Project Description
Forest Products Solutions launches the FSC house
Portland, OR, April 9, 2007 -
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) House project has been
developed, by Forest Products Solutions, to provide homebuilders, architects,
developers, remodels, homeowners and other building professionals with a
venue to learn about how their green building projects can incorporate FSC
certified wood and in return improve forest management standards
worldwide. FSC certified wood products
have long been the standard of responsible forest products within the building
industry and new FSC products are being developed every year.
This year the FSC House will be constructed, in booth # 466,
at the USGBC’s GreenBuild Conference and Expo in Chicago, IL,
November 6-8, 2007, to offer attendees an up-close and personal experience with
FSC-certified products. In our efforts
to ensure that the FSC message reaches far and wide throughout the design and
construction industry we have developed an FSC House Design Contest for the
Emerging Green Builders (EGBs).
Terry Campbell, Consultant for Forest Products Solutions,
stated, “Emerging Green Builders represent the future of not only the green
building industry but the planet.
Connecting these emerging professionals with the right options for
responsible wood based products, whose origins are truly sustainable, is an
important evolution for the green building movement and the success of the FSC
system in the forest. We know that
education is the key to market transformation, and the FSC House project is another
step in that education process.” The FSC House Design Contest is a national competition open
to individuals and small teams from university level students (of any
discipline and level) to those with less than five (5) years experience in the
building industry. One winning project
will be selected in early July 2007; the individual or a representative from
the winning project team will be awarded with a plane ticket and full
conference badge to the GreenBuild Conference.
Several companies who manufacture and distribute
FSC-certified products have stepped forward to make this design contest
possible. Part of the challenge with
this contest will be developing a house that can fit in a 20’x20’x10’ exhibit
floor space while showcasing over ten building products. Other elements that will challenge
prospective FSC House design teams include providing education for conference
attendees, considering how to efficiently ensure that people flow through the
house, and designing a house that is easy to transport. The winning design will be selected by a multi-disciplinary
committee in early July 2007, and the house will be built in Portland, OR
in September 2007.
Project FSC House
Project Description: Architecture for Humanity Program
Competitors are challenged to design a youth media lab and library for the local NGO, SIDAREC. Located in the heart of the Mukuru Kwa Njenga, this facility will provide education training and after school programs for the community. This structure will be part of an overall complex called the SIDAREC Mukuru Kwa Njenga Resource Centre.
The proposed facility will allow SIDAREC to:
• Provide a library for youth in the area
• Allow youth free access to a computer lab for after school activities
• Provide computer training to the community at-large
• Teach graphics and web skills to youth
• Run a small radio recording studio
• Run a low cost internet cafe
• Use the exterior space for informal sports tournaments and other competitions
In order to become sustainable SIDAREC is looking to equip the center with call-in-services, printing and photocopying services. In addition, they would like an internet cafe for residents as the nearest is 15km away. SIDAREC will charge for this service, which will offset costs of running the after school programs.
Design Considerations: Participants are challenged to incorporate the needs of the community and to employ sustainable and/or local building material using local labor to realize their design.
Space Considerations:
SIDAREC currently owns
a 0.5 acre site which already holds an early childhood center, health
clinic and small gathering hall. The land is also used for sports
tournaments and drama competitions. The challenge is to design a new
building on the existing site.
Youth Media Lab and Library
Site area: 0.5 acres
Total facilities footprint: 180-240m2
Total occupancy: 150–300 people
Community Components
• Library with computer lab for students (capacity: 20 students/ 10 workstations)
• Computer training center and conference room (capacity: 45 persons/10 workstations)
• Internet cafe with printing and photocopying services (capacity: 40 persons/15 workstations)
• Area for payphones (both local and international)
• Daycare center where children of young girls participating in our programs are attended (capacity: 50 children and 5 adults)
• Reception area
• Secure storage area
Radio Station
• Broadcasting room
• Production studio
Outdoor Public Space
• Basketball/tennis court and small football (soccer) pitch
• Outdoor amphitheatre for community theatrical presentations
Administration Space
• Offices (2) fir staff members
• Computer training center
• Internet Cafe
• Reception
Project Description:
Residential project of kitchen and living room area in South San Francisco, CA.
Barter contract idea was used a service in exchange for as built Drawings and Renderings
Project Maldonado House
