Client
Piedmont Housing Alliance
Year
2005
Program
Two-family home
Status
Completed
Location
Charlottesville, VA
Contractor
Students!
The first iteration of a design/build/research project at the University of Virginia, led by UVA [and later University of New Mexico] professor John Quale.
The project is grounded in several core principals: affordability, modularity, modern design, environmental responsibility, and prefabrication. A team of students designed the house over the course of a year, and then spent about 5 months building it.
The house has been continuously monitored by teams of engineering students, to track and understand its performance, since the house’s owners moved in in 2006. The client was Piedmont Housing Alliance, a Charlottesville-based non-profit developer specializing in affordable housing. End cost: $125/foot [in 2005/06]. Marilyn was the student project manager through design and construction, and working on this project ignited her love of construction, modular construction, and pursuing affordable and creative solutions in housing.
More information: project founder and director John Quale’s book.
