Green Mountain College Tiny House

Nineteen students at Green Mountain College in Vermont have recently built a tiny 8 by 12 foot house (97 square feet) as part of an environmental studies course. The tiny home was built almost entirely from reclaimed materials and cost only $1,927.The students helped pay for it with a $100 per student course fee – and only went over their budget by a few dollars.

The students visited the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vt. for inspiration and ideas for their tiny house and they decided to design a rectangular building with one low corner to create a curved roof that rainwater can pour off of and be collected. A loft, furnishings and lighting fixtures were also designed and constructed by the students. Sheep wool was added for insulation into the window casing, the hardware and metal roofing was purchased from local building supply companies and the threshold to the front door is slate from a local quarry. The house will have a solar powered electrical system installed as well as the rainwater catchment system. The house will then be sold by the students to recoup the costs of the build.

The tiny house represents an excellent learning opportunity for students in the College’s REED (Renewable Energy and EcoDesign) certificate program. During the design and construction process, students adhere to sustainable building practices as well as learn about the real estate market. A video was created about their build and can be see on the Green Mountain College website.

Photos courtesy of Green Mountain College

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

17 thoughts on “Green Mountain College Tiny House”

  1. I really like this little place- jobn well done- I hear that school is beautiful too- I’ll have to check it out sometime when I’m up there- same with the Yestermorrow school….

    Congrats on a great job guys- I especially like the wraparound corner window…great post kent

    Off…to finally finish that vegetable oil heater video!

    -Deek
    Relaxshacks.com

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  2. Interesting. I wonder how well that “one low corner” roof works with the raised seam metal roof. I’d also like to see how they sealed the roof wall junction. 8 x 12 = 97 ??? Typo? or is my brain under caffeinated this morning? ;^)

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  3. I hate to be critical here, but this article just doesn’t have enough info to be useful. Your readers want real information.
    The “house” seems to have not only a low corner but a slanted rear wall, and its just a shed if house stuff cant fit in it. Are there design drawings of where things will go? where would you sleep, cook,or sit? how will the future water catchment system work and be used? what will the solar run?
    The video is “embedded” all right, You will have to use the search box at the top right and look over the resulting page carefully, it is not obvious.

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    • Liz:

      The low corner window and high side window seem to me to be a clear indication that there is a sleeping loft on the right side.

      I had no trouble finding the video. It is smack dab in the middle of the homepage of the “Green Mountain College website” linked to in the article above. (It’s too bad there is a JPG of the video in the article, which is confusing. It should either be eliminated or turned into a link to the actual video.)

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  4. Wow liz u r so negative! I love that these kids did this and what a wonderful job! Keep up the good work! Love that all was recycled, we could use more of this creativity! Rock on!

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  5. I like the look of this place, that siding is great and I really like the front door with the two side windows. I’d like to see inside too, especially how the loft area works. Dunno if I could handle the math for the corner dipping roof and slanted walls but as this was a student project it probably added enough complexity to make it interesting for them and test their skills.

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  6. Any video of the inside that includes the loft? What does the view look like when looking out of the corner window? What is the view when looking into the loft?

    I don’t know why but when I read about little house or shelters and they only have outside photos, I feel jipped. The story isn’t complete! lol My inquiring mind wants to know! (And, yes I drove my mom crazy as a child.)

    I think it is because I study each house, what I like and dis-like about each one.

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