(Jeff’s blog: images from review)

I got a lot out of this review, a lot more than I was expecting. The reviewers had some really great comments, and we actually had a great dialogue with them. I learned a lot about panel tectonics and economics, was able to reinforce several ideas that Jeff and I had, and have a good idea of where to go from here to the final.

The biggest thing that I took immediately from the review was that we should ditch the panels. The U.S. market simply does not support them for low (or even middle) income housing. They are fantastic for a number of reasons – they just don’t pencil out. Given that, one of the reviewers suggested a different approach: Factory build the core, and site-build (stick frame) the rest.

I like this idea because I think the foundations can be laid for the maximum sized unit, and the units could be personalized using sweat equity on site. The sweat equity could be all the initial users helping out, thereby creating a strong sense of community from the get-go.

This week I would like to figure out the details for joining the site built with the shipped segment, and have a final-ready drawing complete.

Another thing that was nice from the review was that it appears that our site plan is in order. Hooray! Five reviews went before us, and seemed like for each presentation there was at least one reviewer comment where I was thinking “We did that!” Private deck off shared communal space… check. smaller communal spaces bleeding into larger ones… check. Unit arranged for solar access… check. I think we still need to tighten up the landscaping, and we should do that this week.

Also this week we need to design the covered community space. This should be fun, but we need to keep it economically relevant because it is extremely important to the program of the site. I would hate for it to be value-engineered out.