As a founder and the Design Principal of PowerHouse, my goal was to make the concept of affordable, high-performance, high style, ultra-healthy, modular houses for everyone a reality. Founded in late 2003 by Quincy Vale, I joined the firm in early 2004 and we became business partners. With PowerHouse, we sought to reinvent "green" homes - how they were conceived and built. It seems funny now, bit at the time, green was still considered somewhat suspect by some and downright edgy to others. In terms of creating a start-up business, we sought to make PowerHouse more of a tech start-up than traditional home builder. It was my first exercise in marketing, branding and web design for a start-up. As far as energy efficiency and eco-friendliness, our goal was to be superior to all other offerings by integrating proven technologies into a super energy efficient shell and doing so on a factory-built modular platform. By folding the savings associated with modular back into the building, we could pay for all the green goodies without inflating the cost to the buyer. I'm proud to say that we actually did crack that code and built a number of projects in New England before the market crash of 2008 brought most home construction to a standstill. PowerHouse designed and built two of the first fifteen LEED Platinum Certified houses in the US. Each for about the same cost as a typical stick built home in the same location.
The Power Pod is a small, two-piece modular structure. It arrives on site almost fully finished, requiring only one set of trim boards on the outside and one set on the inside to be complete. Total installation time: 30 minutes - as close as one can get to eco-friendly, solar powered, zero energy plug & play architecture. Shown here are the "Meadow Pods" at Yellow Barn in VT.
In Putney VT, Yellow Barn is a cutting edge school and festival for professional musicians. Faced with the "existential challenge" of how to move the program forward and find a permanent home, Artistic Director Seth Knopp reached out to PowerHouse. Each Pod was sited for maximum site advantage (aesthetic and performance), structures were designed for best indoor sound quality. Openings are situated to baffle sound away from neighbors. Each Pod was "tuned" after installation.
This 576sf Pod comes complete with full kitchen and bath, separate sleeping area and front deck. LEED-Platinum energy performance and materials.
This 576sf Pod comes complete with full kitchen and bath, separate sleeping area and front deck. LEED-Platinum energy performance and materials.
PowerHouse won the rights to an abandoned lot in Lawrence MA. The City was eager to burnish its reputation as a center for green tech and innovation. The result was a LEED-Gold house on a budget.
As a nod to the site's industrial past - the mills are visible from all sides - industrial materials were used as finishes throughout. Even the passive solar sun screen in the front is made from recycled shipping pallets.
As a cost saver, the house is not huge (1450 sf, 3 bedrooms over 3 floors). But that does not have to mean it feels small, nor does it mean unattractive.
Spaces overlap and borrow from each other. Wasted spaces like grand foyers or long hallways are eliminated. This means the space that is left is 100% useable.
The nods to the location's industrial past continue on the interior. Among these - the floors were finished in maple planks recovered from mills right up the street.
The house at Market Street was featured in this book about style and innovation in sustainable pre-fab architecture.