OurStory

Please take a few minutes to complete this anonymous survey to give your feedback on the OurStory house designs and our upcoming development project in the Benson neighborhood.

For more information on this project, visit www.livable.org

For questions, contact jessica@livable.org

Following a 2019 Brookings Institution report that argues “replacing detached single-family homes with ‘gentle density’ could increase the number of homes available and bring down average housing prices in high-cost locations, while retaining the physical scale of the neighborhood,” this project will explore a housing solution based on the single-family house. While affordable housing needs in urban communities benefit from multi-family complexes, or smaller “missing middle” housing types and the high density these types bring to a city, there are many communities where the single-family house and its variants are still relevant, or necessary. Thus, this project is not an argument against density or collective housing, but for the house to be one of a broad set of solutions to the housing crisis. The project argues for a repair of the single-family house to address housing needs in existing neighborhoods, vacant odd-lots, new dense developments and to uncover new opportunities for the type. As one example of its use, OurStory provides a new option for housing older adults wishing to downsize and remain in their neighborhoods as they age.

The OurStory prototype is designed for accessibility, energy efficiency, low embodied carbon construction, and low maintenance. The building envelope (exterior walls and roof) is constructed with Structural Insulated Panels to increase energy efficiency and to reduce material use and construction waste. Storage cabinets and consolidated “wet wall” merging kitchen and bathroom utilities are prefabricated in a shop to increase precision and accuracy. Together with the SIPs, the prefabricated units are delivered to the construction site at just the right moment, limiting construction time, saving cost and disruption to the existing neighborhood. Heating and cooling is via electric heat pump with an ERV heat exchanger to maintain fresh ventilation in the air-tight house. The floor is an efficient  and attractive polished concrete slab on grade. This may be upgraded with an optional hydronic in-floor heating system to improve comfort and reduce indoor dust circulation. Appliances are all Energy Star rated.