The Harvested Home
A biobased building approach
C. Gregoire (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
The Harvested Home is a housing concept that completely eliminates non-renewable materials form its structure and envelope. It was developed specifically for the touristic island of Texel in Noord-Holland to be used in the re-development of one specific camping area near De Koog. More specifically, the site chosen is located within the Dunes of Texel National Park, a highly sensitive ecosystem protected by UNESCO. Thus, the Harvested Home was conceived with preserving the integrity of the ground cover in mind. To minimize the work done on site and reduce the damage done during the construction process, the building approach combines, along with its biobased structure, a lightweight pile foundation, plug-and-play connections, and a fully prefabricated structure. These design choices produce a home that can accommodate the uneven and chaotic terrain of Texel without necessitating excavation, and versatile enough to produce buildings customizable to every specificity of the site or the wishes of their occupants. The structure itself completely eliminates oil-based materials and metal. No nails, screws, or other fasteners were used; instead, the structure relies on friction joints. The load-bearing structure consists of a triangular timber frame resting on piles, while the cladding and wall infill is composed of CNC-milled plywood supports geometrically locked in place within the timber frame. The envelope’s water resistance comes form its rainscreen and pine-pitch caulking of its friction joints. A final layer of sprayed cork protects and seals the exposed joints under a waterproof and elastic coating. Relying solely on renewable and biobased materials allows the Harvested Home to have a negative carbon footprint; a Life Cycle Analysis of a 1 meter square sample of the structure reveals an approximately -27 kg of CO2 carbon footprint. The Harvested Home contributes to the field of biobased buildings by demonstration the latter’s potential for flexibility, adaptability, and capacity for rapid assembly.