MEBA News

Solid Rock Carpenter Framing Day 2009

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:45:31 -0500

102 walls, making up 3 homes, built by more than 250 volunteers in less than 5 hours. The Solid Rock Carpenters are a major force, and such nice people too. We loaded the truck and it is now on its way down to Bogalusa, LA. There they will be ready for assembly by our crew during the holiday trip at the end of this year.

Earth & Arbor Day Expo

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:00:20 -0500

We weren’t sure that the weather would cooperate at all, but we did get a couple of hours in the mix of rain, wind and sun. Several thousand people attended the event and there was an abundance of good energy and curiosity about the future.
Our “sustainable addition” project, illustrating the sustainable opportunities available to a 1950 era brick ranch, generated a great deal of interest.

The Pro Perspective

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:14:02 -0600

The Pro Perspective
by: Vivian Wagner
Professional architects and designers have a number of different Mac-based computer-aided design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) programs available. Which one they choose to use depends in large part on the features they're looking for.
Mark Benner, owner of Mark Eric Benner-Architects in Northbrook, Ill., uses Graphisoft's ArchiCAD, one of the first Mac BIM programs to have been released to the professionals. Trained in hand drafting and design, he first ran across an early version of ArchiCAD back in 1989, while he was still in college.
"[ArchiCAD] took things from the 2-D world and turned it into a 3-D environment," Benner told MacNewsWorld. "In the past you would draft several views, and you had to interpret what was in an architect's mind."
ArchiCAD's 3-D computer design is nothing short of revolutionary, according to Benner, particularly since it helps architects to communicate more effectively with their clients than with 2-D drawings.
"In addition to the data, by operating in -3D, it really allows the architect to visually convey a wealth of information with realistic views," said Benner.
"You can have a dialogue with the clients or consultants, and you're able to have a dialogue within the workspaces," said Benner.
For the full article - click here

AIA 2008 National Convention-Boston

Wed, 21 May 2008 13:18:42 -0500

AIA 2008 National Convention - Boston: “We the People” This wonderful city has so much to offer. A very walkable city, rich with history. Seminar highlights included transitioning “sustainable design” into “regenerative design”, Z2 (Zero Engergy & Zero C2O), and strategies in networking among professionals.
Our Solid Rock Carpenters project was also featured at the convention in a board presentation, sponsored by Graphisoft.

Bogalusa, LA - Spring 2008 Trip

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:31:33 -0500

Solid Rock Carpenters is nearing completion of its current projects in the areas of Louisiana, affected by hurricane Katrina, Franklinton and Bogalusa. Our small crew of rapid finish artisans arrived New Orleans on a bright and cool afternoon. A nice mix of ages and talents combine to address a long list of punch list items. Able bodied college students tackle the heavy lifting and digging tasks. While our more mature team members focus on hanging doors, painting interiors, installing trim and flooring are among some of the jobs our eager crews embraced.
In addition to the five homes started in November ’07 and the three started in June ’07, we have several other projects, initiated by other crews that require attention to bring them along to a finished condition.
Mark Benner has the honor and pleasure of turning over the keys for one of the Amanda Court homes during a dedication ceremony.

Architect-led Habitat Team Builds Five Houses in Seven Days

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:07:30 -0600

How do you . . . volunteer your professional services to make a near-immediate difference for a community in need?
Summary: Mark Eric Benner, AIA, recently led an all-volunteer building team to Bogalusa, La. to construct five homes for Habitat for Humanity. Relying on the efficiencies enabled by BIM, Solid Rock Carpenters was able to erect the five needed homes in only seven days.

Building for Habitat for Humanity can be both a life-affirming experience and an exercise in aggravation. Depending on the Habitat chapter and the build location, projects can move with expediency or—in rare cases—drag on for years. This situation led Solid Rock Carpenters (SRC), a nonprofit group that works to provide housing for those in need, to take a new approach to Habitat projects, says volunteer Mark E. Benner, AIA, principal of Mark Eric Benner Architects Ltd. Located in Glenview, Ill., SRC now practices the “Blitz Build” style, in which a group of volunteers begins and completes a Habitat for Humanity home in one fell swoop, design work aside.
Building frustration “The time it takes to build a Habitat home really varies from place to place,” Benner explains. “They can get some done in a fairly regular schedule, but there are others that languish for years. That was the frustration [SRC] felt in the early years, where they were going back year after year, working on the same project, and just making nominal progress.”

