In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy most of the coastal communities in the northeast were affected. The NY+NJ shore communities were especially devastated and even here at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ the infrastructure collapsed quickly.

At the same time, students here at Stevens were working on the second Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition home for the university, Ecohabit. Upon completion of that project it was decided that our third entry to the net-zero sustainable home competition had to address some of the storm and flooding issues faced by coastal communities. A home that SUstainability prevents future climate impacts but that’s REsilient enough to survive in the realities of climate change faced today; SU+RE HOUSE.

Shore Criteria

Before designing our architectural and engineering innovations we had to narrow down what kind of communities we would be targeting along the shore. The key criteria for us are flood zoning, lot sizing, urban proximity and demographics.

flood zoning – AE7 zone, 1% chance per year of +7 feet of flooding

lot sizing – accommodation for 2000 ft^2 interior/exterior buildout

urban proximity – 30 miles for commuting with an electric vehicle

demographics – small family narrative for SURE HOUSE inhabitants

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