May 2012
15 posts
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
Day 7: Hammer drill time!
We broke out the all powerful Bobcat again, but we didn’t quite get to auger. Armed with a hammer drill and a chisel bit, we went to work on the existing concrete slab under the foundation wall of the old house. Voilà! We cleared the way for the last two pier sub-surface foundations, but the ground was too wet to get it all done today.
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
Day 4: Formwork
The formwork process is up and running. We were hoping to accomplish it in one day, but the safe room and the additional piers (compared to the past few 20K versions) have taken a bit longer than expected. If we don’t get rained out, we should be setting Monday and pouring Wednesday.
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
RuralStudio: Pig Roast 2012! →
ruralstudio:
We’ve been so busy preparing for this Saturday’s festivities that we forgot to make a big post and let you all know that Pig Roast is THIS SATURDAY (May 5th). Come join us! Here is the schedule:
8:30 - 9am // breakfast @ Morrisette House
9:30 - 10:10 // 20K v11 in Faunsdale
10:40 - 11 // Jones…
April 2012
12 posts
1 tag
1 tag
The Clock is Ticking
Perhaps you’ve had a look through the archives, or kept up with Joanne’s House last year, or maybe you’ve been perusing the Auburn University academic calendar and wondered, ‘Why aren’t they building yet?’
Well, dear friends, we can assure you the process is rolling. We’re working hard here at headquarters (aka Red Barn) to get the final pieces...
1 tag
1 tag
Regions Bank Visit
On April 16th, the 20K Team hopped in the Honda Fit and took a road trip to the big city, Birmingham, AL. We headed for the glass high rise on the horizon, Regions Bank.
Regions has been a continued supporter of the Rural Studio and the 20K House, and an integral part of moving the 20K line from an academic project to an affordable housing solution. We presented the 20K framework, then pointed...
1 tag
Eizenberg and Koning in Red Barn
Thanks to Julie Eizenberg and Hank Koning of Koning Eizenberg Architecture for heading east (back in March) to talk codes, handrails, and porches with us! The two were a lot of fun to work with and had some excellent questions and suggestions for us. They asked us to scale down the porch to consolidate costs, include an accessible pathway from the street to the house and consider this approach...
1 tag
Thank you, Thank you!
As you know, we’ve been designing an accessible house this year. Here’s a little snippet of the presentation we give to each critic and visitor:
Accessibility is an important issue everywhere, but it’s especially relevant here.
Perhaps you’ve been wondering where we’re getting our information. There are the codes, of course, and the U.S. Census (see above)....
Extra, extra, read all about it!
ruralstudio:
We recently worked with Hatch Show Print out of Nashville to create our first ever Outreach promotional poster. Hopefully, this will be the first of many future collaborations with them. As the poster says, we are looking for applicants to our Outreach program. We’re still accepting applications for the 2012-2013 school year, so apply today!
1 tag
Codes, Laws, and Guidelines
Perhaps you’ve been wondering, each time we mention “code,” exactly who is setting the rules here. We’ve a few organizations we have to follow, in fact. Firstly, there’s the International Code Council. They publish the International Building Code (or IBC, which Alabama follows) and the International Residential Code (IRC), a subset of the IBC.
The IBC categorizes...
1 tag
1 tag
March 2012
8 posts
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
What is a walking surface?
The ramp is a big part of this house. It’s the way to get in- for everyone, not just those who can’t use the stairs. It’s also a design driver for the length of the house, the porch, the front facade, etc. We need to be sure we have it right.
As we mentioned recently, any slope 1:12 or less steep is an acceptable ramp according to ANSI and ADA guidelines. We chose 1:16 after...
1 tag
1 tag
February 2012
8 posts
1 tag
We Want You!
Applications accepted now for 20K team 2012-2013! You could be one of the next fantastic four!
Application available here
Questions, concerns? Email us at 20khouse@gmail.com. If you’re wondering about what it’s like to live here, work here, and eat here, we’d be glad to try and answer your queries. So get going!
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
The Outreach lament a missed opportunity
It’s been weighing heavily on our hearts and minds the past two days. Yes, you’ve guessed it- Mardi Gras. As you may already know, today’s the day.
There we were, the four of us, prepared to depart late Monday night post-Peterson and Stoller lecture, and return Wednesday morning. It could have been splendid, sandwiched 3-wide in the front seat of Peter’s purple Buick. The...
1 tag
A host of visitors
It’s a rainy, dreary February day here in Redbarn. The southerners tell us this type of February day is the reason for the onslaught of reviewers visiting the barn this month. The truth is, the weather’s delightfully warm compared to what the four of us are used to. But we’ll take the kick in the pants to keep the project momentum up.
Here’s the line-up:
January...
1 tag
Safety First!
Introducing….The Safe Room! This year, we’ve proposed to add a safe room to the 20K line. In order to optimize material and space use, we’ve decided to turn the shower into a tornado shelter. The construction must be independent of the house so that the strong box, as one might think of it, will be left standing even if the house is completely blown away.
After months of...
January 2012
7 posts
Check this out
The 20K House was featured in The Design Observer! Will Holman, a 2009-2010 Outreacher who worked on Mac’s House, talks about social design and his 20K experience in this interesting essay. Peruse at your leisure!
http://places.designobserver.com/feature/lessons-from-the-front-lines-of-social-design/31998/
1 tag
Or better yet...
We’ve had a group intervention and decided perhaps the aforementioned title- The Sausage House- is conveying the wrong impression. Namely, that this house has anything to do with sausage.
So, in an effort to be more accurate with our denomination, we have chosen to re-dub 20K House version 11…
…drum roll please…
The Porch House!
Why is this more appropriate...
1 tag
Shout out!
Thank you to Bob Borson, who featured the previous 20K House iteration (Joanne’s House, version 10) on his blog http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/rural-studio-2011-joannes-house/.
If you’re new to the project, the 20K House is an ongoing work of Auburn University’s Rural Studio. Rural Studio has been around since 1993, and has been working for the past eleven years to design an...
2 tags
We Picked!
After countless iterations, we’ve arrived at what we affectionately call the ‘sausage house’!
This typology is common to the south, and also goes by another name - the galleried house. They feature open galleries, which can serve as an external hall, and a sun control, shading and reducing glare. The galleries are often read as recesses into simple geometries.
...
1 tag
1 tag
Soup Roast
A summary haiku:
Soup Roast. We present
three options: straight, L, switchback
eliminate one.
December 9th, 2011. (Boy, seems like last year already!) It was a clear and sunny day as we set about to tour the current projects for a cheery day of intense reviews. We were first on the list, and pinned-up our three options. The L-house, the sausage house, and the switchback.
The L House
...
1 tag
A rampin' experience
So in the world of accessible design one of the most important things is the access to the house itself. In our case we decided to raise the house on piers, which has given us the challenge of designing a ramp. The ANSI code says to make the slope no steeper than 1:12 (that`s about 8% for the metric users out there). We decided to focus on making the house as comfortable as possible, which meant...