of transportation are linked, and resting areas and seating. The site also contains drinking fountains and additional space requirements for mobility equipment. As part of the community center, there are all-gender toilets, and cultural and religious spaces, such as prayer rooms, to accommodate faith-specific requirements for accessibility, as well as gentle gradients throughout the site. The design addressed access to green areas, education, sports, a community center, and inclusive workspaces. For example, an equitably designed playground was planned for users to enter from all directions, including an adjacent sports field and parking lot. Access to all pieces of playground equipment is provided without the need for users of assistive devices to leave their instruments. The Eco-Zero Bill Houses provide extra energy sold to the Department of Water and Power. The money will be used to improve the farmworker family living by providing them with entertainment activities and poverty support.

The design team faces a wide range of challenges. Designing for families from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds was one of these challenges. The design team responds to this by designing a large community center in the middle of the site and exposing and opening the community center's interior space to ensure clear and polite communication and sharing of knowledge with others. Adding a small library to the community center will help the residents to learn about different cultures. Therefore, we believe this design strategy will overcome cultural and linguistic barriers.

Other trials are designing a house for farmworkers, mainly working with the natural environment, and having a low income. The design tame responds to this issue by designing spaces close to the surrounding environment by opening indoor to outdoor spaces. Also, the integration of visual connections between indoor and outdoor, such as courtyard spaces to provide/create an outdoor space and open spaces, increases the windows' size.

Our team lives in two different areas: Cardiff, UK, and Texas, USA, and we have an original background in Saudi Arabia. We believe that we live in the era of globalization, which affects the world and opens them to each other. So, the farmworkers community in Cardiff has the same or close challenges to the farmworker's community in Texas. However, the design's input parameters, such as environmental, claimant, and context, need to be reconsidered for every different site.

Project 1 Presentation