The Chain of Eco Homes Contest

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Register Contest Summary

Greensburg is an inspirational story of ordinary Americans making extraordinary strides in sustainability. That’s why we, at Greenburg GreenTown and FreeGreen.com, invite designers and architects from around the world to help us create three seemingly ordinary homes that act in extraordinarily green ways.

Greensburg KansasThe three new homes would be part of GreenTown’s Chain of Eco-Homes Project. We are developing up to a total of twelve homes in Greensburg, each of which will serve as a “Living Laboratory”, featuring a variety of building techniques, sizes, prices, energy efficiency features, and green living products and services. Each home will be unique, and each will be available both as an informational center and as eco-lodging where people can experience green living first hand. This will be the first such project in that nation, and will be key to developing eco-tourism in Greensburg, Kansas.

One home will be nearing completion by the second anniversary of the storm in May 2009. The second home will be the University of Colorado’s winning entry from the 2005 Solar Decathlon.



Prizes

  1. First Prize:     $10,000 in Cash, Aid from FreeGreen in CD Completion, Representation on the FreeGreen.com site, Project Publishing, and the right to be built in the Chain of Eco-Homes.
  2. Two Runners Up:     $1,000 in Cash, Aid from FreeGreen in CD Completion, Representation on the FreeGreen.com site, and the right to be built in the Chain of Eco Homes.

Key Design Considerations:

  1. Think outside of conventional ‘2x4’ construction -- We’ve partnered with three innovative block wall system manufacturers who want to play ball with the timber industry. Pick one of their green wall systems to incorporate into your Eco-Home design.
  2. Design for a modest mortgage -- We want these Eco-Homes to be buildable for under $110/sf, Our goal is that they are so irresistibly affordable and green that Freegreen’s servers explode from too much traffic. There is a construction cost cap of $154,000 for each home, so please design accordingly.

Other Contest Highlights:

  1. This international design competition calls for a single family house that includes 2-3 bedrooms and 1½-2 bathrooms, for a 75' x 140' site in Greensburg, Kansas.
  2. The registration fee is $100 USD for professionals and $50 USD for students, payable by credit card at the time of registration.
  3. All entries must be submitted electronically by August 15, 2009.
  4. FreeGreen will work with the winner(s) to complete the construction documents which will become available for Full House Plan Representation with credit to winning entrants on the FreeGreen.com website. FreeGreen currently boasts over 25,000 house plan downloads per year.
  5. All three designs will receive the right to be built as part of the Chain of Eco-Homes Project.
  6. There will be one winner per wall system. The best designs from each wall system category will then compete for first prize. with two runners-up.