Realty Times - Home Building Trail Blazers Gather to Embrace Eco-Building at Civano

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Home Building Trail Blazers Gather to Embrace Eco-Building at Civano

by Dena Kouremetis

The little Southwest community of Civano, Tuscon, Arizona's neighborhood where eco-friendly building is king, recently hosted a pioneering workshop to explore a myriad of old-but-new building products that are fast becoming the most politically correct for today's homebuilders. The 2,600-home, 1,100-acre community was the site of a workshop sponsored by the National Association of Home Builder's PATH (Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing) organization, Fannie Mae, and the industry periodical bible, BUILDER Magazine, where much of the information used for this article was gleaned.

More than 100 participants from the various building trades gathered at Civano, touted as America's "first sustainable, new urban community." To the average consumer, building homes with what most would deem simpler technology should be an easy task - eco-sciences and technologies at first glance look quite elementary and basic. To actually bring all of the elements together and convince a hundreds-year-old industry with millions of livelihoods at stake to see the beauty and value of these technologies, however, is a monumental task.

BUILDER first offered a Hands-On "residential laboratory" tour to the participants to get a feel for the products that would be used in the Civano homes' construction. Nine different stations gave participants the opportunity to poke, prod and handle the products themselves. Next, a round of seminars and demonstrations took place, starting with a presentation by renowned new urban architect Stefanos Polyzoides of Pasadena, California's Moule and Polyzoides, the firm that designed and planned much of Civano. His presentation was followed by a succession of Tuscon residential builders' seminars on the use of non-wood alternatives to building.

Also covered were seminars on the political and financial aspects of eco-building, workshops on building codes, and marketing tips for builders to reach out to consumers with these technologies. Experts also warned that "green" lovers are always suspicious of the mega-developer community, asking builders to be careful to keep their approach as purist as possible to succeed in their efforts.

Fannie Mae's participation included highlighting a zero-down payment mortgage, with incentives for low to middle-income buyers to purchase environmentally friendly homes, especially those in densely populated areas close to public transportation.

Here is a brief synopsis of some of the products used for the projects, with links wherever possible to articles in RealtyTimes archives for more detail:

Adobe block -- Becoming "passionate about mud" can take an old building product to new heights environmentally speaking. Also See: Adobe Construction: No Longer the 'Poor Man's' House of The Southwest

Foam Stone - Used for decorative arches and radius walls, the product Rastra™ is extremely lightweight, uses rebar reinforcement, and is composed of polystyrene foam recycled from packing materials. Cement is poured into the block to strengthen its integrity.

Steel Frames - Here, steel is used as a "metal sandwich" with Tuscon's Heydon Building System's representative demonstrating the use of expanded polystyrene foam panels fit between steel framing members. Also See: Putting the Pedal to the Metal on Steel-Framed Homes

Rammed-Earth - This is dirt tightly packed into forms, compressed into walls with the interior sealed with an acrylic substance with a bit of concrete thrown into the mix. The earth on the building site itself can even be used, giving a new definition to the words "mud-slinging." Also featured were new ways to work with ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms). Also See: Safe in the Eye of the Storm: Concrete Form Housing

SIPs - Structural insulated panels with new and improved features make this type of construction even more energy efficient than before. Also See: "Woodn't" You Rather Have a SIP?

Straw Bales - A nearly ancient technology can not only shield a home's occupants from the 100-degree heat of the Southwest and elsewhere; it can also keep indoor temperatures at a cool 70 degrees without the aid of air conditioning.

Photovoltaic (solar) power - Consumers are urged to consider this remarkably re-usable, efficient and fully self-contained type of system for their electricity, which literally spins a utility meter backwards. According to the BUILDER article, a good trade off would be using the $18,000 one might have spent for a hardwood floor on a natural but magical system like this to make many of their utility bills go "poof" for the long term. Also See: Letting The Sun Shine In With Photovoltaics

The theme that ran through the entire workshop endeavor was one of urging participants to think of a house as an entire system instead of separate parts working exclusively of one another. Appreciating how different types of walls, insulation, framing, roofs, electrical and plumbing systems, as well as alternative forms of energy can all integrate and work together can create a recipe for the future for homebuilders who care, like many consumers, about the well-being of the earth we all share.

Published: November 30, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home.

Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.

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