The Low Cost, Low Energy House project by sustainable.TO won the latest DesignByMany challenge: “Passive House for New Orleans.” The challenge asked professionals and students in the architectural, engineering and construction community to submit a proposal for a passive house in New Orleans that addresses the need for affordable, sustainable home design in neighborhoods that are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

“The Low Cost, Low Energy House, is an incredibly thoughtful and viable response to the goals of this challenge,” said David Fano, partner, CASE. “With the knowledge of participants from across the globe coming together to tackle this challenge through great submissions like Low Cost, Low Energy House, the hope is that design professionals will walk away with new ideas that can help move the industry forward and inform future building projects in a positive way.”

Low Cost, Low Energy House sensitively combines the rigors of the passive house standard with a contemporary reimagining of the shotgun typology. Using an elegant linear organization, both passive and active environmental systems are deeply integrated with program, circulation and the building enclosure. The simple building shape lends itself to the demands of airtight, thermal-bridge free construction through the opportunity for more cost-effective, higher-quality prefabrication.

Low Cost, Low Energy House was chosen by a select group of judges, including: David Basulto, co-founder of Archdaily; Katrin Klingenberg, executive director and lead designer at e-co lab and co-founder the Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS); Alejandra Lillo, co-founder of Undisclosable; Corey Saft, assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Design at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette; and Trey Trahan, FAIA, President and Principal-in-Charge of Trahan Architects.

The “Passive House for New Orleans” challenge coincided with the 2011 American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Convention held in New Orleans, La., May 12-14. By engaging the AEC community in developing a series of affordable, low-energy, homes for neighborhoods in New Orleans that are still recovering, the challenge sought to push architects and designers to think of creative ways to address sustainability issues facing the building industry and encourage fresh approaches to ecological, affordable housing design.

For winning the HP-supported challenge, sustainable.TO will take home an HP Designjet T2300 PostScript eMFP, the industry’s first web-connected large-format printer with print, scan and copy functionality. This printer lets users print from and scan directly to the web without a computer and preview projects through the large-format industry’s only color touchscreen interface, now with direct access to HP ePrint & Share,[1] a free cloud-based solution.

To participate in future challenges and projects, visit DesignByMany.com.

Provided by CASE Design