Sources: Gary Coates, 785-532-1105, gcoates@k-state.edu;
http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/coatesbio.html
Photos available. Contact media@k-state.edu or 785-532-6415.
News release prepared by: Diane Potts, 785-532-6415, potts@k-state.edu
Friday, April 17, 2009
STUDENTS IN K-STATE ARCHITECTURE STUDIO CREATE STURDY, SUSTAINABLE HOMES TO SUIT GREENSBURG RESIDENTS
MANHATTAN -- Tornado-devastated Greensburg might seem at first to be a blank canvas for design professionals.
But not to fifth-year architecture students in professor Gary Coates' studio at Kansas State University, who took on the challenge of designing sturdy, sustainable homes for Greensburg.
The students knew that their work would have to accommodate not only existing lot sizes, but also the traditional tastes that town residents expressed in early consultations. Add the goals of designing affordable, efficient homes that could meet much of their own energy needs in the varying weather of south-central Kansas, and the project became a semester-long tussle between creativity, costs and client needs.
&1xbet best casino website ;Personally, it was a huge eye-opener on how difficult residential design is,&1xbet best casino website ; said K-State architecture student Rebekah Udall, Colorado Springs, Colo. &1xbet best casino website ;Spending an entire semester on 1,400 square feet was quite intense.&1xbet best casino website ;
Udall believes that she and her partner, Adam Wagoner, McPherson, and the other team who designed homes for the smallest lots gained one advantage in being confined to a 25-by-140-foot lot, the narrowest of the three sizes considered.
&1xbet best casino website ;After 5-foot setbacks, that left only a 15-foot width to deal with,&1xbet best casino website ; Udall said. &1xbet best casino website ;It's extremely restrictive, but our two teams developed fastest, because there's only so much you can do. Other teams really struggled with a wider variety of choices.&1xbet best casino website ;
Udall and Wagoner's design, &1xbet best casino website ;Wrap House,&1xbet best casino website ; is named for the standing-seam metal roofing they applied to the entire north elevation before bringing the material up and over the roofline.
Common to the seven designs developed from Coates' studio is the extensive use of insulated concrete foundations and walls of structural insulated panels. Ground-source heat pumps and building-integrated photovoltaics complement passive heating and ventilation.
&1xbet best casino website ;All designs have full basements for moral, ethical and space reasons,&1xbet best casino website ; said Coates, a professor of architecture. &1xbet best casino website ;All basements could be converted into any combination of living spaces.&1xbet best casino website ;
&1xbet best casino website ;Greening Greensburg,&1xbet best casino website ; Coates' title for the accompanying book and CD of the studio's designs, grew from a partnership with Greensburg GreenTown, which aims to provide sustainable housing in a town where most of the rebuilding energy so far has focused on civic and commercial structures.
Emily Schlickman, a project manager for Greensburg GreenTown, hopes that at least one of the K-State designs will be built as part of the nonprofit's &1xbet best casino website ;Chain of Eco-Homes.&1xbet best casino website ; It envisions a dozen houses built around Greensburg as demonstrations of sustainable technologies. Two &1xbet best casino website ;eco-homes&1xbet best casino website ; should be in place in time for the second anniversary of the tornado, which struck May 4, 2007.
&1xbet best casino website ;We wanted one of the K-State designs to be built, but like everyone else we're having issues with the economy,&1xbet best casino website ; Schlickman said. Progress will depend on donations of material and money.
For Coates, the process begins and ends with meeting the requirements of Greensburg residents in a sustainable fashion.
&1xbet best casino website ;In some senses, it is fundamental Kansas values,&1xbet best casino website ; he said. &1xbet best casino website ;In an unpretentious way, you try to preserve the world for your children.&1xbet best casino website ;
The other designs from Coates' fifth-year architecture studio included &1xbet best casino website ;A Place to Live,&1xbet best casino website ; &1xbet best casino website ;Shifty-Home,&1xbet best casino website ; &1xbet best casino website ;Four Square,&1xbet best casino website ; &1xbet best casino website ;Abbi House,&1xbet best casino website ; &1xbet best casino website ;Accessible Home,&1xbet best casino website ; &1xbet best casino website ;Solar Bungalow&1xbet best casino website ; and &1xbet best casino website ;A Family Home.&1xbet best casino website ;
Along with Udall and Wagoner, other K-State fifth-year architecture students participating in the project and their home design included:
Matthew Griswold, Overland Park, &1xbet best casino website ;A Place to Live.&1xbet best casino website ;
From out of state:
Trent Gareis, Sterling, Colo., &1xbet best casino website ;Solar Bungalow&1xbet best casino website ;; Alice Christner, Rochester, Minn., &1xbet best casino website ;Accessible Home.&1xbet best casino website ;
From Missouri: Joseph Schlag, Bridgeton, &1xbet best casino website ;A Place to Live&1xbet best casino website ;; James O'Mara, Florissant, &1xbet best casino website ;Four Square&1xbet best casino website ;; T.J. Siemons, Harrisonville, &1xbet best casino website ;Abbi House&1xbet best casino website ;; LeCretia Morrison, Kansas City, &1xbet best casino website ;Shift-y Home&1xbet best casino website ;; and Chris Chamberlin, Macks Creek, &1xbet best casino website ;A Family Home.&1xbet best casino website ;
From Nebraska: Andrew Robertson, Fremont, &1xbet best casino website ;Shifty Home&1xbet best casino website ;; and Jill Eckloff, Kearney, &1xbet best casino website ;Abbi House.&1xbet best casino website ;
