Thank you to the Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design for hosting this interesting event last week. Sheetza McGarry, a former Hines NYC intern (one of the best) currently seeking her masters in architecture and a research assistant at the Healthy Materials Lab, invited me to speak alongside my great friend Charlotte Bell (she/her) with Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County, Drew Vanderburg with RiseBoro Community Partnership and Brandon Pietras with Bernheimer Architecture about design techniques for affordable housing to create spaces people want to live, feel safe and feel healthy.
My career has not been in affordable housing and I am certainly not an expert in affordable housing design, but I do have extensive experience having worked with Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County through ASHRAE NYC Chapter along with deep experience in seniors housing design and how designing spaces purposely built for those that are going to use them with extremely thoughtful design can turn a project from ok into exceptional.
The Healthy Materials Lab at Parsons School of Design has built quite a data base of different materials and techniques that is available for everyone to utilize. Sheetza McGarry and the co-founder of the Healthy Materials Lab Alison Mears have also started and built an impressive database of ACTUAL healthy, affordable projects all around the United States as part of the Building Healthy Homes initiative. They already have about 8000 units of housing in the data base and are looking for more! Check it out and see if adding your building would make sense.(https://lnkd.in/eqjPhpjt)
I enjoyed hearing from and learning from the other speakers. Some takeaways
👉 Exceptional design does not have to be expensive or use the highest ends materials. It needs to be thoughtful to ensure the end user, regardless of wealth or class, is able to efficiently, effectively and comfortably use and live in their space.
💰 Keeping utility costs low for those that can least afford it is critical (especially for Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County). A constant balance between construction costs and energy saving/zero carbon/healthy material design techniques and systems is key.
🚃 Many factors including supply chain disruption, manufacturing source, performance, aesthetics and cost can impact the materials chosen for a project. When selecting materials, find levers you can pull for the 'biggest bang for your buck' with cost, impact on the tenant (directly and indirectly), embodied carbon, durability and energy performance. A few home runs can make up for a lot of strikeouts.
🙍♂️ 🙍♀️ Stakeholder and community engagement is critical. Make sure what you're choosing to build and the materials utilized are something the potential or current tenants WANT rather than what you THINK they want
We asked a panel of housing experts: 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀?
Last Wednesday at 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀: 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲 - 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 panelists from Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County, Bernheimer Architecture, Hines, & RiseBoro Community Partnership, joined HML’s Alison Mears & Sheetza McGarry, to address some tough questions.
The panelists, experts in architectural design, construction, material selection, and resident and building management, spoke candidly about roadblocks and progression. For each, healthier materials, more efficient systems, and community services were most successful when incorporated at the beginning of the project–as the foundation.
Looking to find out more? https://lnkd.in/e8XjBCkj
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#healthyaffordablehomes #buildinghealthyhomes #springevents #hmlevents
Project partners: @dattnerarch @nychousing @urbanlandinstitute @thenyhc @chpcny @NYSERDA @phius @passivehouseaccelerator