IMPLEMENTING LOW-TECH SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS IN ECO MODERN FLATS: A CONSTRUCTED RETROSPECTIVE

ECO Modern Flats is an award-winning rehabilitation of a 96-unit market rate apartment complex built between 1968 and 1972. Each of the project's four buildings consists of three floors of eight one-bedroom apartments on a sloping site in central Fayetteville, Arkansas. The existing complex had great bones of precast concrete and split face block, but was drastically lacking in thermal comfort, air quality, and aesthetic appeal. The developer's goals were to deliver a product not currently available in the local market—modern, urban, green multi-family rentals—and to save operations costs through energy- and water-saving updates. The architect saw an opportunity to re-imagine healthy interior space, creating open and light-filled studios by implementing low-tech sustainable solutions. The renovation completely overhauled the living systems of each unit and transformed the entire complex's visual presence in the community. The new design provides connections to the re-integrated and re-imagine...