Title
Downloadable Plans for a Sustainable Home
Description
This report provides information on an innovative program that hosts the construction drawings for a beautiful ultra-low energy use home that can be built at a cost of typical construction and is downloadable for free on the City website.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
Construction of sustainable ultra-low energy use homes in Phoenix will yield many benefits for both homeowners and the environment. To create the designs needed in the marketplace, the City of Phoenix, in partnership with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), launched the Sustainable Home Design Competition with a $100,000 prize to be awarded to the winning design of a beautiful “near net-zero energy” single family home that has the best potential for widespread adoption in the region.
Contest Details
The Sustainable Home Design Competition challenged registered architects to design a beautiful three-bedroom home that meet the following criteria:
- Design must be suitable for the region and have the potential to be commonly adopted by builders.
- Design must achieve a minimum of 80% reduction in energy use as compared to common construction prior to adding solar panels.
- Design must demonstrate the potential to be constructed at a cost similar to current construction.
The winning design, HOMEnz, designed by Imirzian Architects, received $100,000 for its winning design using grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. The plans have been pre-reviewed for code compliance and approved by the Planning and Development Department, and are now being shared as open source construction drawings on the City's website. As part of the grant funds, the City is able to cover the building permit fee costs of the first ten homes that apply for a building permit using these plans.
Next Steps
The home will be promoted to the community later this year, encouraging residents and builders to construct the net-zero home. There is approximately $20,000 remaining in grant funds from the competition to be used to make additional upgrades to the construction drawings that include adding solar panels, batteries, and an electric vehicle charging station to make the designs truly net-zero as well as to update the plans to meet the 2018 IRC and IECC requirements by July 2019.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Karen Peters, Planning and Development Department, and the Office of Sustainability.