PROJECT

MN ARCHITECTURE

SOLAR SHOTGUN CAMELBACK

6318 General Pershing St, New Orleans, LA 70125

1750 sqft

4 Bedrooms

3 Full Bathrooms

                     

+ SOLAR SHOTGUN CAMELBACK
New Orleans, LA

The Solar Shotgun Camelback is a sustainable and affordable residential prototype that is a reinterpretation of New Orleans’ most prevalent historic housing type, the Shotgun, a linear structure appropriate for the narrow, deep lots of the city, as well as the Camelback, which has a two story portion at the rear. Hurricane Katrina created a number of typical vacant lots 30’ x 120’-150’. Here, the structure is placed 3’ from one property line (code min.) to allow for a linear garden and required parking along the opposing side.

The linear form is ideal for the subtropical climate in providing daylight and ventilation, while the south oriented, mono-pitched roof is surfaced with photovoltaic panels. The main body of the house is based upon the 12 ft. wide dimension of the historic precedent, while the living/dining room expands to 16 ft.  Lumber is utilized in its full dimension (12’ or 16’). The house is totally spray foam insulated, and together with the high efficiency 2-phase A/C system and the solar panels, should require no additional electricity. The floor is carbonized stranded bamboo that is renewable and durable, and refers back to the precedent’s dark long leaf pine floors.

A metal privacy wall along the narrow side folds down to make the roof of the front portion of the house, and folds up to make the roof of the two story portion at the rear, on which the solar panels are located. Small windows for cross ventilation, manufactured to flash into the metal panel module of 3’, are spaced such that the 90’ wall, with 30 pre-cut panels, required no on-site cutting. The opposing side of the house is composite board lap siding and filled with large casement windows to allow for maximum exposure to the garden. Inside/outside is blurred in the screened dining porch, which is spatially interconnected to the interior and exterior. The porches and decks step in stages to the patio and on to the lush landscape in order to further ease the transition between inside and out.