In Florida, Caplow Manzano Designs First Well-Certified Residence
CM1, designed by Caplow Manzano in Miami, is the first WELL-certified home, using an innovative “hypostruction” method that hides systems behind wood paneling, eliminating drywall and ductwork. This approach aligns with the WELL Building Standard’s focus on air quality, daylighting, and thermal comfort. Caplow Manzano’s involvement in the WELL pilot program was timely, as their goals matched the certification’s values. The project exemplifies their mission to rethink traditional construction.
The Architects Newspaper says, picture a house with no drywall and no visible wiring or ductwork. Rather, the plumbing and electrical systems are tucked away out of sight and accessed behind attractive wood paneling. The house you’re picturing is CM1, the first WELL-certified residence and a prototype for an innovative construction method dubbed “hypostruction” by its architects. The house was designed in Miami’s Silver Bluff neighborhood by architect-developer firm Caplow Manzano, a Miami office founded by Ted Caplow and Nathalie Manzano. It was part of a pilot program from the International WELL Building Institute, the organization behind the WELL Building Standard certification program.
Caplow Manzano attributed good timing to its involvement in the inaugural run of WELL’s foray into the residential sector. “Although a number of participants, including us, were enrolled last year as they were developing the pilot program and finalizing the rubrics, we were in the right place at the right time, because a lot of the goals and values that their program is trying to promote are things that we were already keen on doing and already very interested in doing,” principal Ted Caplow told AN.
When Caplow Manzano signed on to have CM1 be tested up against WELL standards, construction of the house was already 80 percent complete. Many of the same considerations that apply to WELL certifying a commercial building apply to the residential scale, among these, air quality, water, daylighting, and thermal comfort.
“There was welcome support for some of the stuff we were already wanting to do, it made us feel a little less radical, to know that there was a standard that also advocated for the same things,” Caplow added.
The experimental house exemplifies Caplow Manzano’s mission to upend traditional design and construction methods. At the center of the innovative applications is a philosophy coined by the firm: “hypostruction.” This design approach eliminates the use of drywall and expansive ducting, and other building components and materials known to harbor dust, mold, and allergen particulates.
