PUHI — Kauai Community College chancellor Helen Cox wants an opportunity to live in the house, but said Eric Knutzen won’t let her. “I would love to live in this, but Eric won’t let me,” Cox said Friday, while touring
PUHI — Kauai Community College chancellor Helen Cox wants an opportunity to live in the house, but said Eric Knutzen won’t let her.
“I would love to live in this, but Eric won’t let me,” Cox said Friday, while touring the house created by the college’s carpentry students around a 40-foot shipping container. “This is the vision for Kauai Community College — where we face the challenges and share it with the community.”
An informal barbecue to feature and acknowledge the efforts of the carpentry students took on more meaning as other facets of the community college were also highlighted, including a custom barbecue grill created by the welding class out of recycled materials and a vintage 1930s Model A that was restored by some of the Automotive Technology students.
“The University of Hawaii, Kauai Community College conveys its appreciation for so many who have helped bring to fruition the prototype container-based affordable house, built on-campus, by KCC carpentry students as part of their educational training,” said Knutzen, director of Hoouluwehi _ The Sustainable Living Institute for Kauai. “Started in 2012, the goal of the project is to help provide a practical, sustainable living-learning platform for our carpentry students. Converting a used shipping container to a home is unique within the University of Hawaii system, and helped Kauai Community College earn the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment 2013 national Climate Leadership Award.”
Kamuela Cobb-Adams, director of the county’s Housing Agency, said there are hundreds of shipping containers which come to Hawaii, and he is happy to see another use of the containers which reach “retirement” age.
“It makes me happy because we’re going to have to do this one day,” Cobb-Adams said. “This is a tremendous venture on the part of the Kauai Community College. There are so many times we take a Mainland design and try to make it work for Hawaii.”
He said homes in Hawaii need to breathe.
“This is a Hawaii design,” Cobb-Adams said. “We’re an outdoor people. The outdoors is our living room. This is an opportunity to learn from. This is doing something for Hawaii which fits Hawaii.”
The cost of creating the container-based home is approximately 34 percent cheaper than the mean average cost of a home, Knutzen said. Cost-saving features like the plumbing being outside the build-outs, a detached open roof so air can flow and having over-sized windows with jalousies all help keep costs down.
He said one of the criticisms from people touring the prototype is “Where is the space for the bookshelves?” to which he said, “Everything is now on electronic tablets and cell phones. There is minimal use for book cases.”
Duke Lang, an instructor, said hands-on experience building a sustainable residential home is why the students are in class — to learn real skills in building sustainable, affordable homes.
“This is a student-driven project where students get experience they cannot get from a contractor,” he said.
