1- to 5-bedroom options
A menu of right-sized starting points for different household needs.
Public case study
From One Demonstration Home to a Scalable Rebuild Platform.
USDA Forest Service-supported design work helped Regen Maui and its partners advance a permit-ready flagship prototype and a family of right-sized, LBC-informed home options for Lahaina recovery.
Why it matters
A better rebuild model has to work in real Lahaina conditions.
Lahaina recovery requires homes that are durable, climate-responsive, healthier to live in, and realistic to deliver within Hawaiʻi's site, shipping, workforce, water, and cost constraints.
Regen Maui's USDA-supported design effort began with a flagship multigenerational home and grew into a broader platform: five home sizes sharing a common approach to shade, solar readiness, water responsibility, healthy materials, durable assemblies, and connection to ʻāina.
Project evolution
From a single prototype to a family of rebuild options.
The 5-bedroom flagship remains the advanced demonstration prototype. The smaller homes are schematic design options derived from the same shared platform, intended to help future homeowners and partners compare possible pathways before site-specific review.
Permit-ready flagship
The 5-bedroom demonstration prototype advanced furthest as a coordinated design package.
Panelized FSC wood framing
A practical wood-based strategy intended to support quality control, repeatability, and construction coordination.
LBC-informed resilience
Health, shade, water responsibility, energy readiness, durable materials, and connection to place treated as one system.
What changed
Wood innovation became more practical, not less ambitious.
Early thinking explored mass timber. As design work advanced, the team identified factory-panelized, FSC-certified wood framing as a better fit for Lahaina's affordability, constructability, shipping, permitting, local workforce, durability, and replication needs.
Panelization may help improve quality control, reduce on-site labor pressure, and shorten portions of the construction timeline depending on final design, site, logistics, and builder coordination.
Resilience outcomes
Healthy homes, not just replacement structures.
Energy Independence
All-electric homes designed around high-performance envelopes, solar PV, battery storage, efficient cooling, and lower long-term utility stress.
Water Reuse
A septic-to-bioreactor-to-sand-filter-to-drip-irrigation strategy treats water as a landscape resource and supports the Living Building Challenge Water Petal.
Wildfire Resilience
Class A roofing, fire-resistant materials, protected openings, defensible landscape planning, and durable construction assemblies reduce vulnerability.
Healthy Interiors
ERVs, efficient cooling, UV purification, Red List-aware material choices, daylight, and natural ventilation support cleaner air, calmer rooms, and daily wellbeing.
Panelized Construction
Panelization may help improve quality control, reduce on-site labor pressure, and shorten portions of the construction timeline depending on final design, site, logistics, and builder coordination.
Regenerative Landscape
Deep shade, edible gardens, native and climate-adapted planting, stormwater strategies, and reuse water help return value to the land.
Living Building Challenge-informed
A whole-home framework for place, health, water, energy, materials, equity, and beauty.
These homes are Living Building Challenge-informed and designed around LBC principles. Certification depends on project scope, performance, documentation, and verification.
Place
A home shaped by Lahaina's sun, wind, rain, cultural context, and recovery needs.
Water
Reduce demand, reuse water where feasible, and return value to the landscape.
Energy
Lower utility burden through efficiency first, then renewable energy.
Materials
Healthier interiors, lower carbon, more durable assemblies, and fewer toxic exposures.
Health + Happiness
Cleaner air, lower heat stress, daylight, natural ventilation, lower utility anxiety, and daily connection to nature.
Equity
A rebuild pathway that helps keep homes accessible over time.
Beauty
Architecture that feels like home, not just shelter.
Replication potential
A platform for Lahaina and future Hawaiʻi recovery work.
- Smaller households, kupuna, young families, shared households, and multigenerational families need different rebuild pathways.
- A repeatable design platform can shorten the distance between a blank page and a meaningful property-fit conversation.
- Future implementation can test cost, constructability, energy performance, water systems, resident experience, and panelized wood construction in Hawaiʻi.