Asheville, NC–The Nauhaus Institute (NHI) has teamed up with Kleiwerks International to form a nonprofit partnership to oversee and fund the research, education and information-generating activities of NHI. The project will create a means by which to fund important data production and research currently being done by NHI in the area of ultra high-efficiency green building science. NHI is now in the process of building a prototype home in West Asheville that will be monitored and analyzed for energy efficiency, air quality, water conservation and a myriad of other factors. NHI members hope to use this data and the administrative help from Kleiwerks to create a working body of sustainable building information for everyone to use.
“Our goal is simply to improve every aspect of US buildings: health, comfort, durability, efficiency, livability, affordability, and self-sufficiency,” said NHI Managing Director Clarke Snell. “Our broader context, however, is climate change. If we dial all those variables into an integrated design building system, we can drastically reduce our carbon footprint, but a few hipster companies like ours creating radical buildings won’t get the job done. We all have to do it.”
Once completed the prototype home that will be inhabited by NHI member engineer Jeff Buscher and his family. This will not only allow detailed performance monitoring, but regular public educational tours of the unique home and landscape.
“We’re excited to see this come to fruition,” said Kleiwerks Founding Director Janell Kapoor. “The addition of the NHI team means that we’ll be able to expand our efforts locally and nationally.” The new partnership will be focusing on research and education surrounding high efficiency building married with traditional (or “natural”) building materials.
“Kleiwerks already has a global presence using indigenous materials and this will allow us to bring a different building approach that’s even more relevant to North Americans,” said Kapoor.
“It’s our intent to export the technology of our building system and make it available for everyone,” said Snell. “We’re serious about changing the way America builds, and this prototype is our group’s next step in a long dialogue about the sustainability of our built environments.”
Founded in 1998, Kleiwerks International is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that creates community-based education, demonstration and action through natural building and sustainable living solutions. The Nauhaus Institute is the research, education, and information-generating branch of the Nauhaus family based in Asheville, NC. The goal of NHI is to merge the best of modern high tech building science with the core principles of the “natural” and “green” building movements.
