Beta Projects
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Front profile of the Bunkhouse

The steel shear panels are in place, awaiting install of the fiber cement board exterior wall panels, and windows and doors.

The Bunkhouse was HabiTek’s first full-scale prototype project. This structure is located in a flood plain near the Coeur d’Alene River. Indeed, note in this photo dated spring 2008, flood waters have reached the top of the concrete piers. This small project brought the system concept to life, and explored the ability of laypersons to participate in a kind of barn-raising event. The community of family, friends, and neighbors that assembled the structure proved, at least for smaller projects, the DIY approach works using HabiTek’s steel components.

The design for the Kehena House was largely conceived by the owner/builder and artist, Greg Buettner, after he visited the Honomu House. This is a testament to how readily the HabiTek system can be understood and translated into unique designs. The house consists of 3 levels: a ground level, largely open, where a storage room, catchment tank (cistern) and laundry are located; the main living area which incorporates a large lanai; and an upper level master bedroom suite and lanai. The house is nestled in tropical trees and plants, planted years before, left largely untouched during construction.

The design combines a classic 4-square plan with Hawaii Plantation house elements, such as north facing lanais on both floors. Two floors of living space and a daylight basement surround a stair tower culminating in a observation deck for whale watching. The tower is also a passive stack ventilation system. The owner, a broadcast engineer, plans to install various antennae and weather monitoring devices atop the tower.

Designed by Rafi Samizay AIA, Professor of Architecture at WSU, this masterfully executed summer home steps up the basalt river bank on 12 concrete piers. The County Cottage was an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the flexibility of steel, and the ability of the HabiTek system to receive “off-module” steel components, such as the projecting bay windows. Three main levels are arranged to create a spectacular interior, along with three platforms that hang off the main steel structure.

WHO WE ARE

HabiTek is a BUILDING SYSTEM research, design, and development company focused on strategies to construct buildings that can resist damage, or collapse from the ravages of hurricanes, earthquakes, and localized flooding. To implement resilient building practices, HabiTek employs the obvious strength and utility of steel in all projects.

HabiTek has worked diligently for over 20 years to design and test transformative resilient structures, and has sponsored several full scale beta projects in Hawaii and Idaho, and our first all steel and concrete Adapt-1 now under assembly in Mexico.

Supplied by several world-class outsourcing channels, HabiTek is now prepared to sell direct to customers pre-engineered and prefabricated modular steel frame components for home building. It is important to appreciate that HabiTek is NOT a pre-fabricated home supplier. We provide steel frameworks that our customers can readily finish out.

All HabiTek’s projects are collaborations between a team of structural engineers, steel fabricators, multiple vendors, and, most importantly, our customers and their builder. Among several steel fabricators in our region that we use to outsource components, Tipke Manufacturing in Spokane has been working with HabiTek for over 20 years, and has assisted HabiTek in developing our patented HUB concept, critical to connecting beams to structural posts in a way that allows maximum design flexibility and ease of assembly.

HabiTek is now moving to identify potential partners in the United States who are qualified to license our patented technology for implementing housing developments in vulnerable regions, with an emphasis on Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Gulf Coast, and Hawaii. We also hope to attract the attention of re-builders in the Carolinas and the Florida Panhandle after hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018, and the Bahamas after Dorian in 2019. More recently, Hurricane IDA, estimated to have cost $60B in damage and killing 83, hit the central Gulf Coast and marched up as far as Maine as a tropical storm, causing widespread flooding in New Jersey and New York State. In our own State of Washington, serious flooding occurred in late fall 2021 in the northwest. This region could benefit by using HabiTek because the steel framework can be readily elevated above the ground. Also, Western Washington is in a high seismic zone and the HabiTek framework is pre-engineered for earthquakes. Interested parties are welcome to contact us.

FEATURED PROJECT: Adapt-2

Adapt-2 Resilient Concept House for Hurricane Prone Regions

Please note: HabiTek plans a crowd funding campaign to raise funds to build a full scale Adapt-2. Part of this program would involve wind testing for Cat. 5 hurricanes. In any case, we plan to present the Adapt-2 to the market ASAP. We welcome inquiries now from organizations involved in recovery operations in regions hit by disaster. Prepare and prevent!

The ADAPT-2 prototype leverages all the features of HabiTek’s beta projects: modular design, resilient pre-engineered steel frame, and DIY-friendliness. In addition, the ADAPT-2 employs diagonal steel braces, or struts, to further strengthen the orthogonal frame which defines the living space(s): multiples of nominal 12’ x 12’ x 12’ cubes. This simplifies the geometry involved. All the steel components included in a “kit” are hot-dip galvanized. This is necessary in tropical marine environments, where steel, unless properly protected, will corrode. Also, termites do not “eat” steel. An Adapt-2 structure will be around for 100 years, or more.


Adapt-2 is under design development, a serious appeal to develop a truly resilient structure that can stand up to 157+ mph winds of a Cat 5 hurricane. Carmen Yulín Cruz, Mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, made the call to develop a “transformative” structure after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017. She understood viscerally that only through a new way of building could the cycles of destruction in Puerto Rico, and elsewhere in the Caribbean, end. With the Adapt-2 System, HabiTek is poised to take on this challenge.

Of course, the Adapt-2 would help in other regions as well: the Houston area, Florida Panhandle, and the Carolinas. The Houston region (Harvey) and The Carolinas (Florence) would especially benefit because the Apapt-2 is not only hurricane resistant, it also is elevated off the ground to mitigate the impacts of flooding.

It is not difficult to understand why pre-engineered, pre-fabricated, and pre-cut steal components are the answer to Mayor Yulín’s appeal. The only alternative in sight appears to be reinforced concrete, a hugely problematic approach for affordable housing in most regions, especially the Caribbean.


The above plan variations illustrate the extensibility of the Adapt-2 cube model. There is virtually no limit on the plan area. The system can be expanded further than the plan illustrations shown, to include hotels, commercial buildings, and even severe weather shelters.