Civitas
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Architecture
Interior Design
Comprehensive Planning
Programming
Site Evaluation/Selection
Site Planning
Wayfinding/Signage -
Carbon-Sequestering Materials
Carbon-Sequestering Biogenic Material
Comprehensive Planning
Enhanced Site Accessibility
Environmental Education Strategies
Habitat Restoration
Heat Island Effect Mitigation
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Carbon
Light Pollution Reduction
Low Maintenance Material
Passive Building Envelope
Permeable Surface Expansion
Rainwater Management*LEED Platinum for Homes
*Zero Energy and Zero Carbon Certified, ILFI -
Completed November 2019
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Memphis, Tennessee
Civitas is the world’s first dual Zero Energy and Zero Carbon building to achieve ILFI certification, and is certified LEED Platinum for Homes with an EUI of -2.6. The project expands how we think about “home”, employing design strategies that look outward to the greater community to benefit the many.
Civitas is a single-family dwelling located on a relatively small, greenfield site on the banks of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee. Civitas, translated as “community”, was given to represent the family’s desire to create a meaningful experience with each other and the neighborhood through connected spatial relationships, transparency, and the making of place. This is accomplished through a number of moves including a transparent and tunable first floor, visually evoking a sense of wonder and curiosity by dissolving the spaces between private and public. Throughout the design process the owner and design team encouraged an open dialogue with the community around traditional and progressive notions of the city, community, and home. The fabric of surrounding vernacular-styled residences becomes a benefit to its expressive character.
Photography © Alan Karchmer
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From the outset, the design team chose the guiding principles from the AIA Committee on the Environment to set robust sustainability goals for equitable solutions, conservation and reclamation, onsite renewables, wellness and health, change and adaptability. The home serves as a living laboratory and immersive tool for experimental thinking, providing performance data which, analyzed over time and through evolving conditions, reveals a broad application of high-performance design strategies for a wide range of typologies and scales. Climate resiliency was also critical as the site is susceptible to flooding, severe weather, and ongoing activity from the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Civitas prioritizes clean energy with no fossil fuels sourced, producing more energy from onsite renewable than it consumes selling the excess back to the grid or charging of electric vehicles.
Civitas demonstrates a new perspective on integrating design, construction, and inhabitation globally. With a 200-year design life cycle, it will evolve and adapt to the way future occupants live and to a changing environment. It is a place of learning and inspiration as it advances the dialogue between homeowners and the profession as we move towards a carbon-neutral world.
Civitas has been recognized with the AIA COTE Top Ten; the Future House Award by the Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design; and the Green GOOD DESIGN® Award by The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