With more than 1,000 volunteers, Solid Rock is a formidable building entity. Since they began building Habitat homes following 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, SRC has helped provide housing to more than 70 families. In June 2007, 50 volunteers traveled to Franklinton, La., where they built two houses over 10 days and began work on a third. Determined to better its outcome, SRC in November again took 50 volunteers to nearby Bogalusa, La. There, in only seven days, the SRC team built five new homes, and completed the third house in Franklinton.
According to Benner, what enables the success of the SRC team is its advanced preparation and coordination. Prior to traveling to the site for the build days, 250 volunteers came together in the preceding months and weeks to precut, layout, and build all the walls and building components, shrink-wrapping them into neat packages for on-site assembly.

Building on BIM To maximize efficiencies, Benner believes that the use of the building information modeling (BIM) software was critical: “The ArchiCAD models enabled me to quickly and easily generate all the construction documents to be utilized by a largely unskilled workforce, while also helping to coordinate material delivery and construction sequencing to speed up the process … Our ability to provide perspective visualization and shop-drawing-level detail enabled a largely novice volunteer force to understand the components they were building and how they would eventually fit together when assembled.”  Although the homes necessarily share similarities to achieve efficiency, they are not identical. “These are simple homes, and the CAD portion of the project was primarily an effort of coordination and logistics,” Benner says. “As is typical, the benefits of computer aided design and BIM are truly realized under conditions of change. Our production package comprised a variety of home configurations, including a three- and a four-bedroom package. The mix was in flux within one week of our production ‘build days,’ affecting our material quantities and destination locations. The powerful analysis tools allowed us the flexibility to respond to our changing production package.”

Clearly passionate about what they do, SRC raises a considerable amount of money to cover the cost of materials and shipping for Habitat projects. For the five new houses and the sixth completed from the June trip, SRC raised approximately $100,000, according to Benner. The necessary design and other professional services that would normally require additional funds are provided pro bono by qualified SRC volunteers, and volunteers pay their own travel expenses to and from the construction site.

Building Blitz of Habitat Homes

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:44:26 -0600

Advance preparation and BIM software help volunteers provide accurate estimates, minimize waste, and optimize the logistics of a charitable effort for hurricane victims.

Jan 17, 2008
By:Heather Livingston
The architectural industry readily gives its time and expertise to serve community and profession, to which organizations such as The 1% Solution, Architects without Borders, and Architecture for Humanity attest. Given that passion and dedication for improving the lives of others, it seems obvious that architects providing pro bono design services to Habitat for Humanity would be a natural fit, and indeed it is. But, because of the nature of the volunteer organization, Habitat projects can sometimes linger for years, frustrating not only the architect who’s donating design services, but also the dedicated volunteers and the recipient community.
Solid Rock Carpenters is a Glenview, Illinois-based group of nearly 1,000 Habitat volunteers. Created by the Association Management Company, Solid Rock has helped more than 70 families in the Gulf Coast area since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreaked destruction in 2005. Initially, volunteers at Solid Rock, too, were frustrated by the lack of progress on homes they worked on, but recently the nonprofit has embraced the “Blitz Build” style, in which a home is started and completed in one rapid effort. Of course, countless hours are spent behind the scenes in design work and coordination, but once on site, entire homes are constructed in mere days.
Solid Rock’s most recent rapid-construction effort was in Bogalusa, Louisiana. After completing two homes and beginning work on a third during 10 days in June 2007 in nearby Franklinton, the team was determined to improve upon that success. In November, Solid Rock sent 50 volunteers to Bogulasa for seven days. Over the course of one week, they built five homes and completed the third home in Franklinton, a remarkable achievement under any circumstances.

The Habitat for Humanity homes are intentionally kept simple to lend to their affordability. Above, an efficient three-bedroom floorplan from the Bogalusa Blitz Build. (Courtesy of Mark Eric Benner Architects.)
“Originally we were going to try to get 10 homes done in five days,” said Mark Eric Benner, architect and Solid Rock Carpenters volunteer. “That would’ve been a real stretch, but they had some land acquisition issues that narrowed the project down to the final five.” Saving considerable time, money, and coordination efforts, all five Bogalusa homes ultimately were constructed in a single cul de sac. Although the constructed houses contain similar elements, no two are identical. For this project, the five houses are a mixture of three- and four-bedroom homes.
Benner explained that one reason why Solid Rock focused its efforts in Washington Parish, where both towns are located, is because the available funding for homes in that parish was set to expire at the end of 2007. “There was a mad rush to ... get as many houses done as possible,” he said. “In the previous 20 years, I think this Habitat chapter built five homes. This year, they built 17, and we represent eight of those.”

With materials on site, the work begins in earnest. (Courtesy of Mark E. Benner, AIA, and Megan Engle.)

