Construction Process

Construction Update:
As the construction begins in Roanoke, the Hackley Avenue lot in historic Gainsboro will feature the new home built according to the entry submitted by Ekaterina Kohlwes of San Diego, California. Ekaterina is a graduate student at the New School of Architecture and Design and a part time employee of Platt/Whitelaw Architects. The primary attraction to the rammed earth construction is the solid walls mediate temperature changes without releasing harmful toxins into the air and reduces landfill waste. Local developer Fralin & Waldron and EJ Miller Construction will be entering a joint venture in building the home featuring rammed earth construction. Construction documents are currently being completed and the site work should start in the early fall. The house is scheduled to be completed in late spring.

The “Nutrihouse” designed by architects Jon and Kandy Brouchoud, partners of Cresendo Design in Cleveland, Wisconson, will also be developed. Also in historic Gainsboro, this lot is on Harrison Avenue near 5th Street and it will feature an integrated approach to living in a home that embraces and celebrates nature. This house design implements innovative water management and conservation techniques.  The Nutrihouse has incorporated several strategies that are intended to bring natural systems to the forefront of the occupant’s experience, some of the expected applications are:

• Graywater irrigations systems with a self-cleaning filter that captures and pressurizes the water, which is then released through a subsurface irrigation system.
• Graywater sinks will collect graywater for landscape irrigation
• Wastewater Gardens that are designed to be on-site wastewater treatment of graywater.
• A green roof will be on a portion of the finished roof.
• Composting Toilets, which use no water, chemicals, or septic tanks; but rather rely on the natural processes of composting.