Homer Hurst

Homer Theodore Hurst (1919–2011) was a building industry innovator, award-winning professor, World War II veteran, and a founding member of the National Institute of Building Sciences.

Early life and military Homer Hurst was born on October 25, 1919, in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas as one of nine children born to Theodore and Elva Harvey Hurst. Homer enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942, and served as a pilot in the South Pacific during World War II. Hurst married Beverly Arnold in 1944 and they had four children: Ted, Hyla, JaNan and Rhoda. Hurst continued in the Naval Reserves as a pilot for 20 years after the war, and flying became a lifelong passion. Beyond its inventive passive solar design, a remarkable aspect of the project was its use of just one third of the typical amount of building materials of a traditional wood-framed home. This accounted for savings of more than 25% of overall construction costs and 44% of energy costs by using solar power. Hurst's design was selected as one of 19 finalist out of over 200 entries in HUD's "Building Value into Housing" competition in 1980. He and Jerry Smith presented the project in an article titled "The Hillside Fourplex Housing" in 1981. Structurally balanced roof frames, (1963): Co-authored with JPH Mason Tilt-up timber rigid frame buildings, (1964): Co-authored with N.F. Meador, and E.L. Townsend, published by Virginia Tech. The wood frame house as a structural unit, (1965): Part I, Floor deflection as influenced by various stages of construction, published by Virginia Tech. The wood frame house as a structural unit, (1966): 29 pages, published by Virginia Tech. Pole-type, tilt-up economy house design: the first generation prototype, (1973): Published by Virginia Tech. Engineered housing reduces initial cost/accommodates solar heating, (1976): With Sandra J. Zettersten, for presentation at the annual meeting American Society of Agricultural Engineers Economical underground house structures, (1979): For presentation at the winter meeting American Society of Agricultural Engineers Structural Development and Evaluation of a Modular House, (1983): parts I&II: A study of A 12'x44' modular house, built with less than half the amount of lumber typically used to build the same sized house. Pole-Type Tilt-Up Design and Construction, (1984): co-authored with R.L Price III

Who is responsible for the high cost of housing?, (1985): Article, Vol 19 (5) (September–October 1985) Hurst's housing designs were often perceived by his peers as radical for their sparse, experimental and extremely economical utilization of building materials. However, by being both a materials and building code expert, Hurst was fully aware of a building's constructability in terms of the material's limitation and overall safety.