Image via Locus Architecture Blog: http://www.redsquarempls.com/blog

Nowhaus 01, is a single family residential housing prototype in Minneapolis which was designed and built on spec by architect/builder LOCUS Architecture. The partners at LOCUS had a habit of collecting and saving leftover building elements from their projects and they became excited by the idea of building a sustainable, progressively designed home using reclaimed materials. When a lull in work came in 2003, they saw it as an opportunity to keep their crew busy with a project that would allow them to explore this interest. They began by purchasing a 1950′s ranch home and deconstructed it down to the foundation. Then, using the deconstructed materials (including structural lumber, sheathing, and fixtures) as well as materials from their own salvage collection and other sources, LOCUS built a new single-family home with an entirely new, contemporary aesthetic. One of the house’s most distinctive features—its exterior rainscreen siding— was created using scraps of used billboard behind translucent plastic siding. The result is an animated facade that changes throughout the day as the moving sun reveals the graphic images of the billboard scraps. The house also includes many other sustainable features such as passive solar heating and an impressively energy efficient seven layer exterior wall assembly. NowHaus01 demonstrates the potential of reclaimed materials to contribute an attractive, contemporary aesthetic to sustainable urban housing.

Reclaimed Materials (by application): Wood/Lumber, Electrical

Key Info
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Year completed: 2004
Architect: LOCUS Architecture
Client: speculative project by LOCUS Architecture
Contractor: LOCUS Architecture

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Residential Architect Article