E10 Spring 2008
This blog outlines the work completed during E10: Engineering Design and Analysis of Spring 2008. Our final concept:
Team: Retrace Canapo
Che (Tommy) Liu, Michael Himawan, Cynthia Bayley, Yao Yuan
Pinoleville Visits Cal: April 9, 2008
Three PPN (Pinoleville Pomo Nation) members met with E10 Pomo teams to introduce their areas, circumstances,
and needs. They also advised us on
cultural issues of discussion with PPN members. E.g., they mentioned that, if we were to talk to PPN elders,
it's disrespectful to look at them directly the whole time. So, we need to look away or not look directly at them
once a while. Another advice was that elders have priority in speaking, getting food, etc.
Cal visit Pinoleville (User Need Assessment Workshop): April 13, 2008
Since the user is the expert, we wanted to get as much feedback from them as possible through the
workshop. Then, from their feedback, we could determine their needs and go on from there.
We started with questionnaires to break down the barrier between PPN members and UC Berkeley engineers. Another goal
was to make it easier for all of us to talk about our own needs. Some of the questions we asked were,
“What is your favorite technology?” and “Who’s your most inspirational person?” Afterward, we divided into groups: elders,
adults, and youth to brainstorm concepts for the needs they previously identified. We divided according to age groups since each age group may have their own ideas and needs.
The top needs identified were: Privacy, Comfort, Energy, Traditional Building Materials, and Exercise (physical activities). Privacy can refer to security from outsiders or concerns with personal space. Comfort can be interpreted as having a better living environment and better furniture.
Energy can be related to energy conservation and energy sustainability. Traditional Building Material include using natural
plants on a living roof or traditional materials in construction. Exercise can include activities on the playground or human energy generation. So, through this exercise, we hope to identify a focus in each of these large scopes that best defines the needs of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation.
Concept Generation:
As shown in the pictures, PPN members actively participated in the workshop which is a very good thing. Again, the user is the expert.
Finding our Focus:
After getting the needs from the workshop, we needed to prioritize them and identify a focus. First, we
reorganized and prioritized them based on our experience and judgment at the time, for specificity and clarity.
As a sub topic of each top need, we identified a more specific meaningful concern.
Here is what we concluded from the top needs:
• Privacy means optimizing space. They want to use their space more wisely. For example, they dislike the low roof in one of their houses.
• Comfort means living comfortably. They want their house to fit their living standards. For example, some members hope to have a bedroom for each member in the family.
• Energy means Conserving Energy. They want to save money through energy technology and efficiency. For example, a feasible solar water heater that would save both money and energy.
• Traditional Building Materials means integrating culture. They want their next generations to be more familiar with their own traditions.
• Exercise means interacting. They want to have spiritual ceremonies and adequate space to allow them to have more interaction with their family members.
Our Final Mission Statement:
"To develop a sustainable housing concept whose structural design meets the energy conservation needs of the Pinoleville Pomo nation. This concept should also improve comfort through spatial allocation and temperature control while reinforcing authentic culltural and aesthetic values. In addition, the concept should encourage the Pomo youth to take a vested intesest in their traditions while fascilitating community and craftsmanship.
Ultimately, we would like our design to inspire further conceptualization as the Pomo Nation continues independent development with Winzler & Kelly Consultants and Engineers."
After using the Pugh Matrix to select the top modular concepts, each team member brainstormed his/her own concept for a housing design. Again, the top modular concepts were:
Building Materials: Adobe + Hay
Building Shape: Circular, Attic, Centralized living space
Heating and Cooling: Living roof
Lighting: Natural Lighting
The similarities between each of our designs included a centralized living space, living roofs, skylights, and a circular design. The differences were in room placement, living roof placement, lighting access, and the inclusion of an attic.
We used the similarities and differences in our individual designs to create three prototypes that we then presented to the Pomo Nation for feedback. Pictures of the first round of prototyping can be see below.
We received feedback of our initial prototypes via a teleconference call with representatives of the Pinoleville Pomo Nation. We provided sketches of each prototype and a worksheet describing the features of each with a section devoted to comments.
Many of the concerns voiced in our feedback session were
-building costs
-repair costs
-expandable space
-child safety
-structural support
-flooding and mold
materials
Also, members of the Pomo tribe suggested incorporating more windows into the design as well as solar integration. During this teleconference, we also inquired as to whether there was a number significant to the Pomo culture, perhaps a number to incorporate into our design or a number to avoid. We learned that the Pomo honor the six directions: North, South, West, and East as well as Mother Earth(down) and Father Sky(up). The number one is a number generally avoided in the Pomo culture. This is later reflected in our design.
