I have a friend who has some property in Vermont. He worked with his dad (or, rather, his dad worked with him) to build a couple of wooden cabins on the property. They look really nice, and are super fun to visit. While I was on one of these visits, my friend and I started talking about building another cabin, just for us. But building out of wood is difficult and difficult to source, so we had to come up with another idea. In the end, we dreamed up a shipping container home we could build together. Turns out, building permanent structures is a little more difficult (and expensive) than we expected, so the idea was shelved, and forgotten.

Until now???

This project would combine material exploration, physical fabrication, and design to create the shipping container home freshman Schuyler dreamed of. Because the potential build site is completely off grid, I would need to research & fabricate a system to provide 100% renewable energy. In addition, cold winters would force me to create a strong plan for insulation. It would push my limits of what I can accomplish in the physical world, farther than I’ve ever gone before. It would be expensive, impactful, empowering, and I think I would love it almost as much as the poor guy who I would have to convince to let me build on his property.

Preamble

Research Question

How has (sustainable) affordable housing developed over time? What are the most effective construction methods/designs?

Hestia - The goddess of hearth, home and fire

Contacted Advisors! (so far...)

Josh Ellsworth (half-client)

Juliette Rooney-Varga

Abe Murray

Director, UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative

Professional in Social Impact and Innovation Planning, Sustainable Development and Natural Resources Management

General Partner, AlleyCorp Robotics

Potential Advisors! (Formally Uncontacted)

Gordon Wong

Alexander T. Bok

Senior Advisor @ ARPA-E, U.S. Department of Energy; Clean Energy Technology Executive and Counsel; Environmental Leader; Public Affairs Advisor.

Head of Data, ActBlue

https://www.gsa.gov/real-estate/design-and-construction/sustainability/sustainable-design

Resource 1

Government guidelines & regulations for sustainable home design, includes important links to other regulatory documents

Resource 2-A

Some PDF docs explaining the history of affordable rent houses.

https://nlihc.org/resource/public-housing-history

A brief history of public housing in the United States. It outlines public housing's origins in the 1930s as part of the New Deal, and the deeply segregationist policies that shaped early public housing.

Resource 2-B

Some PDF docs explaining the history of affordable rent houses.

https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Sec1.03_Historical-Overview_2015.pdf

This article provides a broad, though not

exhaustive, overview of the history of affordable

rental housing programs in the United States, and

attempts to paint a picture of how those programs

work together to meet the housing needs of low

income people.

Resource 2-C

Some PDF docs explaining the history of affordable rent houses.

https://digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1337&context=econ_wpapers

History of Co-Op housing programs in the united states, from 1876 to modern projects.

Desired Outcomes

• A finished plan for a sustainable, cheap home to be built in Vermont. Breaking ground is a plus!
• Knowledge on the public housing crisis and potential solutions.
• Expansion of my connections; I want to talk to interesting people!