Mid 2 Mod

Mid-century to modern high performance 21st century neighborhood

This Interdisciplinary BE Studio is a project-based course where students from Architecture, Construction Management, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design and Planning work in teams in a collaborative environment to develop and deliver design proposals for the near term and a grand scheme envisioning a high-performance design for 2050. Project analysis and proposals will take place at multiple scales including: building details, building design, and neighborhood design.

In a world increasingly affected by climate change and depleting natural resources, we must find ways to conserve energy and protect natural resources. We cannot simply build our way out of the problem with new construction. We need to look at innovative ways to think about our existing built environment. For example, in 2018, extreme weather made these headlines:

• Triple-digit temperatures in California have created conditions for the worst wildfires the state has ever experienced. In Redding, California, those conditions produced a fire tornado with wind speeds up to 165 mph and temperatures exceeding 2,700 degrees.
• Smoke from western wildfires is creating hazardous breathing conditions across the country.
• A combination of warmer water and nitrogen runoff from farms has produced the worst “red tide” ever seen in Florida. Manatees, sea turtles and millions of pounds of dead fish have washed up on beaches.
• Hundreds of deaths around the world have been attributed to record-setting heat waves.

Students in this studio will learn current approaches to energy retrofits within the constraint of
maintaining the existing housing stock in much beloved neighborhoods. Improving energy efficiency will take into consideration homeowner behavior, state of the art building technologies (passive house fundamentals), and community energy options while measuring the results in terms of the long-term environmental carbon cost.

Students will also learn the EcoDistrict framework as an approach to equity, resilience, and climate change. They will explore and address an array of issues at the neighborhood scale, such as: district energy, transit access, options for increasing density, and historic preservation. They will study the guidelines of the National Trust for contributing homes in an historic district, examine changes to the neighborhood related to new regional transit, and explore options for the future of the neighborhood.

Students will hear from professionals and local experts including the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, the Surrey Downs Community Club (neighborhood association), Bellevue City Planning staff, architects in high performance residential design, and A&R Solar energy experts.