Second OPEN Prototype Initiative House in Progress
OPEN_2 prototype advances Open-Built principles. 

Source: residential architect online
Publication date: 2008-05-07

By Stephani L. Miller

The OPEN Prototype Initiative (OPI), a partnership between custom timberframe home builder Bensonwood of Walpole, N.H., and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's House_n Research Consortium, has launched its second prototype house project. The OPEN_2 House, also known as the Unity House, will be the on-campus home of the president of Unity College in Unity, Maine. Designed for net-zero energy use, the project aims for LEED for Homes Platinum certification, dovetailing with the college's environmentally focused curriculum.

OPEN_2 builds on the modular systems and components developed for the first prototype project, OPEN_1 (2006), and furthers Bensonwood's Open-Built principles, particularly the principles of layering and disentanglement. "One of the things we're trying to demonstrate is that buildings can be very flexible and adaptable to the needs of the occupants if we can [achieve] the concept of disentangling the systems of the building," says Tedd Benson, founder of Bensonwood.

The Open-Built process separates each system and subsystem of a house based on its life-span and anticipated need for alteration or replacement, organizing them logically into distinct layers. This allows long-term elements such as the structure to be disentangled from short-term elements such as plumbing, electrical, or interior partitions, and gives occupants greater flexibility and control.

Like the OPEN_1 prototype, OPEN_2 will incorporate several concepts that increase flexibility, including two types of demountable walls, interior baseboard electrical chases, and ceilings and floors that allow easy access to mechanicals. The house's core gathering space can be expanded to accommodate 20 people by removing two interior walls.

OPI's goals for its prototype program are to test a new model of designing, fabricating, and assembling highly responsive residences based on Open-Built principles, and to improve residential building in America, making houses more affordable, adaptable, and environmentally friendly. Affordability, adaptability, and availability are the key elements of a truly sustainable house, Benson maintains.

The OPEN_2 prototype will function as a home for two, as a living classroom for students, and as a gathering place for college officials. On-site assembly is planned for sometime this spring (2008), but a firm date has not yet been established due to Maine's weather conditions. OPI will track the project's progress online at www.openprototype.com.

The June 2008 issue of residential architect will feature a Q&A with MIT House_n Research Consortium director Kent Larson.

Illustration courtesy of the Open Prototype Initiative.