Architect Edmund Garbee has the ability to take an empty space and fill it with a building. When he takes on a project, he carefully considers the land on which the structure will sit and the needs of the client, and then envisions the edifice in its early form. Next, he sketches what he sees in his mind on paper, roughly at first in jagged ink lines and estimated dimensions, and then more cleanly. As he gives his vision shape on a computer screen, he snaps together the bones that will hold the building in place, stitches together the sinews that will form the rooms and sets in place the vital organs that will allow the structure to function. This is his skill, and like other architects, he’s been paid handsomely to use it.
Then came the day when Garbee had more time on his hands than he wanted. So he prayed, “Lord, give me something to do.” The answer arrived in an email from the executive secretary of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
HomeFreeHome, a New York-based group of volunteer architects who are using their skills to improve the lives of low-income clients, was looking for someone to do pro bono work for a Chattanooga woman with a paralyzed adult son.
“I couldn’t turn it down. What good are my skills if I’m not helping someone or doing good for this community?” he says.
Five local architects responded, but Garbee was first, so he got the job.
As with all of the projects HomeFreeHome farms out to architects in states where it’s launched a pilot program, the job was small: modify the mother’s home to include a bathroom outside the son’s bedroom. So he met with his client, surveyed the land and made some rough initial sketches.
Garbee pulls a few pieces of paper containing the sketches out of his notebook and unfolds them onto the table in front of him. He points to the son’s bedroom, which is located at the front of the ranch home. In the hallway outside the room, near the back of the small house, are a laundry room and a kitchen – one to the left and the other to the right. An outdoor deck lies beyond the wall between the doors to those rooms.
Outside, the deck leads into a sunroom, which in turn is connected to a porch. A makeshift roof covers both areas, which were added after the initial construction.
Garbee’s solution is simple but elegant.
“The son will need someone to take care of him for the rest of his life. So I went to Siskin to talk with one of the therapists and learned about the Hoyer Sling – a sling connected to a track on the ceiling that goes from room to room. That will allow the mom to transfer her son from his bedroom to the bathroom and directly into the shower,” Garbee says.
To make room for the track and the bathroom, Garbee drew up plans to expand the closet into the current laundry room, remove the deck, lengthen the house so it lines up with the edge of the porch, install a new laundry room and put in a larger-than-normal bathroom.
Garbee wanted to design an incredible bathroom, but since the client will have to pay for the construction, which remains to be done, he kept things reasonable. “HomeFreeHome helps its clients try to raise the money or look for contractors who will do some of the work for free,” says Garbee.
Outside, a more natural looking roof will cover not only the bathroom extension but also the sunroom and porch.
All told, Garbee provided “a few thousand dollars” worth of free architectural services. But he says it was worth every penny he won’t be paid. “I enjoyed the work. When no one is paying you, there’s less stress,” he says, laughing.
Garbee decided to become an architect while taking a drafting class in high school and then earned a bachelor’s in architecture at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He worked for a variety of firms in Kentucky and Tennessee for over a decade before falling victim to a struggling economy in 2010. “A lot of people are saying the recession is over. Ask an architect and you might get a different answer,” he says.
Garbee was the first architect in Tennessee to take on a HomeFreeHome commission. But he won’t be the last. Launched in 2006, HomeFreeHome has a model program in New York, where a corps of architects is creating designs for small-scale construction projects such as ramps, accessible bathrooms and kitchens. In addition, the organization now has programs in Connecticut, New Jersey, Georgia and Massachusetts, and pilot programs in North Carolina and Tennessee.
“Each year, millions of Americans face adjusting to the difficult challenge of living with a physical disability. Living in a conventionally designed house impedes even the simplest daily living functions and compounds their hardships. Currently, they have nowhere to turn for affordable professional help in redesigning their homes. HomeFreeHome was created to fill this growing need,” the company wrote in its executive summary.
In addition to arranging for architects to do small projects, HomeFreeHome hosts universal design workshops and educational forums in libraries, senior centers and other venues to increase public awareness of the need for accessible home construction and encourage new building codes.
To date, 50 HomeFreeHome architects have donated more than 1,800 hours of free services and the organization has received over 80 applications for assistance from low-income individuals and families in 12 states.
Garbee recommends architects and contractors donate some of their time to those who need it. “There are people who need help with their homes. You have to make a living, but if you have the skills and it won’t take you away from your other work, you should do some pro bono,” he says.
Garbee says these clients will be the most grateful an architect will have. “When I met with the mom and showed her my drawings, she was thrilled.”