Designs That Work

Hot-Humid Climate - Lake Charles

The Basic House - Description of the House

The case study house is a 1255 square foot, three bedroom, one-and-a-half-story single-family detached house raised on a pier foundation.

The ground floor has two entrances: one from the large porch at the front of the house, and the second to a smaller deck at the garage side of the rear of the house. All of the essential rooms in the house are located on the ground floor making a conversion to a fully accessible home possible.

The perspective drawing on the previous page shows the prototype house for Lake Charles raised off of the ground by structural piers. The pier foundation is intended to comply with the FEMA design guidelines for flood-prone areas. The design reflects lessons learned about building in hurricane-prone coastal areas, including:

• Elevate structures and mechanical equipment
• Build with materials that are non-water sensitive
• Design assemblies to easily dry once wet

The following sections will explain how these lessons are applied to the building details.

On the second floor, the drawings show a second bathroom off the hallway at the top of the stairs and two bedrooms to the front and back of the house. Since all of the mechanical systems are located downstairs and all of the insulation is located outside of the framing, the ceilings on this floor may be left open to make the bedrooms feel larger. At both sides of each bedroom, knee walls can be added to provide large closets for storage. The stairwell, the bedrooms, and the second floor bathroom are given more floor area by dormers on either side of the roof peak.

A high-performance, energy-efficient house depends on rational and efficient space planning. The Lake Charles Hot-Humid Climate house plan presented here is organized to simplify construction and reduce the materials and operating costs. However, it does this while still providing the homeowner with a convenient layout and large, spacious rooms. Attention to architectural design, it should be noted, is one way of securing a high-quality, affordable and comfortable home.

The following section discusses how the building enclosure and mechanical systems have been designed help this house be durable, healthy and energy-efficient.

Figure 2: Hot-Humid Climate house floor plans (Bottom: Ground Floor, Top: Second Floor)