Description:
Rocky Hill Veterans’ Housing is situated in Vacaville, California, an hour’s drive north of San Francisco. The property is comprised of 3 buildings, totaling in 39 units of affordable rental apartments for veterans and their families. G7 Architecture, a San Francisco-based firm, designed the buildings, with 15 units utilizing modular shipping containers, and the remaining 24 units switching to standard wood framing.
The client secured Partner Energy’s services to provide CTCAC application support, conduct energy modeling and HERS verification, and serve as the LEED Green Rater in order to obtain LEED Gold certification under the USGBC LEED-Homes Low Rise Rating System.
To achieve LEED Gold certification, Partner Energy assisted during the design phase of the project to identify the materials, systems, and methods that would be necessary in order to achieve the targeted LEED points. Partner Energy also developed whole building energy modeling to show energy usage as compared to Title 24 minimum efficiency standards
Additionally, Partner Energy conducted HERS performance testing on the buildings to ensure energy performance is as desired. Tests included Thermal Bypass Checklist, Quality Insulation Installation, Duct Leakage Testing, and Refrigerant Charge Acceptance.
Due to the multiple construction types and variations in the designs, Partner Energy created multiple LEED scorecards for the various buildings, and worked with the LEED Provider to ensure that the property would achieve LEED Gold certification.
The result of the project are affordable homes that are both well designed and energy and water efficient. The project was featured in Metropolis Magazine and was nominated by National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) as an exceptional project.
