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Historic Gainsboro will soon give birth to a new home.

On what is now a vacant lot at 325 Gilmer Ave., a home will be constructed as part of the C2C Home initiative in Roanoke.

Nell Boyle, C2C Home executive director, said, "C2C Home is a nonprofit organization in Roanoke dedicated to promoting environmental stewardship in residential housing."

C2C refers to cradle to cradle, an environmental concept introduced by William McDonough and Michael Braungart in their book "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things."

The C2C Home organization emerged from a housing design competition based on the concept, which was introduced in Roanoke by Gregg Lewis and Jennifer Smith Lewis of Smith Lewis Architecture.

The competition received more than 600 entries, and 220 of them were selected as finalists. These finalists formed an exhibit at the Art Museum of Western Virginia in January 2005.

From these entries, a design emerged that city leaders and Gainsboro neighbors think can maintain the neighborhood's historic beauty and be affordable.

Boyle thinks the group has found the match.

"The Gilmer house is designed by Stephen Feather and Richard Rife," Boyle said. "Their design tries to address, with modular construction, making houses adaptable to changing needs of the residents."

Boyle said that in theory with modular design, a home can be expanded or reduced in size, according to the needs of a family, while maintaining the beauty and integrity of the home.

For example, a family may decide to add a unit when a child is born or when an aging parent comes to live with them. Or when a family decides to downsize later in life, the living space can be adapted.

This adaptability, Boyle said, also could allow the builder the opportunity to reuse or renew the modular unit should the owner decide to remove a unit or reduce the size of the home.

"The actual builder of the home is Blue Ridge Housing Development Corporation," Boyle said. "They have contracted with Southern Heritage Homes in Rocky Mount to build the modules."

The modules are nearly complete, and site work could begin on Gilmer Avenue by mid-February.

"When the modules are finished, they will be brought to the site and placed with a crane," Boyle said.

In addition to the benefits of modular design, which include a significant reduction of construction waste, the home offers an extensive list of "green features" enhancing the home's environmental sustainability.

Boyle said some of the features include certified FSC Lumber from the Forest Stewardship Council, which minimizes environmental impact; and a metal roof from Custom-Bilt Metals, which is highly durable and recyclable.

The home also will include BASF cool-roof coating, which, Boyle said, "is a very high-tech coating that drastically reduces the environmental impact to the ozone and maintains the internal temperature of the house better than standard roofing."

On the inside, the home will include high-efficiency appliances from Energy Star, energy-efficient lighting and even a Toto flush toilet, which reduces water use.

"C2C is about the life cycle," Boyle said. "We're interested in a home from its inception to what you do with it when you're done."

It seems fitting that Gainsboro, the city's oldest neighborhood, will be the cradle for something new and life-giving.

For more information about this project, contact Nell Boyle at 343-5500, nell@c2c-home.org or visit www.c2c-home.org.