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Student helps design recycled home

Thursday, May 18, 2006

By Matt Doran STAFF WRITER

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It was the most demanding class of her college career so far, but also one of the most rewarding.

That's how Julie Zelenock of Novi describes the design project she and eight other architecture students participated in this semester at University of Detroit Mercy, where she is a fourth-year student.

The students were challenged with designing a new house using salvaged building materials from a deconstructed 6,000 square foot mansion near Chicago, Illinois. If all goes according to plan, the house Zelenock's class designed will be built towards the end of this year in Detroit's Woodbridge Historic District, marking the neighborhood's first new construction in roughly 70 years. It will be priced from $230,000-$260,000.

"We came up with an amazing design," Zelenock said. "It's just beautiful."

The house is an environmentally friendly "green" design, she said, with lots windows and a roof angled to maximize light entry and warmth gathered from the sun during Michigan winters. During the summer months, the windows can be screened off to keep the house cool. The house will also feature three bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a special indoor/outdoor living area with rain screens.

Zelenock said one challenge was designing the house with so many other people. However, she said that was also one of the most rewarding aspects of the project, since she got to collaborate so closely with her classmates.

The project
The reconstruction project, called "Quilted Space: 4429 Avery" was initiated by the non-profit organization Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit (AWSD). AWSD specializes in deconstructing old buildings so as to salvage their materials for new construction. The building site was donated by Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corp., which will also select the builder and serve as project developer. MAS Electrical Services Inc. of Livonia is donating the electrical equipment and installation, and storage space for building materials was provided by Focus: HOPE in Detroit.

The House
Zelenock said the house will be constructed of salvaged material including doors, windows, plumbing fixtures, flooring and timber. The original home in Chicago was carefully deconstructed to make way for a new, larger house. She said roughly 80 percent of the material from the deconstructed house was re-usable.

Matt Doran is a staff writer for the Novi News. He can be reached at (248) 349-1700, ext. 109, or by e-mail at mdoran@gannett.com.

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