Sparks fly in a loading dock behind the Engineering Teaching Center on the Forty Acres. A large metal structure that, at the moment, resembles a giant four-post bed is flanked by students and a construction crew. They’re watching and working, cutting walls for windows.
They ask for volunteers to help. Michael Alada hops right in. The second-year master’s student in sustainable design grabs a saw and starts cutting drywall.
“I was an essential worker in 2020 in the Twin Cities, working with the homeless population,” said Alada. “We were able to temporarily house homeless people and work with social workers from Hennepin County to help them find permanent housing. Seeing the impact of that program made me think about sustainable design and the importance of making housing available to the people who need it most.”
A couple hours later, this 20-foot-by-eight-foot structure will be a functional unit designed for people who need immediate housing, including those displaced by disasters. It was created by ROKiT Homes and donated to UT by John Paul DeJoria, chairman of the company.
Over the next year, several researchers from the Cockrell School of Engineering will use this unit, and another at the J.J. Pickle Research campus, to perform hands-on housing research.
“We need to rethink how we build affordable housing at scale so we can satisfy the tremendous need across the country,” said Christopher Rausch. “Having the ability to tinker with these units will give us a lot more information.”
Solutions like ROKiT’s small, modular, stackable homes could play an important role in increasing emergency housing, Rausch said. They can be quickly delivered and assembled, which means they could help in emergency situations like the recent Los Angeles wildfires or quickly provide temporary solutions to get people off the street and start the transition to permanent housing.
About a dozen of Rausch’s graduate students, from several disciplines, are watching and participating in the buildout of this ROKiT unit as part of his course, CE 397, industrialized production of the built environment. For the students, it’s an opportunity to apply their engineering skills to one of society’s biggest problems.
Rausch plans to study this unit with graduate and undergraduate students from various angles, from construction to zoning issues and more. One example is utility connection. Modular housing like this, units that can be trucked in and then assembled on site, still have to connect to water and other utilities.
Rausch isn’t the only faculty member planning to use the units for research. Architectural engineer Atila Novoselac is developing a retractable canvas that reflects sunlight and heat. The goal is to make buildings more efficient and help make older structures without air conditioning more viable amid the Texas heat.
“This being hands-on is great for us to test and try out new things,” said Rausch. “It allows us to physically make change, rather than just talking about it. It’s a great way to learn.”
Source: UT-Austin Cockrell School of Engineering (Edited by subcusa.com)