On only the second build day, the home begins to takes shape. (Courtesy of Mark E. Benner, AIA, and Megan Engle.)
In addition to Solid Rock’s cadre of volunteers, Benner gives credit to Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD for dramatically accelerating the estimating and construction coordination of the project. “Volunteers came together on weekends and evenings to precut, lay out, and build all the walls and building components, shrink-wrapping them into neat packages for assembly by our on-site volunteers,” he said. “The ArchiCAD models enabled me to quickly and easily generate all the construction documents to be utilized by a largely unskilled workforce, while also helping to coordinate material delivery and construction sequencing to speed up the process.” Benner said that this high degree of preparedness enabled the professional and trade volunteers to move into supervisory and quality control roles, which ultimately produced more homes of better quality in less time using the same number of volunteers.
“As is typical, the benefits of computer aided design and BIM [building information modeling] are truly realized under conditions of change,” Benner said. “Our production package [comprised] a variety of home configurations, including a three- and a four-bedroom package. The mix was in flux within one week of our production build days, affecting our material quantities and destination locations. The powerful analysis tools allowed us the flexibility to respond to our changing production package.”
Whereas previous projects relied on manual estimating and coordination techniques, which resulted in inaccuracies in quantities and increases in field corrections, the use of BIM allowed quantities of materials to be accurately estimated, thereby minimizing waste. In addition, coordination of the volunteer effort was optimized through advanced preparation and efficient site usage, as well as logistics for shipping the assembled components.

Though simple in appearance, these homes are highly functional and a huge step toward a better life for the new homeowner. (Courtesy of Mark E. Benner, AIA, and Megan Engle.)
Although it would not have been impossible to complete the homes without ArchiCAD’s BIM, Benner believes it would have been much more difficult. “We definitely were using [BIM] to be able to maximize our efforts in terms of doing quantity takeoffs on the project and coordinating the loading trucks and getting all those things delivered to … and installed in the right spot.
“Our improvements between our June and November trips were dramatic,” he said. “Using the same number of volunteers and building days, our volunteers built two home packages for the June trip and six home packages for the November trip.”

Habitat for Humanity Volunteers 'Blitz Build' Katrina Homes in Record Time with ArchiCAD

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:49:16 -0600

Solid Rock Carpenters, a Habitat group of volunteers who help people in need acquire decent and affordable housing, is wrapping up its latest "Blitz Build" of homes in Bogalusa, La. Solid Rock Carpenters consist of 1,000+ volunteers of all ages, genders and experience levels who have participated in Katrina-related construction and rebuilding projects, helping more than 70 families in the Gulf Coast area to date.
The Glenview, IL-based organization raises funds to buy construction materials, as well as donating their own time and contributions to Habitat for Humanity.  The Bogalusa Blitz Build is the latest rapid-construction project in the organization's history. Having recently completed a two-home project in Franklinton, La., this summer, approximately 400 volunteers converged on Bogalusa to best their own record.
As many Habitat houses in the United States are designed in ArchiCAD, the organization was able to leverage the 3D Building Information Model (BIM) to dramatically accelerate estimating and construction coordination of the Bogalusa project, according to Mark Benner, architect and Solid Rock Carpenter volunteer.

"Volunteers came together on weekends and evenings to precut, layout and build all the walls and building components, shrink-wrapping them into neat packages for assembly by our on-site volunteers," Benner said. "The ArchiCAD models enabled me to quickly and easily generate all the construction documents to be utilized by a largely unskilled workforce, while also helping to coordinate material delivery and construction sequencing to speed up the process. This level of preparedness enabled our professional volunteers to move into supervisory and quality control roles, which ultimately produced more homes of better quality in less time using the same number of volunteers. It was a huge success."
ArchiCAD is used to design and construct Habitat for Humanity projects throughout the U.S. and in many other countries across the globe. Graphisoft has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of software to architects working at Habitat regional offices and affiliates.

Bogalusa, LA - Winter 2007 Trip

Thu, 8 Nov 2007 15:42:02 -0600

A true test of our construction and organizational skills. Our building site has been prepared and as we arrive, we find five bare slabs with spray paint indicators, coordinated to our wall panels found on the trucks. In five short days, all five slabs have completed exterior shells assembled, weather tight, and ready for crews to come in for the interior work.

Franklinton, LA - Summer 2007 Trip

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:53:37 -0500

Solid Rock Carpenter’s foray into the Habitat for Humanity “Blitz Build” scenario. We have constructed wall panels during two, weekend, build days, in Glenview, IL. Several thousand volunteers have combined their efforts to achieve this herculean feat in the heat. For those making travel plans to the area, you might prefer Spring or Fall, any time other than Summer to enjoy this part of the country. The people are a joy anytime.