City Partners with Illinois Institute of Technology and Non-Profit Developer to Create Model Green Home
Two model green homes that will showcase the latest in green building design and technology will be built under an ordinance passed today by the City Council. The ordinance and the initiative have the strong support of Mayor Richard M. Daley and Alderman Dorothy J. Tillman.
Under the ordinance, the City will convey a large piece of land at 44th Street and Vincennes Avenue in the Grand Boulevard community in the Third Ward for the construction of two green homes.
One home will be built by non-profit developer Genesis Housing Development Corp. in a partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture. The home has been designed by architecture students at IIT’s College of Architecture. The home will sell for no more than $295,000.
The second home will be larger and feature more cutting edge green technology. This home has been designed by Ray Dawson, PC Architecture and Design and constructed by the African American Home Builders Association.
“These homes are being built as a way to encourage builders, architects, and homebuyers to consider environmentally responsible home designs,” said Mayor Richard M. Daley. “They are another example of our commitment to green technology and building design as we strive to make Chicago the greenest city in America.” Alderman Tillman has promoted the project as a way to preserve long term affordability for home owners through dramatic reductions in energy costs.
The land is being conveyed under the City Lots for City Living Program, the 11-year-old program administered by the Department of Housing that encourages the construction of affordable, new single-family housing.
Housing Commissioner John G. Markowski said, “This project will demonstrate that affordable housing can also incorporate green technology, which is helpful in reducing energy use and bills, thereby sustaining long-term affordability.”
“The green home project provides our students a real-world opportunity to design a home that will include technology applicable for energy efficient homes in the future,” said Donna Robertson, Dean of the College of Architecture at IIT.
The 1,800 square-foot home being built with Genesis and IIT will feature three bedrooms and include some of the following green features:
- A central atrium that will serve as a thermal collector and solar “chimney” – heat is collected during the day, stored in a slab rock storage bin and released at night during winter months
- Heavily insulated walls and roof
- Finished with renewable materials and low in toxicity
- A home site sloped to direct rainwater into a “rain garden” with a 500-gallon cistern buried in the rear yard to collect roof water runoff for irrigation
- Native plants, trees and shrubs and pervious pavers for walkways and patio.
The second home, to be 2,000 square feet, will feature more cutting edge green technology such as:
- A Solar panel system on the roof to meet 90% of electricity demand
- A heavily insulated roof and walls
- A passive solar design façade with windows concentrated on the south side of house is the primary heating source
- Overhangs for shading on the south side of the home
- Concrete slabs and masonry walls to collect and hold heat
- Backup heating provided by geothermal radiant heating system
- Rain water retention system
- High-efficiency appliances
- Organic garden.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 6,700 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment.
