“ The Alley Flat Initiative ” exhibition from 6-8 pm. on March 26 at Austin’s City Hall.

The Alley Flat Initiative, conceived in 2005 as a challenge for architecture students to design sustainable, affordable housing in East Austin, grew into an award-winning collaboration between the ” Center for Sustainable Development “, the ” Austin Community Design and Development Center ” and the ” Guadalupe Development Corporation “.

The initiative simultaneously addresses issues of sustainability, high cost of living and urban sprawl in Central Austin neighborhoods through the provision of green affordable infill homes that connect with the smart grid model of distributed infrastructure, while retaining the neighborhood character.

Alley flats are small, detached secondary residential units, often accessed from Austin’s extensive network of underutilized alleys. they are carefully designed to use 40 % less energy and 20 % less water, minimizing the ecological footprint of the building.

The 2 flats completed under the program to date both received the highest rating from the Austin Energy Green Building Program are already being rented to low – and moderate – income households in East Austin. Ten more of these green, affordable units are in some stage of design or development.
The initiative includes not only efficient housing designs constructed with sustainable technologies, but also innovative methods of financing and home ownership that can benefit neighborhoods in any city in the United States.

source: http://www.gogreentoolshed.com/collaboration-between-school-of-architecture-and-city-of-austin-addresses-sustainability-affordable-housing-and-urban