The Sustainable Single-Family House

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The Sustainable Single-Family House

Hartsig, Isabella;

URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10429/2562

Date: 2024-05-01

Abstract:

Within Residential Architecture, bridging the gap between the typical single-family house and the new standard of sustainability is a particular concern. Mass production of houses, including tract housing is one of the most unsustainable building methods, as this approach to residential development is usually coupled with the lack of attention to best practices of sustainable design, for example, the orientation of buildings in relation to site and climatic conditions and its relation to program and materiality. It is therefore important to find new solutions/approaches/strategies to mitigate this issue and embrace a more sustainable construction/building method. The idea of selecting one house design and of employing it repetitively within the same plot of land to build identical or almost identical houses is not acceptable from the lens of sustainability. The issue does not merely lie in the repetition of the same spec house, but also within the single-family house template in itself. Issues related to the housing market are being overlooked in terms of impact on climate change and sustainability. In fact, there are 97 million single-family, detached houses in the United States alone that have a cumulative effect comparable to that of the 5.9 million commercial buildings. Transforming 20 houses, which corresponds to one typical subdivision, would create the same sustainable impact as retrofitting one commercial building. There would be a great impact of change on this topic if people were to become more educated on these numbers. As of today, the typical single-family house is of no comparison to the new standard of sustainability. The construction of these houses is expected to be based on the concept of maximizing profits. Contractors, builders, and developers are cutting corners, using cheap, poor-quality materials, and once again ignoring the ideas of efficiency. There is a lack of balance between the triple bottom line; People, Profit, and Planet. This investigation explored the gap between both current and historical single-family housing development standards and new standards of sustainability within the United States to develop a proposal for sustainable single-family housing in Michigan. Preliminary interviews and the analysis of the construction methods, materials, and designs of single-family homes, shed light on the extreme prioritizing of profit over other aspects of efficiency, affordability, and sustainability driven by the market. Methods included literature review, precedent studies, and research on existing case studies, and the analysis and mapping of census and environmental data, as well as interviews and in situ observations of the construction process. Combined, together, interviews and observations allowed for the in-depth analysis of what is built today and for the identification of which sustainable methods can create the largest impact. Outcomes of the study included the definition of a strategy for re-imagining the single-family house to achieve increased sustainability. Additionally, findings can be used to help educate communities on impacts on the planet of their house through infographics showing the impact of each individual sustainable to communicate which are the most efficient and affordable for the region of Michigan.

Description:

Beginning with the idea of mitigating the mass production of houses, tract housing, into a more sustainable method, and soon realizing that the real problem lies within the single-family house itself. There is a major gap in reality to laymen and professionals on the impact that a single home can have on the environment. There are 97 million detached, single-family houses in the United States alone which is very close to equating to the same environmental impact as the 5.9 million commercial buildings. There is a very clear impact through carbon emissions, however, through research in this thesis, there will be an even greater impact of the simple changes within the single-family houses that can be made on the pre-existing homes to impact the environment by a significant amount. As of today, the typical single-family house is of no comparison to the new standard of sustainability. The general construction of these houses are expected to be based on the concept of maximizing profits. There is a lack of balance between the triple bottom line; People, Profit, Planet. Through interview data and observation of construction of the single-family home, it can be seen that there is an extreme interest in profit over any other aspect of efficiency, affordability, and sustainability. The sustainability of single-family housing alone could create a significant impact on the environment. There is a preference in architecture and construction of the sustainability of a commercial building. Transforming 20 houses, similar numbers to one subdivision would create the same sustainable impact as one commercial building. A typical subdivision in Michigan is about 12+ houses. This means that if a community was to be educated on this topic and were to make a change within their single-family house, they could make the same impact of an office building in Detroit. There are many aspects of this concept and why it is not in use yet, such as, social, cultural, and economic. The social aspect of this is that there is an expectation from the HOA in neighborhoods that every house meets its aesthetics to look the same and in unison. No one person feels that they should step out of line to create a sustainable change as they would stick out from the uniform house. The cultural aspect is mostly based on the age of the community. Mostly based on generations, there is a lack of education and strong beliefs that the sustainability of a house or sustainability, in general, is non-existent and does not affect the environment. Lastly and most importantly, there is the economic aspect. This creates the greatest impact in this thesis as developers and builders tend to choose the products and construction methods that are the cheapest. Through research it is found that they chose these methods because it is what is best for them at the time, there is no interest in considering sustainability and efficiency, only affordability. This is where the question arises of, how can one convince the developers to change their methods without losing the profits? The goal of this thesis investigation is to explore how to bridge the gap between current and past single-family housing development standards and new standards of sustainability. Expected outcomes include the definition of a strategy for re-imagining the single-family house to achieve increased sustainability. Issues related to the housing market are being overlooked in terms of impact on climate change and sustainability. There are 97 million single-family, detached houses in the United States alone that have a cumulative effect comparable to that of the 5.9 million commercial buildings. There would be a great impact of change on this topic if people were to become more educated on these numbers. This thesis will help educate communities on what their houses impact is on the planet through infographics showing the impact of each sustainable method and going deeper into which one is the most efficient and affordable for their region, Michigan. This investigation approaches the topic of sustainability in single-family housing through a pragmatic and realistic approach and will adopt a post-positivist framework, relying predominately on quantitative analysis and objective data. There is a plethora of information already known on the topic of individual residences within a neighborhood, but there is a lack of knowledge found on the idea of specifying individual housing sustainability. Tract housing developments are a form of neighborhood characterized by the idea of having a simple plan for a house and building in mass around the area. The most notable example is found at where they began in Levittown, New York. In the book, “Levittown”, by Richard Wagner, the history of the mass production of the single-family house is explained as a way to house the veterans coming home from World War II. It was known to be a ‘solution’ and William Levitt was known to be ‘nothing but a visionary’. Yet, over time, there was no longer a reason to need a quick house for a true reason of community and there began the problem of the lack of balance within the triple bottom line. Then taking a look at a wider scope of the city themselves, the book, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, by Jane Jacobs gave great incite into the strict separation of district, city, neighborhood, and street layout. The largest takeaway from this thesis of the sustainable single-family house is the idea of salvaging projects. Taking what is pre-existing learning from the mistakes and creating solutions from what is built. This led to a need for a smaller look into what these houses and communities had and needed. There is a concept of taking houses and putting them into smaller units attached as a way of sustainability and taking up less space on the earth, but there is a con to this idea in both a sustainability and occupant health point of view. “A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander studied the housing community and described a person’s needs for living as “an identifiable spacial unit to belong to”. People need to own the space they are living in for their living health. The understanding of tract housing characteristics and sustainability shortcomings and the study of individual units are central to understanding planning aspects and how sustainability can be more efficiently integrated at both scales. Through this research, it was quite clear that there was a deeper problem rooted within the tract housing industry: the single-family house. Through the process of observation and interviews the ideal process of building can be found through builders and developers. They can be compared to a sustainable way of building that can be found in the singular sustainable houses. Methods will include annotative bibliographies, literature review, precedent studies and research on existing case studies, and census and environmental data diagramming. Other studies may include interview processes, observation of sites, and mapping. From the annotative bibliographies and literature reviews the outcome should become a framework for the next steps in my research, filling in the blanks from what has not been looked into for sustainable single-family houses. Within the precedent studies the goal is to take what is previously discovered and re-imagine the ideas to fit the idea of an efficient and affordable sustainable single-family house that meets the needs of a suburb in Michigan. The census and environmental data diagramming is the most important aspect of this thesis research as it will allow for the analysis of what is built today and what sustainable method creates the largest impact for the typical single-family.

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