After a number of years in Boston renting, my wife Rae and I decided to move to Vermont for a change of pace and lifestyle. We both took our jobs with us, Animation Director and Designer respectively, and so wanted a home office house first and foremost. With an opportunity to build in-town, albeit a small Vermont one, we wanted to create an affordable, sustainable, and beautiful house.
Working with my father, we came up with a design suitable for the .36 acre in-town plot of land we found, with the main goal being a super insulated building that required minimum energy to run. The overall design of the house and placement on the land takes into account passive heating and cooling, reducing the mechanical systems that we’ll need over the changing seasons. Site consideration was also foremost on our list, so the land we purchased is a two minute walk from the town center, allowing us the freedom to shop, dine and entertain without a car being involved at all.
We also wanted to reduce our fossil fuel use, meaning no propane or oil, two of the most common fuels used in the state. To accomplish this a geothermal heat pump system provides our main heating/cooling and additional hot water heating. The geothermal system is also combined with an HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) which provides constant filtered fresh air from outside.
All of this is then wrapped in a contemporary design, that uses standard building methods and materials in unique and exciting ways.