The [RE]GEN Home competition entry for the United States Department of Energy Race to Zero Competition tasks architecture, engineering, and building science students to design a net zero or net positive housing strategy to drive forward innovation in energy efficient design. The competition submission was completed over the course of a semester with ten other Master of Architecture and Master of Building Science students at Ryerson University. The competition took place at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Denver, Colorado in October 2015. 

My primary contributions to the project were in creating much of the graphic communication, assembling the physical model, and joining two of my teammates in giving the final presentation to the jury in Denver.

The [RE]GEN Home team elected to design an accessible and affordable housing masterplan in Garland, Texas, 50 kilometres outside of Dallas. It is an  multi-unit low-rise housing proposal designed for transitioning military personnel, veterans and multi-generational families, of which there are a disproportionate number in Texas. The proposal aligns itself with the city’s Downtown Redevelopment Program and is modelled after successful primary prevention housing programs.

Regenerative design is a systems-­based approach to design that refers to any process that restores, renews, or revitalizes its own sources of energy. A regenerative system is sustainable by default. The [RE]GEN Home concept seeks to facilitate generative processes in all ecological, economic, and social systems, and by extension, a highly energy conscious community.

* Renderings not by author