Coast Cottage

This small house with a large presence draws from sources far and near: ancient Greek Doric temples, Palladio’s ‘Redentore’ and Villa Barbaro, Peter Harrison’s Redwood Library, Jefferson’s Monticello, Asher Benjamin’s carpenter pattern books, and local Greek Revival building traditions of Concord.

Sited dramatically on a bluff, this modern synthesis of Shingle Style and Arts and Crafts architecture gains interest from the way it bends and meanders to follow the contours of the land. The angled wings dynamically shift and overlap.

This house is the first Passive House in Vermont, the first modular Passive House in the United States, and the first Habitat for Humanity Passive House.

Over half the interior of the tiny house is a great lodge hall, extending to the full height of the roof and centered on a massive stone fireplace. Tree trunk porch columns give the entry façade something of the aspect of a primitive shrine.