Groundbreaking

We have finally broken ground on-site! The foundation has been started, after a long and unexpected holdup with receiving finalized engineering documents. Now that the licensed subcontractors can take part, work is also nearing completion on the core - a prefabricated kitchen and bath unit housing the main components of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Having the engineering finished has not only allowed us to obtain the building permit, but also means that other two systems of the house - the trusses and structurally insulated panels (SIPs) - are being manufactured as we speak.

Reaching these important milestones comes as great news not only to Rev. Williams and the ddbNOLA team, but also to the many other groups and individuals following the project with much anticipation. We have continued to spread Clemson's name and strengthen relationships with organizations such as Trinity Christian Community (TCC) and CITYbuild Consortium of Schools (leading to the Dry-In House design currently being on display at the entrance to the New Orleans City Hall), along with forging new relationships with positive-thinking parties like NOLAsolar and the non-profit Carrollton-Hollygrove Community Development Corporation (CHCDC).

As a result of these interactions, many exciting things are in store for the project. NOLAsolar's involvement with the project has led to a new, much higher level of sustainability in the design: the prototype Dry-In House now includes a solar panel array which will account for 85% of the electrical load, along with solar water heating, greywater recycling, and other energy-efficient measures. NOLAsolar has expressed much interest in being involved in future iterations of the Dry-In design, bringing a heightened level of environmental awareness to the project.

There is still much to look forward to beyond the completion of Rev. Williams' home. Working with TCC and CHCDC has led to great potential for future homes, as we have met with several community members who would like to own their own Dry-In House once Reverend Williams' is completed. CHCDC has also expressed further interest in the project, and together we have submitted a proposal for a $275,000 grant through the Greater New Orleans Foundation. The money would serve as funding for the construction of four more Dry-In Houses over one year's time, with the long-term goal of providing mass affordable housing throughout New Orleans. Aside from this grant opportunity, Rev. Williams' desire for a garden has led to ddbNOLA's involvement with CHCDC's backyard gardening program (in cooperation with the New Orleans Food and Farm Network) on current and future Dry-In Houses. This fits well with the Dry-In House's goals of fostering community interaction and environmental awareness and education, while providing further exposure for the Dry-In project to those who could truly benefit from its innovative use of technology.

The groundbreaking has arrived after a long period of waiting, and it has brought renewed energy and spirit to the ddbNOLA team. We are very grateful for the support that has brought us this far and the continued support of those around us and especially Rev. Williams, whose open-mindedness, patience, and desire to improve the lives of his neighbors have been instrumental in keeping this project going.

Check back for (more frequent) updates as the first Dry-In House comes to realization!

the wall

Well, friends, we've hit another wall - but hopefully it is not going to be too much of one. Our subcontractors can't work on the core until our permit is pushed through, which has been our main holdup so far. We are working hard to get everything settled and fixed so that our permit can go through, we can start the big build on site and we can finish the core.

In between writing emails and budgeting and scheduling and other miscellaneous things, I've begun to analyze the situation of being a "free architect" (or unlicensed, architecturally-trained non-architect). Part of the project's concept is about bringing high design to a population that never sees it; this is eliminating an element of the labor cost. In the theoretical situation of only paying for the very materials your house is made of, and the concept of donated time. What a healthy economy, where you only pay for tangible goods rather than services...granted time = money. Who am I to say that my design work has a dollar value? I could price it by the hour, but what if my design is less "high" but slower in coming than the next architect?

I also wonder why I am involved in conversations that have statements such as, "I'd love to continue doing nonprofit, but obviously that couldn't work out. Maybe in the future once I make some money I could come back to it." Nonprofit work destroys your financial situation and drives you deep into debt, and genuinely all you want to do is get by.

Good ol' capitalism, eh? Thoughts in the midst of a construction hiatus.

we've been framed

At long last the tedious and complicated task of framing the core, with its many staggered walls, rough openings and detailed nailing surfaces is coming to an end!





Hopefully the subs can come do their work (electric, plumbing, HVAC) ASAP because we've reached the point where we can't do anything else until their work is done and we get our open-walls inspection over with. The final piece of wood framing was the counter top. For the first time there is some spacial understanding of what the bathroom will be like.





As for the big build, we are still working on our engineers and the City of New Orleans. The most difficult part of this project is depending on someone else. It's hard to trust others to care about the project as much as you and to do their best and understand where you come from why you need them to do things quickly. Some people pull through for us, and some people don't. Getting things done in New Orleans is about fighting your way through people, who for whatever reasons, are not interested in helping a situation unless they directly benefit.

Hopefully we can make the term "community build" become more of a common concept around here.

beginning the core

We are in the first stages of building the core...so far we're fairly on schedule. We have Mark and Scott (Americorps) helping us 3 days a week, and the other days we spend planning each construction day, having meetings, and other miscellaneous things. We're keeping our fingers crossed to have the engineers signed off this week. Having the volunteers help us only 3 days a week has turned out to be helpful.



The warehouse space is really amazing - it has some sculptural elements and great graffiti, making for an interesting environment to build our core. There is a crew of people in there who make biodiesel (New Orleans Biofuel Initiative: http://www.nobifuel.com/) - the whole character of the place is based upon environmental consciousness. With our recent decision to include solar panels on Earl's house (thanks to NOLA SOLAR), we're fitting right in. I've included some photos of the warehouse space and the core progress below. For a more formal report, as always, visit the website.

introduction

ddbNOLA, Digital Design Build New Orleans, Lousiana, is a team that began as a Clemson University architecture studio researching and designing the Dry-In House. The end product of that studio was a mockup of a corner of the house built on Clemson's campus. Since then, the studio has moved on to New Orleans. The team consists primarily of two faculty members - Doug Hecker and Martha Skinner, two Clemson Architecture alumni now living in New Orleans - Jackson Blalock and Melissa Vandiver, and two team members still in South Carolina - Vincent Vimbaco and Mandi Young. To learn more about the Dry-In House, visit our website.



The ddbNOLA team is in New Orleans to build the first ever Dry-In House for the Rev. Earl Williams, a community leader in the hurricane-devastated neighborhood of Hollygrove. The Dry-In House seeks to address the problems that face many residents of post-Katrina New Orleans, including that of the FEMA trailer, which is a temporary and expensive solution to a long-term and expensive problem. We seek to provide affordable yet customizable housing through the use of digital fabrication technology. We seek to minimize the amount of skilled labor required to build a house and to bring the community together through the process of rebuilding itself. We also seek to bring high design to Hollygrove as a solution to a problem, rather than a luxury reserved for the wealthy.

There are three main systems that make up the Dry-In House: the core, the superstructure, and the skin. The core is a prefabricated bathroom and partial-kitchen unit, which houses the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems as well as the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. It is built off site and installed onto a foundation, after which the of prefabricated wood trusses is raised around it. On top of the superstructure a skin of prefabricated structurally insulated panels (SIPs) is installed and the house is dried in. After this process, the owner can move in and customize his finishes and other details as time and money permit.




Construction has just begun on the core in a warehouse near Hollygrove. There will be a post showing the status of that soon.