These Hempcrete Micro Homes Are Climate-Positive and Gorgeous

Longtime readers of this site will know that we are not the biggest fans of the big houses that we often see in the North American suburbs. Not only is there a lot of space wasted inside, but they take a lot of energy to build and maintain, and that does not include initial carbon emissions which are associated with the materials with which they are built. We need a radical reduction in carbon advance emissions – especially in the building industry – and we need it now, not later.

But convincing people we need small houses can be a difficult battle, especially in societies where the idea of ​​”big” is often culturally assimilated to “better”. However, this has not dissuaded multidisciplinary designers like Kaja Kühl, based in Brooklyn, who designed two concrete micro-house prototypes for a farm in New York.

Completed in collaboration with the coexist of the architecture studio based in Pennsylvania and the architect of Roger Cardinal, the houses are intended for a pair of guest houses inspired by humble vernacular architecture of local agricultural houses and cabins in the region. As Kühl says to Dezeen:

“”[Historic] Agricultural workers and cabins in the region, as well as other parts of the United States … often have a rectangular shape and a simple shape of roof in mind which continued to cover a long porch. They had a bedroom or maybe a sleeping little corner in addition to the main room. “”

The two structures share a similar aesthetic but have been intentionally published distinct by modifying their roof profiles. A guest house has a traditional gable roof, while the other has a roof that has a more dynamic slope. Both are dressed in cedar wood shingles and a black locust wood coating, and the two are equipped with large outdoor terraces that widen the interior space more outside.

But perhaps the most notable characteristics of these micro-homs are invisible. To start, they are built with hemp, which is an energy efficient building material, water efficient and hemp and lime water efficient, which is a low carbon carbon alternative.

The team consulted Hempstone and, according to their calculations, the hemp of the two sequestic micro-homes the same quantity of carbon as 330 plants of trees cultivated over a period of 10 years. She says:

“Hemp has not disappointed, storing the greatest quantity of carbon in the two structures. Cellulose is also impressive without the additional health benefits that hemp provides. In the end, paying more attention to embodied energy, whether by using more materials or bio-treatment materials to reduce renewable emissions to reduce their design and construction.

The interiors are absolutely magnificent also – an extraordinary light and deliberate simplicity which denies the beauty of the materials used.

The two dwellings are designed with principles of passive house design in mind, to maximize passive solar heating, the houses have their windows and their sliding doors oriented south and west.

Behind the walls, hemp spray insulation was also used.

Micro-homes are powered by electricity from a nearby photovoltaic solar network and use water from a well on site.

In the end, Kühl’s objective is to build positive climate buildings that go beyond net-zero carbon emissions, in order to remove the additional carbon from the atmosphere. Kühl’s estimate on the movement of the small house is nevertheless realistic:

“Well, how can a 400 square feet accommodation make a big difference? It cannot. The objective … is to put the inhabitants of 400 square feet in a wider context. The accommodation of 400 square feet is part of a multi-scale production and consumption system.

It is a thought that gives to think, but rightly puts the design discipline in a much greater image where massive changes at all levels of society will have to occur; Intelligent and sustainable design will not necessarily be the A Which saves the world, but that does not mean that we are not trying.

To see more, visit the newspaper of the Kaja Kühl project, creating a positive climate and its website, you are the city.