What started off as an entry into a design competition during college has evolved into an impending sustainable development designed to transform a community.
Opportunity. Revitalization. Hope.
That is what The Fly Flat affordable housing development offers underserved residents in Houston and beyond.
Originally a Grand Prize-winning entry in the Department of Energy’s 2018 Race to Zero Competition, The Fly Flat project has since secured funding from the City of Houston and is on track to be built in one of the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods.
The Fly Flat is the brainchild of nine (now former) students from the prestigious Houston-based HBCU Prairie View A&M. Their goal is to bring affordable, sustainable housing to those who need it most, as they expressed during a memorable closing keynote at Phius’ 2018 conference.
“The Fly Flat project means opportunity. This project offers climate resilience, access to indoor air quality at home, and a chance for reweaving the social fabric of a neighborhood,” said Cynthia Suarez-Harris, one of the project’s creators.
The team members are: Shannen Martin, Cynthia Suarez-Harris, Kristen Clark, Aaron Farray, Kennia Lopez, Noah Perkins, Shelby Skinner, Ledell Thomas and Kaylah Wesley.
Suarez-Harris, along with classmates Ledell Thomas and Kennia Lopez, saw their neighborhood, a majority black and drastically underserved area in the heart of Houston mauled by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. The catastrophic effects of the storm aggravated decades of disinvestment and neglect from public and private actors in the area. Many of its residents fled the storm and subsequent flooding, and a great many never came back.
The personal background of the members of the project team are wholly intertwined with the mission of The Fly Flat, resulting in a singular focus on seeing it through to fruition.
“What makes the project special is that it is so personal to the students who designed it,” said Shelly Pottorf, a former Prairie View A&M professor and architect of record on the project. “For example, Ledell Thomas is a Hurricane Katrina survivor. His family was never able to return to New Orleans after seeking refuge in Houston. Fly Flat is designed to prevent that sort of displacement from happening again in our most vulnerable communities.”
The infill rejuvenation project utilizes modular design, innovative building practices, and advanced energy modeling to create a two-plot microgrid-capable development that could revolutionize urban design. Reliability in the face of extreme events is one of the groundbreaking aspects of the project.
“The resilience and regenerative potential built into the project is what excites me,” said Pottorf. “Fly Flat is designed to keep residents safe during disruptions of all sorts: hurricanes, power outages, recessions, etc.”
The project will include four units:
The units will be arranged around a central shared garden aimed at fostering community. Carports on each site are designed to double as a community gathering space for the entire block, and The Fly Flat team and the City of Houston plan to work with the local utility company to implement a demonstration microgrid that is sized to serve the entire block.
By creating a housing development that is not only affordable, but also actively promotes the health and well-being of its residents, the project team is looking to provide hope for those who have long been overlooked by housing developers.
“Many people, including me, are struggling to recover mentally and economically from their past, individual and collective. We spend so many years trying to recover. Yet so often it just seems out of reach,” said Nichole Thomas, Building Enclosure Consultant on the project. “To me, this project means that the independence we desire is achievable. It means that we can meet the needs of our families without drowning in debt or sacrificing our relationships and experiences.”
In designing the project for a hot and humid climate, utilizing Phius’ climate-specific standard was critical. And given the direct alignment of the project with Phius’ own mission, a partnership was inevitable.
“I believe that passive design is the core of this project. Passive building is about respecting the earth and respecting life through the gratitude we demonstrate by being resourceful, conservative, generous and accessible,” Thomas said.
Phius recognized the promise and importance of The Fly Flat and is supporting the project team in making their vision a reality. Integrating sustainable design, solar generation, and microgrid technology, this project can become a standard replicated nationwide. The project team’s vision for a resilient, carbon-neutral microgrid that is cost-effective for residents and turns energy consumers into energy producers is key to a sustainable future.
“This project meets the specific needs of this community and can be duplicated in other places with similar needs,” Thomas said. “... The project provides a lifestyle of community, freedom, and connection to nature. Every party (the individual, the collective, the planet) at several scales (individual, family, community, city, state, country, continent, planet) wins from this project.”
A significant step in bringing The Fly Flat to fruition was when the team secured a portion of the funding for the project through the City of Houston’s Complete Communities Affordable Housing Program. All the planning, designing, outreach and fundraising efforts of the project team now have them on the precipice of making this transformational project a reality.
“That it is now being built by the City of Houston with support from Phius means that ten years of hard work is finally coming to fruition,” said Pottorf.
Combining this innovative design with Phius’s technical expertise and monitoring capacity, The Fly Flat is a scalable example of how every challenge can present an opportunity. This project can create a template for other communities seeking a more resilient, sustainable, equitable, healthy, and affordable future.
“This beautiful project causes change and is educational,” Suarez-Harris said.