L a t i t u d e H o u s i n g S y s t e m
287
LATITUDE HOUSING SYSTEM: MASS-CUSTOMIZED NET
ENERGY-POSITIVE HOUSING FOR THE GREAT LAKES REGION
Geoffrey Thün
1
, Kathy Velikov
2
, Mary O’Malley
3
, Colin Ripley
4
1
RVTR / Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, US
2
RVTR / Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, US
3
RVTR / Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, US
4
RVTR / Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University, Canad
Abstract
This paper presents the
Latitude Housing System
, a speculative model for a means of
imagining multi-scalar nested considerations for the development of a mass-customized
net energy producing housing system geared to the specific conditions of the Great
Lakes region in North America. In the most general sense, the project is motivated by an
attempt to frame the discussion of such housing beyond its energy performance alone,
and expand by implication, the ways in which we might discuss and debate approaches
to the design and delivery of sustainable housing. Considerations that range from
regional economic synergies and models of clean-tech collaborations to behaviour
shaping building controls systems are presented and briefly outlined as they are applied
to a proof of concept prototype, the
North House
project.
Keywords:
Mass customized housing, responsive envelopes, high performance
buildings, net energy-positive housing.
Introduction
There is a long history of architects engaging not only in the design of industrially
manufactured housing but also in speculating on the conceptualization and design of the
housing industry itself (Rupnik 2012: 86-102, Bergdoll and Christensen 2008). However,
in the North American context, most of these proposals have, for a variety of reasons,
historically failed to achieve the commercial and transformational success imagined by
their authors. The past two decades have witnessed resurgence in interest and
exploration of prefabricated housing by the design disciplines, especially as related to
the new opportunities availed to both designers and the construction industry by digital
design and manufacture technologies (Bergdoll 2008: 24). The contemporary context of
building design is additionally pressurized by a range of concerns tied to questions of
climate change, sustainable practices, and the emergence of ecological paradigms in the
design and operations of industrial production. These conditions describe a new context
where architectural imagination can contribute to reframing an approach to the
challenges of housing delivery.
The Latitude Housing System, a speculative mass custom energy positive housing
model, has been developed by the authors as a framework to recast the role of the
house as a high performance industrial product that participates within specific regional
economies, that has an impact as part of a broader renewable energy infrastructure
network, and that also serves as a platform through which to foster new relationships
between inhabitants, buildings and the environment by way of sustainable living
practices. The proposal extends beyond the concept of the zero-energy home as an
isolated object, pursuing a comprehensive system that aims to address the net impacts
of manufacturing, operation, and behavioural transformation in the production of a
sustainable society. This paper presents a set of cascading considerations associated
with the conceptualization of the system. It also describes a proof of concept prototype
home entitled
North House,
developed between 2008-2010, and currently located in
