The interior of the home will be open and bright, with a clerestory running nearly the entire length of the building.

The front porch is framed with exposed timbers and t&g decking to create a warm and welcoming entry.

Emerging from the mist on Central Whidbey is the Island’s latest energy-efficient ICF home.  Exterior walls and foundation walls are constructed with Logix insulated concrete forms, providing an insulation value of approximately R-25 while minimizing air infiltration and thermal bridging (heat transfer) through the wall.

The home is utilizing innovative approaches to both concrete reinforcement and foundation formwork.  Footings for the structure have been formed using a product called Fastfoot; a leave-in-place polyethylene fabric form that, according to the manufacturer, conserves resources, prevents groundwater contamination (compared to “earth-formed” footings) and protects the completed foundation from moisture damage over time.

Concrete reinforcing is being provided by Helix; a zinc-plated fiber concrete additive that replaces traditional rebar.  The fiber is plant-mixed into the concrete and according to the manufacturer, provides a 40% stronger concrete section and can reduce reinforcement costs up to 20%.

The combination of using the Helix fibers and Fastfoot formwork allowed the contractor to pour the walls and footings all at once, saving both time and labor.  I’ll be checking back with the contractor, Viewpoint Group, Inc. when this phase of work is complete to try and get some feedback on the positive and negative aspects of this “all-in-one” approach.

Construction has begun on this custom home located near Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island.  Oriented on an east-west axis within 15° of true south, the home will take advantage of good solar access to provide passive heating and ample natural light.  The house will be constructed with insulated concrete form (ICF) exterior walls with an R-Value of approximately R-28, creating a very tight and energy efficient building envelope.  Heating for the home will be provided by a hydronic radiant in-floor / geothermal heat pump system.  Stay tuned for updates on the progress of work and additional construction photos.

KulshanCLT’s Indiana Street homes:

Four new compact, super energy-efficient, and permanently affordable homes

for the Birchwood neighborhood

(Bellingham) – Kulshan Community Land Trust begins construction soon on its newest super energy efficient, permanently affordable homes in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Whatcom County in the Birchwood neighborhood at 2776 and 2788 West Indiana Street.

Working together, the goal is to demonstrate that sustainable features can be incorporated into affordably priced homes. Using third party verification of U.S. Green Building Council LEED for Homes and local BIAWC Built Green rating systems, the Indiana Street homes builds on the success of KulshanCLT’s  Madrona Street home to serve as a model energy efficiency and affordability for our community. The four homes – two with attached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) will be sold at an affordable price to households at or below 80% of area median income (AMI) for their household size. For example, a household of 3 would need to make $48,850 or less to qualify.

KulshanCLT acquired the four lot Indiana Street homes building site, at risk of foreclosure, in 2009, using its own equity and Neighborhood Stabilization Funds (NSP) from the City of Bellingham. Like the Madrona Street home across the street, this home site is ideally located adjacent to trails, close to jobs, transportation options, and downtown Bellingham.

Following the building site acquisition, the Northwest Washington Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (Northwest AIA) ran a design competition for the Indiana Street Homes, encouraging innovative designs from among its members. The design team, led by Fred Wagner AIA of Grinstad & Wagner, reviewed and evaluated submissions and chose the successful designs. These include Stig Carlson AIA, in association with intern architect Bennett Hart, Landsem Architects AIA, , in association with intern architect Dan Demeules, and Marcus Swed AIA, in association with intern architect Marc Griffin.

Concurrently, KulshanCLT engaged Habitat for Humanity of Whatcom County (HFHWC) in the project, which will build two of the four homes using the Stig Carlson AIA and Marcus Swed AIA Passivehaus designs.  According to HFHWC Executive Director John Moon, this will be the first time HFHWC has built inside Bellingham city limits for 12 years.

“Designing the Madrona Street Home in partnership with The Cascade Joinery showed us that building energy efficient homes our homebuyers can afford is challenging but doable,” said Executive Director Dean Fearing. “That success inspired us to invite Habitat for Humanity to be involved in these four new Indiana Street Homes, and make similar upfront investments in energy efficiency for their homebuyers. Together, we are raising the bar and aim for these homes to be both high performance and close to self-sustaining from an energy standpoint.”

Landsem Architects AIA, in association with intern architect Dan Demeules, designed KulshanCLT’s homes and include attached accessory dwelling units (ADUs), creating two additional rental units affordable to households less than 50% AMI. The homes’ compact footprint will advance new developments in energy efficient construction methods and materials with a goal of achieving optimum energy efficiency and affordability.  Its passive solar design and reliance on energy conservation will help homeowners achieve additional cost savings and efficiencies. As with KulshanCLT’s Madrona Street Home, we are requesting additional funding for a solar PV array. The two homes will be built by Emerald Builders for KulshanCLT.

KulshanCLT projects that its homeowners may recoup their investment in up-front high performance building costs through annual energy cost savings in five years or less. The estimated purchase price for qualified buyers is $145,000. Homebuyer downpayment and mortgage, combined with permanent affordability investments, cover the full cost of construction.

As planning and construction progresses community members will be invited to workshops, tours and open houses to learn more about the home’s affordable, sustainable design, features and advanced construction techniques. Construction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2013.

Two of the homes will be single-family residences constructed by Habitat for Humanity and two of the homes will be single-family homes with attached ADUs constructed by Kulshan-selected contractors.  The Habitat homes will be designed to meet Passive House standards with 12″ thick exterior walls, extremely tight envelopes, passive heating and cooling strategies, triple-glazed windows and energy efficient mini-split heat pump heating systems.  Here are some renderings or our design that Ben created for presentation at the NWAIA awards in December.