Local Architects Place in Dwell Finals

Donaldson and Fish's EChO Mansion entry for Dwell's Reburbia competition

Architects Robert Donaldson of Lakewood and Jim Fish of the Detroit Shoreway Neighborhood are finalists for the Dwell Reburbia competition.  The international competition requires future-forward architects, urban designers, and planners to re-envision the suburbs in light of the credit crunch and rising energy costs.
 
The duo’s entry entitled ‘EChO-Mansion’ proposes reutilizing foreclosed houses for on-site renewable energy generation, rainwater collection, and vegetation.  The pair believes that by utilizing the shell of a house in such manner, the house could effectively offset its initial carbon footprint and those of the surrounding homes.
 
The entry is currently viewable online and is competing for a “People’s Choice” award. 
 
When questioned about comments received by the public during the online voting, Donaldson stated, “The responses received from the public have been insightful and will be taken into consideration when we design future projects.  EChO-Mansion gave us a unique opportunity to develop more efficient renewable energy resources while also examining the current collapse of the housing market.”

Fish added, “We wanted to find a balance between the wild ideas asked of us and something that is ultimately 'pull-offable' and that doesn’t need the addition of lots of extra construction.”
 
The competition winners will be announced on August 17, and the winning projects will be published in the December 2009 issue of Dwell Magazine.
 
The Reburbia competition is sponsored by Dwell Magazine and the online resource Inhabitat.
 
For more information, visit: http://www.re-burbia.com/finalists/ or http://www.re-burbia.com/2009/08/03/echo-mansion/.