Subject: Re: ARCHITECTURE: Low Toxic Modular Housing.
====================================================================
THIS INFORMATION AND REQUEST IS BEING FORWARDED TO DESIGN-L. Howard
====================================================================
>For those of you with an interest in alternative housing and construction
>methods, I would like to ask for some comments on a concept I've been
>considering for low toxic modular housing. This is a piece I posted a bit
>ago to alt.architecture but didn't get much response on. (news server didn't
>have this forum then)
>I suffer from a severe hyperallergic condition -those of you familiar with
>the "Northern Exposure" TV show and it's 'bubble man' character will have an
>idea of what that means. My own condition is, thankfully, not so severe as
>that character's but it's bad enough that it makes conventional housing a
>problem for me because of the witch's brew of chemicals commonly used in
>building materials since the 'better living through industrial chemistry'
>age of the 50s and 60s and because traditional materials like wood attract
>natural allergens like fungus and dusts without chemical treatments. Some
>day I hope to escape from the toxic waste dump of New Jersey but that will
>call for a home crafted to suit my needs and although there are so called
>'low toxic homes' being constructed today, most seem to rely merely on
>masking, covering, or coating the old fashioned materials in order to
>isolate the inhabitants from the materials their home is made with, they
>cost double that of conventional homes and require special training for
>contractors, and the state of low-toxic interior design is so poor the
>residents of such expensive homes find themselves, in the worst cases, with
>nothing but lawn chairs and army surplus items for furniture. In many cases
>people with my condition find themselves living in stripped down Airstreams
>in the desert or, even worse, nothing more then an army surplus tent!
>I would like to avoid such a pathetic squalid lifestyle and so I've been
>exploring alternative approaches to housing design and engineering in the
>hopes of arriving at a housing concept that will provide as close to a
>normal level of comfort and functionality as possible. A design scheme which
>takes advantage of modern technology, which does not require special
>construction skills, is economical, scalable to most any size or
>configuration, and which allows a resident to adapt the interior to whatever
>range of materials his condition might allow. (the severity and particulars
>of this condition vary widely, hyperallergics are not troubled by all the
>same things and thus it makes no sense to have to suit the worst case when
>only a certain select group materials are a problem for any one individual)
>I also need to consider the requirements of HUD when it comes to alternative
>housing. My employment options rather limited due to this condition, it is
>unlikely that I could afford the costs of building a home nor could I ever
>hope to obtain a conventional mortgage. HUD literature claims there is a HUD
>program to sponsor the construction of adaptive housing for the disabled,
>though I've never been able to get this confirmed because every time I
>contact HUD all they do is send me lists of old folks' homes in Brooklyn
>-and I don't even live in New York! Clearly, we're not dealing with rocket
>scientists here so if I'm going to get their cooperation for an alternative
>housing design it's going to have to be very economical and pretty damn
>simple if they are going to comprehend it at all. In fact, I might have to
>build it alone or with the cooperation of volunteers just to bring the cost
>down enough to keep HUD from giving me the bum's rush.
>Taking all these things into consideration, I've been exploring the
>following concept; a home built primarily from modular steel/aluminum
>extrusions. There are a number of square extrusion construction systems
>common in the electronics industry which are used for the construction of
>large sized electronics enclosures and control consoles. In some cases they
>are also used to construct laboratory enclosures, isolated manufacturing
>workstations, Tempest-proof rooms, and radio shacks. They typically conform
>to a variety if Mil spec standards making them suitable for hazardous
>industrial and battlefield use. These systems use tubular square stock
>extrusions with a variety of flanges and are connected with self-locking
>cast joints reinforced by bolted or welded corner braces. Pound for pound,
>they're far stronger then traditional wooden structures, can be assembled
>with nothing more then a hack saw and socket wrench, and serve as their own
>electrical conduits. They require no finishing. The bare frames are covered
>by pop-in, welded, or bolt-on panels which can cover the frames or mount
>flush to them depending on the flange type used, can serve as windows or
>support doors and cabinets, and which can be made from most any suitable
>material; metal, glass, plastic, wood.
