Taubman College The fundamental characteristic of Anca Trandafirescu and Glenn Wilcox’s 99K house competition entry is the utilization of prefabricated technologies that are already in place but are, as of yet, under utilized in the residential building industry. Specifically – their entry investigates the possibilities of adapting a “Butler’ type metal building system for this purpose. In addition, (SIPs) or Structurally Insulated Panels are utilized for the primary interior enclosure. As both of these systems are factory constructed – the aim is to tap into the construction efficiency already in place – the use of green technologies – the control and minimization of waste and the universal adaptability of the “Butler’ type system are just a few strong points. In addition both systems allow for an extreme cost savings by minimizing on site construction time and the use of wet trades while maximizing the amount of space for the cost.
With this in mind the entry proposes nearly doubling the overall volume of the project creating a shaded double height exterior volume on the north side of the house. This enclosed yet open (through the use of a perforated skin) volume allows the back of the house to be completely opened to this space. The need for mechanical conditioning is eliminated by treating the entire house in this way as a type of veranda and allowing the exterior skin to serve as a shading device. In addition the condensation of hard programmatic elements into a core allows for greater flexibility in programmatic delineations.
