It’s been a busy few weeks for the C.H.O.I.C.E. Emergency House team! With a constant revolving door of visitors coming and reviewing our work, there are always new ideas being thrown our way for consideration.  

First up, we had a short one-day visit from Duvall Decker out of Jackson, MS. Anne Marie Duvall Decker and Roy Decker helped us make decisions about the environmental strategies for passively heating, cooling, and venting each unit.  

After hearing their advice, we have developed a passive heating and cooling plan for each unit using a combination of operable transoms, large roof overhangs, and fans above the machine volumes to circulate air. As for ventilation, the new details use wider board spacing and perforations in the metal siding to vent the attic through the cladding—the exterior material—on either end of the volume.  

Last Thursday and Friday, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien from Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Partners in New York City, NY, paid a visit to Rural Studio for a two-day extravaganza. On the first day, all the teams presented their work and were given critiques from the pair. The second day, teams were tasked with solving specific design questions brought up during their reviews through a quick, collaborative charrette process.  

For us, that meant exploring different interior arrangements and more efficient storage found at the intersection of service and delight. We were also tasked with discovering what a different foundation could do for the character of the porch, the location and expression of the shared washer and dryer volume, and how we can use a friendly fence to create hard and soft boundaries to the site. 

 Closing thoughts: 

“Big things coming for Big Slab.” – AC  

“Today’s Wordle was really hard.” – Hailey  

“Ok… but really… the skylight is being resurrected!” – Davis  

“To build or to buy off the shelf? That is the question.” – Raymond