>The basic home design I've been thinking about using this would be composed
>of two independent structures. First, a free-standing outer structure or
>enclosure using double-glazed glass panels. Set in a simple slab foundation,
>it would be formed as a distributed structure rather then a uniform dome or
>box and, from a design standpoint, defines a logical boundary between
>'indoors' and 'outdoors.' It would also support supplemental passive solar
>heating and could use electrochromatic panels for shading. The outer
>structure would also support spot lighting and other fixtures. The second
>interior structure would be composed of a free-standing multi-story living
>space independent of the outer structure which establishes rooms and spaces
>as a function of its inter-linked structure. A sort of high-tech jungle gym
>if you will. Walls are built of panels composed of polyethylene sheet stock
>covered by cotton canvas or hemp cloth, perhaps backed by polyethylene
>cel-foam for sound damping and insulation. (I'm unsure of the insulation
>properties of these materials as so little data is available to me) Such
>panels are attractive and comfortable while eliminating the need for any
>sort of finishing like paints, stains, or plasters. The walls themselves can
>be literally removed for cleaning and remodeling and could be designed for
>easy temporary removals to accommodate temporary changes in the interior
>configuration. Such panels could also be designed as lighting fixtures
>themselves, supporting a variety of area and ambient lighting schemes.
>Conventional flex-tube hot water heating panels could also be placed in
>these wall panels and would also be used in the poured cement slab floor. A
>sort of high-tech modular tatami-like flooring panel would be used to cover
>conventional floor grating panels like those used for industrial mezzanines.
>The frame itself would serve for all electrical conduits with conventional
>junction boxes used for outlets and wall switches. In fact, this framing
>makes it easy to use the structure of the house itself as a system bus for
>any electronics one would want to use in the home, providing physical
>protection and shielding.
>All in all, I suspect this approach could afford a comfortable, economical,
>and energy efficient low toxic home which numerous advantages over
>conventional housing. It could be easily reconfigured and expanded, is
>theoretically stronger then the toughest stick-built home, and readily
>supports all future residential communications technologies. But then, I'm
>no architect or engineer so for me this is just conjecture. I would
>appreciate any and all comments concerning the feasibility of such a housing
>concept and any other suggestions concerning approaches to low-toxic housing.
>Thanks,
>Eric Hunting
====================================================================
THIS INFORMATION AND REQUEST IS BEING FORWARDED TO DESIGN-L. Howard
====================================================================
>For those of you with an interest in alternative housing and construction
>methods, I would like to ask for some comments on a concept I've been
>considering for low toxic modular housing. This is a piece I posted a bit
>ago to alt.architecture but didn't get much response on. (news server didn't
>have this forum then)
>I suffer from a severe hyperallergic condition -those of you familiar with
>the "Northern Exposure" TV show and it's 'bubble man' character will have an
>idea of what that means. My own condition is, thankfully, not so severe as
>that character's but it's bad enough that it makes conventional housing a
>problem for me because of the witch's brew of chemicals commonly used in
>building materials since the 'better living through industrial chemistry'
>age of the 50s and 60s and because traditional materials like wood attract
>natural allergens like fungus and dusts without chemical treatments. Some
>day I hope to escape from the toxic waste dump of New Jersey but that will
>call for a home crafted to suit my needs and although there are so called
>'low toxic homes' being constructed today, most seem to rely merely on
>masking, covering, or coating the old fashioned materials in order to
>isolate the inhabitants from the materials their home is made with, they
>cost double that of conventional homes and require special training for
>contractors, and the state of low-toxic interior design is so poor the
>residents of such expensive homes find themselves, in the worst cases, with
>nothing but lawn chairs and army surplus items for furniture. In many cases
>people with my condition find themselves living in stripped down Airstreams
>in the desert or, even worse, nothing more then an army surplus tent!
