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Live at Village Terraces
Pokeberry Hill Recently completed at Village Terraces is a state-of-the-art residence combining the best in green building and sustainable passive-solar construction. Lee (Finch) and Martha occupy the lower level of the duplex while co-owerns Bob and Debbie live in the second floor unit. Known as "Pokeberry Hill," the building has an advanced passive solar design and is built of sustainably harvested lumber and other environmentally friendly materials. 95% of the lumber is from Earthaven land. As with all projects by Brian Love and Chris Farmer, the electricity for construction is solar power backed up by a biodiesel generator. In addition, a biodiesel-powered truck is used to transport materials and haul logs for milling into project lumber. AC and DC electricity is provided through the Village Terraces common photovoltaic system as well as a hydro generator. In addition, residents share in the common building and other neighborhood infrastructure, described below.
Each floor includes a super low-emissions wood stove as a back-up heating source. Domestic hot water is supplied both by the boiler and by flat-plate solar hot water collectors. The building also has a roofwater catchment system and is part of the neighborhood graywater system.
The upper floor has 925 heated square feet plus a shared utility room (70 sq ft). It also includes a covered wraparound deck on two sides of the building, two private entrances, and access to attic crawlspace storage. Each unit includes a kitchen with concrete countertops and a full bath. The approximate cost of a similar unit at VT would be about $130,000 finished. A double commonwall site fee would be $12,000 and the Village Terraces common infrastructure fee would be about $32,000, bringing the total to about $174,000. The Village Terraces common infrastructure fee covers costs of clearing, pad excavation, driveways, graveled parking, landscaping, photovoltaic and hydro electricity, wood-fired boiler heat, septic graywater system, roofwater catchment, terraced gardens, common kitchen, common utility room, common living area, common bathroom and indoor composting toilet, common guest room, and more. Because the common infrastructure fee is based partly on square footage, smaller units at Village Terraces would have a lower common infrastructure fee as well as costing less to construct. If you are interested, we can provide additional information such as an overview of Village Terraces common infrastructure, a neighborhood plan, and cost estimates. Email Residents of Village Terraces must be a full members of Earthaven. In addition, in order to settle at Village Terraces, each adult must be a full member of Village Terraces neighborhood.
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Both floors will have radiant floor heating provided through the Village Terraces common wood-fired boiler. The photo at right shows the first floor hydronics before the concrete was poured.
