Opportunity - Team LLBen

One word to summarize the haiti_utk experience would be “opportunity”. Over the past semester, we have been fortunate enough to be given so many opportunities, seen and unseen. We were able to travel to Haiti and experience a new culture. Our eyers were open to things that they were blind to before. We were given the opportunity to aid Jean Thomas in fulfilling his vision for the community that he desires to build. We experienced a practical form of design that will prepare us for our careers in the future. We also formed friendships that brought us closer together as a studio.

The experiences that we gained from these opportunities are priceless and have been very rewarding. It has been very enjoyable and really exciting to know that something we designed in college is actually going to get built. If ever I had a similar opportunity such as the haiti_utk experience, I could not pass it up.

Open & Versatile: Young Professional Patriate House

Click here for PDF's of Drawings

Specifications

• 2 bedroom (optional addition)

• 2 full bath

• 1,128 sq. ft.

Programmatic Goals

• seperate the master bedroom and the guest bedroom

• design an easily modifiable floor plan for future expansion of a third bedroom

• connect the entrance and the back of the house

• create simplicity and efficiency

Design Intentions

• passive ventilation is a primary concern

• take advantage of simple technology and energy efficiency

• meet the needs and expectations of the occupant

• design spaces and furniture that are interactive and dynamic

• provide security

 

The second proposal for Team LLBen (Lauren Heile, Lauren Metts, & Ben Cross) is the Young Professional Patriate House. The home is designed to meet the needs of the occupant, implement passive and energy efficient design methods, and to create a comfortable dwelling.

The layout of the floor plan connects the front of the house to the back of the house. With two tri-fold doors on both the front and back, the living room is capable of being opened completely to create one large “exterior covered space” while still keeping privacy to the bedrooms. We want guests to be able to enjoy the mountainous views on the back side of the house without having to navigate through private spaces.

The importance of privacy is taken well into consideration. One of our most important and more challenging goals was to separate the master bedroom from the guest bedroom(s). The challenge in separating the bedrooms is that we were forced to create two full baths and it was difficult not to waste precious space just for a hallway. The bedrooms are located on either side of the living room. These spaces are separated by a sliding door for extra privacy.

One other key intention for the design of this home was to make the living conditions inside the home as comfortable as possible. We learned on our trip to Haiti that the Haitian people like the interior of the home to be cool in temperature and dark. Considering the normal day of a Haitian, there is always plenty of sun and they are always outside. The home is an escape from the heat and the light. As far as light as considered, the fenestration has plenty of cover from the overhang of the eaves to prevent direct sunlight from entering. The clerestory from the monitor roof allows enough indirect light to keep the living room a space where tasks can be accomplished. The bedrooms will be darker, making them a place of rest and relaxation.

The monitor roof not only provides indirect lighting for the living room, but it is also the key to our passive ventilation system. Cool air from floor will rise, but it will eventually be heated by the solar heat gain from the metal roof. If the air were to be trapped, the house would heat up like a car with closed windows on a sunny day. With this design, the fenestration on the perimeter of the house, as well as the openings on either end of the living room, allows the cool breeze from outside to flush out the warm air inside (from SHG) through the clerestory of the monitor roof. This system works very well in tropical climates. In order to get optimum performance, we supplemented this system with a 10' diameter fan from Big Ass Fans®. They're energy efficient fans and they make a big difference in the performance of the system.

House for Expatriate Retiree

Our team designed a house for expatriate couple returning to Haiti for retirement. Our main concept was to create a tranquil home to live in while implementing diffused lighting, ventilation and local materials. Our concept directly influenced our decision of where to build the house on the site. We chose to place it on a lot on the west side of the site overlooking the river and surrounded by forest. 

We seperated the public and private space of the house and kept a strong connection to the porches of the house. We focused on the connection between the interior and exterior of the house. Since Haitians spend most of their time outdoors we tried to find ways to bring nature inside. The main living area of the house is closed off by a local bamboo system that allows views to the outside as well as light and ventilation throughout. We also used ventblock and louvered windows to increase good ventilation in the house. Our design also features a simple rainwater collection system for the residents use. 

