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Homer Hurst

Homer Theodore Hurst
Born 1919
Ozarks, Kentucky
Died 2011 (age 91)
Residence Blacksburg, Virginia
Nationality American
Citizenship United States
Alma mater The Ohio State University
Occupation Research Professor
Years active 1955-1990 (35 years)
Employer Virginia Tech
Organization NIBS- National Institute of Building Sciences (Founding Member)
Known for Building technology research
Home town Buffalo, New York

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

Homer Hurst was born on October 25, 1919 in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas; one of nine children born to Theodore and Elva Harvey Hurst. Homer enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, and served as a pilot in the South Pacific during World War II. He continued in the Naval Reserves for 20 years after the war and flying became his lifelong passion.

Following his military service, Hurst attended Ohio State University and graduated in 1955 with multiple engineering degrees. Upon graduating, he was hired as an agricultural engineering and architecture research professor at Virginia Tech. Hurst became a charter member of the National Institute of Building Sciences in 1974.

Hurst optimized his role as an architecture research professor. He received multiple awards from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), most notably for a passive solar housing research project in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1980. The project demonstrated energy conservation methods based on passive solar principles and innovative wood framing techniques. Besides 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. Homer also published other projects, including: "Structural Development and Evaluation of a Modular House" (Parts 1&II) in 1983, and "Pole-Type Tilt-Up Design and Construction", which he co-authored with R.L Price III in 1984. Homer's housing designs were often perceived by his peers as radical for their sparse and experimental use of building materials.

Homer was a proponent of affordable housing, evident in his strong support for Habitat for Humanity. He also served on a governor appointed committee, formed to update Virginia’s dated building codes. As a veteran, Hurst was inspired in his efforts to improve military housing. In 1986, Mortimer M. Marshall, Jr., FAIA, fellow founding member of the National Institute of Building Sciences said, "Homer’s research at Virginia Tech was a great help in our efforts to improve the quality and performance of military housing throughout the world. His research results will continue to have an everlasting effect on the housing industry."


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