Ideal Home 2006 Winners
mayer sattler-smith/Friends of H4H Claim Ideal Home Title
Through their 2006 Ideal Home Housing Forum & Design Competition, Cook Inlet Housing Authority challenged design/build teams to create an adaptable, creative, affordable home. Ideal Home 2006 winner mayer sattler-smith/Friends of H4H took the challenge and came out at the top of the heap winning $15,000 plus a contract to build their heavily glassed, flat-roofed, contemporary home.
The winning design, which will be built in Mountain View this summer, offers a modular concept that begins with 1300 square foot of living space, three-bedrooms, 1.5 baths and a great-room with a wall of south-facing windows. A two-car garage sits at the back of the lot helping to create an outdoor private courtyard in the south yard that acts as an extension to the living space. The home, including the roof system, is constructed with structural insulated panels, or SIPS, which set-up quickly, immediately providing an insulated wall assembly.
In an effort to get families invested in their community and to think of their home as more than just a "starter," the house is designed to expand with changing family needs. The team suggests a first addition of 675 square feet over the section of the house they've identified as "private space," or the area where the bedrooms and bathrooms are situated.
A second addition adds 560 square feet plus a roof-deck bringing the home's final size to 2,534 square feet plus the garage. Alternate plans allow for creation of a duplex as well.
The four participating design/build teams were chosen through an extensive competitive process. Other teams included: Spinell Homes, Rim First People/MJP Enterprises and MMense Architects with Harr Construction. Spinell Homes won a $2,500 award for designing the most affordable home. The home was both affordable to build - at more than 1,500 square feet for $210,000 – and affordable for the homeowner to maintain offering high-quality, low-maintenance finishes and energy efficient systems.
The competition results and the final built project are intended to serve as a basis for communicating the benefits of developing thoughtfully designed affordable housing. The projects were judged by a panel of experts and the audience at CIHA's 2006 Housing Forum presented on March 3 in conjunction with Alaska Housing Finance Corporation's Training Institute.
Cook Inlet Housing Authority will be making information about the designs available to the public in the near future. If you're interested in viewing this information, please send an e-mail request to Amy Burnett at ajburnett@cookinlethousing.org.