99K HOUSE – HOUSTON, TX : FIRST PLACE COMPETITION ENTRY

The collaborative design of ORA and Hybrid-Seattle was selected as the winning entry out of 182 entrants from 29 states and 16 countries in the 99k House Competition. Construction on the prototype house began in Summer 2008 in Houston’s Fifth Ward. Sponsored by the Rice Design Alliance and AIA Houston, and supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the 99k House Competition challenged entrants to design an affordable, sustainable house prototype in the Gulf Coast region. The competition objectives were to broaden awareness of green building strategies and to construct an exemplary, sustainable, affordable house prototype. The Jury included Bryan Bell, David Lake, Michael Pyatok, and Rocio Romero, all nationally recognized leaders in sustainable residential design. ORA/Hybrid’s design creates a highly flexible plan with compact core and demountable partitions, allowing the house to adapt to the changing needs of its inhabitants. In addition to extensive green building features such as rainwater harvesting and natural ventilation, the design addresses sustainability on a broader conceptual level, allowing for increased density by placing two houses on one site and enabling ease of future conversion to duplex units.