H.E.A.R.T.H.

Solar Decathlon Team Competition

Spring ‘21

As climate change and housing inequality compound each other’s effects, there lies a pressing need for us to design a built environment that combats both of these issues to ensure a sustainable future. HEARTH exists precisely at this intersection as a Hybrid Equitable and Resilient Transitional Home.

Urban areas around the world are facing critical challenges as communities scramble to respond to the combination of rising property prices, the increasing tangibility of climate catastrophe, and the economic instability and health risks due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All of these further destabilize the livelihoods of marginalized individuals struggling in already volatile conditions, particularly the homeless and low income populations. The City of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California is an exemplary model of these ongoing phenomena. The city has been engaged in a recovery effort following two deadly wildfires in recent years, and the homelessness crisis in the Bay Area ranks among the worst in the United States by virtually every measure, yet despite the manifold efforts of local governments, companies, and nonprofits to address the issue, the number of homeless individuals continues to grow. In addition to policies that prevent housing instability in the first place, there is a pressing need to rethink how communities can be built to support these disadvantaged populations while considering economic and ecological constraints.

HEARTH’s design is a framework and model for implementing a hybrid long-term supportive housing for the homeless and permanent housing for low-income peoples in the City of Santa Rosa. The building provides a holistic solution that provides people experiencing homelessness with the means to achieve economic stability in a socially conscious and easily reproducible manner in addition to providing affordable units for low-income residents, informed by communication with social workers along with a prudent political praxis and the latest engineering techniques. To achieve this, HEARTH is shaped by passive and resiliency design considerations and composed of modular prefabricated components. In addition to these technical components, social programs are embedded in the function and operational life of the building, taking advantage of outdoor space for urban farming and utilizing the indoor commercial sector for a combined restaurant and food bank. Through participation in the operation of these facilities and with aid from social workers, residents will be able to achieve healthy and happy living. HEARTH emphasizes practicality, thus accordingly makes use of existing rent subsidization, wildfire relief initiatives, and voucher programs at the county, state, and federal levels to properly serve the low income and formerly homeless residents.

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