Booth Woods House No. 1

2018 Habitat for Humanity and Middlebury College Joint Design and Build Project

In recent years, Middlebury College has partnered with Habitat for Humanity Addison County Branch to establish a three-semester architecture course which designs single-family, low-income homes for community members. This design was the first in a four-plot project in the Booth Woods neighborhood of Vergennes, VT. In response to stie analyses and conversations with engineers and local municipalities, multiple designs were created including the geometric house - a two story flipped residence designed to be nestled into the steep gradient of the hill while still offering sight lines across the peak of the ridge to its west - and the pancake house - a single story, four-bedroom home under 1100 square feet that offered a covered rear porch and sunken living space. The final design chosen, called the perpendicular house, was one that required minimal site changes and featured 700 square feet of public space, oriented North-South, on the bottom floor with a East-West oriented upper floor housing four bedrooms.