Power House

The Power House Project serves two primary goals:

[1] To develop a model home.The house, as an architectural experiment, will work as a prototype example or model home for what is possible in the current atmosphere of cheap housing in the city. What does it take to create a truly affordable, secure, sustainable house for under $99,000?

[2] The house is a social art project.Because it is a house in transition, we will use the transformation to create a platform for communication between members of the community. Every act that is made with the house is readily apparent to the neighbors and, even without asking, many neighbors give us materials, ask to take materials, offer to help, ask for help, and also help protect the house from thieves. The dialogue has already begun with just the few small moves already made.

Each Power House would be capable of creating enough energy for its own consumption and produce enough excess power for at least one neighboring home. This is feasible due to the extremely low cost of purchasing property in Detroit and the amount of available small single family vacant homes in Detroit. A certain percentage of each Power House would also function as neighborhood hubs by producing not only electricity but also a new point of identity, gathering place of creative exchange, thus a new type of neighborhood where undesirable homes become experimental factories for community action and power.

Design 99/Powerhouse Project

[The Post Family]

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