If you are in an extreme climate, such as so far north that you have no daylight several months a year, passive solar design will need to focus heavily on things like thermal mass that conserves heat. You also likely need to enclose the rooftop areas intended to have plants, picnic tables and play spaces.
You should hire an architect familiar with designing for such extreme climates. That is kind of outside of my wheelhouse.
If you are on tribal lands, you may need to set up off-grid utilities, including electricity sources, water and waste management. If this is the case, you may also need to contemplate how the parking plans here fit into YOUR context. They may need to be altered in some fashion if you want to build this but parking-for-a-fee on a daily basis is unrealistic.
If you like the Two Towers design but are in a really tiny village, you could ask an architect to cut it in half and make a single tower with fifty units and less parking or redesign it to provide some larger units appropriate for families. I would start by profiling my community and determining how many units you need for various family situations.
And talk to people about how they would LIKE to live.
Grandma/mother-in-law may be happy to have her own small space in the same building where she can see the grandkids and provide some of the childcare she may be currently providing without living in the same unit. That may be something they are doing because that's what current resources support, not what they really want to do.
I would probably try to ask very nicely and as much as possible one-on-one because "grandma" may be hesitant to say "I love my family but would RATHER have my own place." in front of the family because the family may hear "She is kicking us to the curb and doesn't want to keep providing some of the childcare/cooking/whatever." and that may NOT be what she means at all.
Whether it is what she means or not, simply be aware that you will get more accurate info if people can answer such questions PRIVATELY and not in front of other people who may be impacted by such answers and who are highly likely to react negatively to their own worst fears that may not really be what that "scary" answer means.
Financing on tribal lands will be different from financing elsewhere because you generally cannot take out a mortgage. In the US, you may be able to find federal grants to help cover it but wherever you are, you will need to research how to pay for it in a way that actually works.
Some other resources which may be helpful for people on tribal lands:
If your area gets enough storms that it is actively deterring stable development and you are in a city, not a rural site or village, you may need to pioneer building round buildings over one story as a default norm. You may have more luck finding octagonal and hexagonal buildings which also are more storm resistant than square buildings while being easier to plan internal spaces because of the straight sections of exterior wall.
If you enclose a parking garage, you will need HVAC and ventilation and may need a sprinkler system among other things and this will dramatically increase the costs.
Please talk to an architect or other appropriate expert, but my impression is the best solution is architectural mesh on an open parking structure. This should mitigate storm hazards while keeping costs low and fit the general goal of passive solar design that the building works fairly well to keep people safe and comfortable even if there is no electricity.
During an extreme storm, you may lose power. Without electricity to keep the ventilation system running, seeking refuge in an enclosed parking garage may just be a different way to die in the storm.
You should hire an architect familiar with designing for such extreme climates. That is kind of outside of my wheelhouse.
If you are on tribal lands, you may need to set up off-grid utilities, including electricity sources, water and waste management. If this is the case, you may also need to contemplate how the parking plans here fit into YOUR context. They may need to be altered in some fashion if you want to build this but parking-for-a-fee on a daily basis is unrealistic.
If you like the Two Towers design but are in a really tiny village, you could ask an architect to cut it in half and make a single tower with fifty units and less parking or redesign it to provide some larger units appropriate for families. I would start by profiling my community and determining how many units you need for various family situations.
And talk to people about how they would LIKE to live.
Grandma/mother-in-law may be happy to have her own small space in the same building where she can see the grandkids and provide some of the childcare she may be currently providing without living in the same unit. That may be something they are doing because that's what current resources support, not what they really want to do.
I would probably try to ask very nicely and as much as possible one-on-one because "grandma" may be hesitant to say "I love my family but would RATHER have my own place." in front of the family because the family may hear "She is kicking us to the curb and doesn't want to keep providing some of the childcare/cooking/whatever." and that may NOT be what she means at all.
Whether it is what she means or not, simply be aware that you will get more accurate info if people can answer such questions PRIVATELY and not in front of other people who may be impacted by such answers and who are highly likely to react negatively to their own worst fears that may not really be what that "scary" answer means.
Financing on tribal lands will be different from financing elsewhere because you generally cannot take out a mortgage. In the US, you may be able to find federal grants to help cover it but wherever you are, you will need to research how to pay for it in a way that actually works.
Some other resources which may be helpful for people on tribal lands:
- Metal poisoning in the US which points to this comment about off-grid development. (Related post: The Anti-Drama Queen)
- How do you modernize when the tribe owns the land?
If your area gets enough storms that it is actively deterring stable development and you are in a city, not a rural site or village, you may need to pioneer building round buildings over one story as a default norm. You may have more luck finding octagonal and hexagonal buildings which also are more storm resistant than square buildings while being easier to plan internal spaces because of the straight sections of exterior wall.
- Ponte City
- Bublik – Circular Apartment Building In Moscow
- Marina City- The first circular apartment buildings in history.
- 10 tips for designing hurricane-resistant distribution facilities
- Wind speeds in a parking garage during a hurricane and use of a parking garage as a hurricane refuge of last resort
- Parking structure design with architectural mesh
- Is a parking garage safe during a hurricane?
- Hexagonal buildings on Wikipedia
- Hexagonal vertical village in Singapore
- List of octagonal buildings and structures
If you enclose a parking garage, you will need HVAC and ventilation and may need a sprinkler system among other things and this will dramatically increase the costs.
Please talk to an architect or other appropriate expert, but my impression is the best solution is architectural mesh on an open parking structure. This should mitigate storm hazards while keeping costs low and fit the general goal of passive solar design that the building works fairly well to keep people safe and comfortable even if there is no electricity.
During an extreme storm, you may lose power. Without electricity to keep the ventilation system running, seeking refuge in an enclosed parking garage may just be a different way to die in the storm.