Housing Design for Ex-Pat/Retiree

We were given the assignment to begin schematic design for one client type for our project in Fond-des-Blanc, Haiti. Our team chose to design a house for an Ex-patriate  couple moving to this rural area to retire.

In our design for the Ex-patriates we focused on creating a house that is peaceful, connecting the resident with nature. We emphasized this serene experience in the relationship of the porch to living area and the main entry sequence. Our group attempted to interlock the porch zone to the living area through openness, making the porch and living into a more continuous space.  The front porch is the large, to be used as a social gathering porch, facing the pedestrian promenade. The back porch is to be used more privately, reserved for family and close friends. We kept the public areas of the house very open to make the space feel larger for the user. We divided the kitchen and living with a small partition of bamboo to create a visual barrier without the solidity and harshness of a wall. We are still considering how we can apply this idea to other interior walls of the house. 

After our critique, we realized many of the improvements that need to be made in our housing design. One issue was how we had placed closets and bathrooms on the exterior wall of the house, rather than moving them to the interior for better cross ventilation. Another suggestion was to make one porch more prominent instead of having two. We also realized the need for another full bath for guests visiting overnight. Overall, several spaces in the plan need to be shifted and our concept needs to be brought through the whole house in a cohesive way. 

Young Professionals (Patriots)

The emphasis of this design is to create darker interior spaces and promote natural ventilation.  We saw this house being located on the southern end of the site on the riverside near the commercial zone.  A solid wall is located on the south elevation to prevent direct sunlight from penetrating the interior and to reduce the amount of noise from the commercial area.  The other facades are more open, allowing the user the option to ventilate or light the home.  The porches are located on the northeast and northwest corners of the home in order to promote the views and relations to neighbors to the north.

The kitchen is located on the west side of the home (the back) giving access to an outdoor cooking area if needed.  The house also has a "jack & jill" for the residents, and a half bath for guests.  Also, the house has a "fly roof" in order to flush out the hot air that accumulates under the roof from solar heat gain.  However, the design needs to be reworked.  The living room is too small and the hallways take up too much area in the home.  The bathrooms need to be adjacent in order to have a unified wet wall.  Most importantly, the design needs a more solid concept.

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

The sun's not quite up

But I got the notion

That the morning has begun

Because of all the commotion

People pass my house

More than a few

The roosters call out

“Cock-a-doodle-doo”

In a hurry

People are on their way

To trade, sell, and buy

Cause' it's market day

 

This particular Friday

The market has a crowd

Selling goods with a megaphone

can be quite loud

I came to get poultry

then be on my way

I didn't have enough money

I could not pay

I bargained and bartered

That's all I could do

But the rooster laughed out

“Cock-a-doodle-doo”

The trade was no good

I was not a winner

I guess it's plantains

For tonights dinner

On my way home

I took the path

There were boys in the river

Taking a bath

Their mothers were near

Washing their clothes

In this river

Anything goes

There was also a rooster

I told it to shoo!

But it just mocked me

“Cock-a-doodle-doo”

Finally back home

I'm dying of thirst

In order to cook

We'll need water first

Back down to the river

With jug in hand

Not sure what's for dinner

Still needed a plan

I fill up my jug

With water from the spring

Then I see that same rooster

It's so annoying

It follows me back

All the way to my house

I didn't notice because

It was as quiet as a mouse

What to have for dinner

I still had no clue

But then I got an idea

“Cock-a-doodle-doo”

I prepare to cook

Grab some plates and a bowl

Then head outside

With plenty of charcoal

I started cooking the food

No time to stop

Then grabbed the rooster

“Cock-a-doodle-CHOP!”

The meal was delicious

We cleaned our plates

I was exhausted

And sleep could not wait

We get ready for bed

But it's hard without light

Looking forward to the morning

And a long restful night

I finally went to bed

But then I woke up at two

“You've gotta be kidding me”

“COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO”