Demonstration Projects and Case Studies 

Case Studies:

Habitat for Humanity High Performance Building Guide. Designed as a resource for Habitat for Humanity affiliates, this guide offers comprehensive advice to Habitat affiliates and other affordable housing builders on how to build high performing housing that is sustainable, healthy, and safe.  It also includes best practice case studies from Habitat affiliates throughout the nation. 

Disaster Relief Housing in Mississippi

Mississippi Alternative Housing Pilot Program (MAHPP).  An alternative to the FEMA trailers widely criticized post-Hurricane Katrina, The Mississippi Cottages are high quality manufactured housing units that demonstrate how to create disaster relief housing that is affordable, high quality, and easily transitioned into a long term housing solution. 

FAS and the Energy Efficiency Studies Institute (EESI) Briefing to Congress on the MAHPP.

Lessons Learned: Procurement Strategy for Disaster Relief Housing.

Disaster Relief Housing in China 

Sichuan Province Disaster Relief Recommendations. In the wake of the disastrous 2008 earthquake that struck Sichuan Province in China, FAS's Building Technologies team travelled to Sichuan in order to study and make recommendations on disaster relief housing and construction.  Based on our time in China and our previous high quality relief housing pilot projects, we have compiled a substantive body of research on the relief housing and reconstruction process in China.

Indoor Air Quality in Chinese Temporary Housing.

Building Demonstration Projects:

Demonstration projects are crucial to better understanding how building perform and how new technologies can be implemented in the field. These projects provide an opportunity for FAS and our partners to express and test ideas while providing much needed safe, energy efficient housing. Working with like-minded organizations, past projects have given insight into practical issues of constructability inherent in working with new technologies. They have also allowed for real-time testing of technological performance, and have provided housing for those in need.  

Houston, Texas.   FAS has been building a home in Houston, Texas made of cementitious SIPs with the Citizen League for Environmental Action NOW (CLEAN). The latest construction updates, including photos and video, can be found on the Building Technologies Program Blog.

Mobile, Alabama.  FAS has teamed up with Habitat for Humanity in a two part project to build, monitor and study CSIP houses in comparison to traditional stick built construction. The initial phase of the project focused on the design and construction of two CSIP houses in Mobile, Alabama.

Lale House, Turkey.  FAS has partnered with a Turkish construction firm, IHLAS Holding of Istanbul, and IHSN Inc. USA, to build a villa in the outskirts of Instanbul using cementitious SIPs.