Lafayette Habitat for Humanity is proud to partner with University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s School of Architecture and Design (SoAD) for a special presentation on Thursday, January 30, 2014. Students will unveil their designs for a 13-home “pocket neighborhood” to be built on the corner of Pinhook and Magnolia in Lafayette’s McComb/Veazey neighborhood. This informational presentation will showcase Lafayette Habitat for Humanity’s ongoing partnership with the SoAD to create innovative, affordable, sustainable new homes in Lafayette’s urban core neighborhoods, and will include an in-depth look at the first two sustainably-designed student-designed homes to be built in the pocket neighborhood.
A Habitat homeowner whose home at 207 Marne St. was designed by UL students last year will be present as well as representatives from both UL Lafayette and Lafayette Habitat for Humanity, the McComb/Veazey Neighborhood Coterie, and the LCG Department of Community Development.
In step with Lafayette’s newly-developed Comprehensive Plan, Lafayette Habitat for Humanity has chosen to “Revitalize Neighborhoods” by focusing its work for the next several years in one of Lafayette’s historic urban core neighborhoods, McComb/Veazey. In partnership with the LCG Department of Community Development, a significant investment has already been made in McComb/Veazey, with completion of the first 6 new homes this month, and funding committed for at least 14 more new homes including the first several homes in the ‘pocket neighborhood.” Residents of the neighborhood have developed a long-range plan for revitalization of their community, including not only housing but also streetscape beautification, creating historical markers, and developing community gardens.
The new homes will continue to improve upon the energy-efficiency and sustainability of Habitat’s housing prototypes, which in turn lowers the energy bills and maintenance costs for future homeowners. UL Lafayette School of Architecture and Design builds upon its research and testing from the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home and the three Neighborhood Infill Homes completed over the last seven years.
This partnership between Lafayette Habitat and UL Lafayette’s Architecture and Design Students is beneficial not only to the neighborhood but also to the architecture students, providing them with invaluable hands-on experience. “There are two goods that come from this partnership,” said UL Lafayette Architecture graduate student Trent Husser, who helped design and build the Habitat home at 207 Marne St. “It’s good for the students because we are able to design actual homes that will be built. It gives us real world experience—I’ve done construction, but this is the first time I’ve actually built something I designed. For Habitat, it’s great that they are able to benefit from our work in order to build homes for those in need.”