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The Pettaway neighborhood east of Main Street cut a ribbon on another innovative affordable home today: the 2nd Design/Build home of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture. Fourth and fifth year students whittled 12 designs to one, the cantilever structure that is now a reality at 1805 Commerce St.

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The second floor is placed at right angles to the first floor, creating a shaded entrance on the ground level and a patio on the second story. (In the photo above, students are removing non-load bearing poles from the front of the house as a conclusion to the ribbon-cutting ceremony; that’s the mayor and Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp. president Stacy Williams you see fleeing from under the second story.) Student Matt Poe came up with the design; a Colorado engineer helped make it work. The students fabricated the two sections of the house in a Fayetteville warehouse. Cranes lifted the sections into place last week; the home ought to be ready for occupation in a month or so.

UA Architecture Department head Marlon Blackwell called the house the “second volume in what’s going to be the Greatest Hits” of the University’s architecture school.

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Besides its cantilever construction, the other striking feature of the 1,000-square-foot house is the north wall of the second story, made entirely of a barely opaque material that resembles glass but is in fact a polymer material called Polygal, said to provide greater insulation than glass. The first floor is the kitchen and living area and the second floor has two bedrooms and a second bath bath.

The house has not been sold, but Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corp. head Scott Grummer said there’s a waiting list for homes in Pettaway. It will sell for around $125,000. The first UA Design/Build home is at 1519 Commerce St.

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