>I would like to avoid such a pathetic squalid lifestyle and so I've been
>exploring alternative approaches to housing design and engineering in the
>hopes of arriving at a housing concept that will provide as close to a
>normal level of comfort and functionality as possible. A design scheme which
>takes advantage of modern technology, which does not require special
>construction skills, is economical, scalable to most any size or
>configuration, and which allows a resident to adapt the interior to whatever
>range of materials his condition might allow. (the severity and particulars
>of this condition vary widely, hyperallergics are not troubled by all the
>same things and thus it makes no sense to have to suit the worst case when
>only a certain select group materials are a problem for any one individual)
>I also need to consider the requirements of HUD when it comes to alternative
>housing. My employment options rather limited due to this condition, it is
>unlikely that I could afford the costs of building a home nor could I ever
>hope to obtain a conventional mortgage. HUD literature claims there is a HUD
>program to sponsor the construction of adaptive housing for the disabled,
>though I've never been able to get this confirmed because every time I
>contact HUD all they do is send me lists of old folks' homes in Brooklyn
>-and I don't even live in New York! Clearly, we're not dealing with rocket
>scientists here so if I'm going to get their cooperation for an alternative
>housing design it's going to have to be very economical and pretty damn
>simple if they are going to comprehend it at all. In fact, I might have to
>build it alone or with the cooperation of volunteers just to bring the cost
>down enough to keep HUD from giving me the bum's rush.
>Taking all these things into consideration, I've been exploring the
>following concept; a home built primarily from modular steel/aluminum
>extrusions. There are a number of square extrusion construction systems
>common in the electronics industry which are used for the construction of
>large sized electronics enclosures and control consoles. In some cases they
>are also used to construct laboratory enclosures, isolated manufacturing
>workstations, Tempest-proof rooms, and radio shacks. They typically conform
>to a variety if Mil spec standards making them suitable for hazardous
>industrial and battlefield use. These systems use tubular square stock
>extrusions with a variety of flanges and are connected with self-locking
>cast joints reinforced by bolted or welded corner braces. Pound for pound,
>they're far stronger then traditional wooden structures, can be assembled
>with nothing more then a hack saw and socket wrench, and serve as their own
>electrical conduits. They require no finishing. The bare frames are covered
>by pop-in, welded, or bolt-on panels which can cover the frames or mount
>flush to them depending on the flange type used, can serve as windows or
>support doors and cabinets, and which can be made from most any suitable
>material; metal, glass, plastic, wood.
>The basic home design I've been thinking about using this would be composed
>of two independent structures. First, a free-standing outer structure or
>enclosure using double-glazed glass panels. Set in a simple slab foundation,
>it would be formed as a distributed structure rather then a uniform dome or
>box and, from a design standpoint, defines a logical boundary between
>'indoors' and 'outdoors.' It would also support supplemental passive solar
>heating and could use electrochromatic panels for shading. The outer
>structure would also support spot lighting and other fixtures. The second
>interior structure would be composed of a free-standing multi-story living
>space independent of the outer structure which establishes rooms and spaces
>as a function of its inter-linked structure. A sort of high-tech jungle gym
>if you will. Walls are built of panels composed of polyethylene sheet stock
>covered by cotton canvas or hemp cloth, perhaps backed by polyethylene
>cel-foam for sound damping and insulation. (I'm unsure of the insulation
>properties of these materials as so little data is available to me) Such
>panels are attractive and comfortable while eliminating the need for any
>sort of finishing like paints, stains, or plasters. The walls themselves can
>be literally removed for cleaning and remodeling and could be designed for
>easy temporary removals to accommodate temporary changes in the interior
>configuration. Such panels could also be designed as lighting fixtures
>themselves, supporting a variety of area and ambient lighting schemes.
>Conventional flex-tube hot water heating panels could also be placed in
>these wall panels and would also be used in the poured cement slab floor. A
>sort of high-tech modular tatami-like flooring panel would be used to cover
>conventional floor grating panels like those used for industrial mezzanines.
>The frame itself would serve for all electrical conduits with conventional
>junction boxes used for outlets and wall switches. In fact, this framing
>makes it easy to use the structure of the house itself as a system bus for
>any electronics one would want to use in the home, providing physical
>protection and shielding.
>All in all, I suspect this approach could afford a comfortable, economical,
>and energy efficient low toxic home which numerous advantages over
>conventional housing. It could be easily reconfigured and expanded, is
>theoretically stronger then the toughest stick-built home, and readily
>supports all future residential communications technologies. But then, I'm
>no architect or engineer so for me this is just conjecture. I would
>appreciate any and all comments concerning the feasibility of such a housing
>concept and any other suggestions concerning approaches to low-toxic housing.
>Thanks,
>Eric Hunting