Some of the solutions to address these key concerns were to alter our circular design to have a decagonal base and hexagonal cluster to allow for a more robust/structurally sound design. We also added more windows for the use of natural lighting. Railings were added to the roof to address safety concerns.
Our Final Concept:
Top Needs:
Optimizing Space
Living Comfortably
Conserving energy
Integrating Culture
Interacting
Main Features:
Exterior:
-Large decagon base (maintains the yurt/ circular structure => cultural integration)
-Five hexagonal attachments (Living comfortably/Optimizing space) The family size in the Pomo Nation is generally larger than what most houses in the US are designed to accommodate. With five attachments, there is ample room for multiple bedrooms to accommodate these larger households. In addition, as a result of our innovation workshop we learned that elders do not move into nursing homes when they are no longer capable of taking care of themselves but rather move-in with their children. The attachments or “granny units” as we referred to them in our initial concept generation brainstorming would allow for extended family to find a welcome space in this home.
-6 in total (cultural integration)
-Living roofs (cultural integration with the use of native plants and energy conservation. Living roofs possess excellent insulating properties.)
-Lots of windows (energy conservation through the use of natural lighting)
-Railings on the roof to address safety concerns
-Windows serving as roof access to maintain the living roofs
Floor Plan:
Large windows in the East and West. (energy conservation)
Kitchen placed on the Eastern side of the design with the idea that the sun rises in the East filling the kitchen with light in the morning. Similarly, the Living room is placed facing West.
Open space between the living room and the kitchen. (Interacting/Integrating Culture) From our user-needs assessment and innovation workshop, we learned that cooking is an important communal activity for the Pomo. Therefore, we designed a large cooking space. In addition, home owners expressed a partiality for the elimination of a dividing wall between the living room and the kitchen.
Stairs accessing the upper floors
Note: Through our innovative workshop, we discovered that privacy, included in our top needs as “Living Comfortably” was a need concerned in all of the age groups. However, privacy conveyed different meanings to the different age groups. For example, to the younger generation “privacy” expressed the need for solidarity. On the other hand, when the older generations discussed “privacy” they were referring to their community and the discomfort they feel from wandering tourists. Also, there was a “conflict of interests” where the youth expressed a need for privacy and the older generations expressed a need for more communal spaces. We attempted to address this distinction by incorporating a large central living space for community gatherings and then the clustered attachments that allow for more privacy and isolation of desired.
Roof Cutaway:
Railings to address safety concerns
central skylight (energy conservation) allows for light to travel through the center of the house all the way to the ground floor.
living roof (energy conservation/cultural integration)
an attic (optimizing space/cultural integration) Our idea behind the inclusion of an attic was that it would allow for more storage space. Lack of space was an occurring concern voiced during our innovation workshop. In addition, we also envisioned the space as an ideal location to store traditional materials for basket making such as willow branches; the Pomo are world renowned for their baskets. Storing them in a place high off the ground and in a room full out light seemed fitting.
After our initial housing design in E10, we had a number of Future Concerns that we were not able to immediately address, due to our lack of expertise in certain fields. I am happy to say that CARES, Galen's architecture class, and the current E10 ME module have since been addressing many of these concerns, such as structural design and what sort of renewable energy to utilize.
One major concern that we had was the type of materials to use. We did not know which ones would be sufficient to meet the structural design needs of the house, as we had planned on many things which could be a problem, such as an attic, PV/ solar hot water heaters on the roof, a living roof, and the curved dome-shaped design. Additionally, we wanted to incorporate native design elements whenever possible.
Another concern we had was the possibility of a subterranean level. We felt that this would be a way to create extra space, while also taking advantage of the insulating properties of the ground. However, we realized that floods were common in the Ukiah reservation area (we originally thought that our design would be for this area). This was a situation that we were not prepared to analyze. Additionally, a subterranean level anywhere would have problems with moisture and mold.
Finally, we realized that we would have to adapt our design to different building sites. The Sozonni land grant's steep hills would supply lateral pressure, while the Ukiah reservation had to deal with changing water levels and toxic substances in the immediate vicinity.
Our lack of expertise in the field of civil engineering, along with the variation in situations at different build sites led us to submit a broader final design, leaving off details that might not be suitable for certain areas.
We also worked in collaboration with Real Goods.
Contributers to this blog: Tommy Liu, Cindy Bayley, Yao Yuan.
- Cindy's blog
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