Norris' Low Impact Tiny House
Donation protected
We are engineering students from James Madison University working on our two-year long capstone project. This project involves working with a local non-profit organization, New Community Project, to design and build a tiny house for a housing insecure individual in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Our capstone team would greatly appreciate your finacial support in making this project possible!
Project Abstract
The tiny house movement is a trend in the US to create a sustainable house smaller than 400ft2. These houses come in a variety of styles such as permanent structures or moveable trailers, which opens up numerous possibilities for design. The capstone team’s project scope is to design, build, and test a sustainable tiny house for a housing-insecure individual living in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Sustainability entails three pillars: socially sustainable, economically sustainable and environmentally sustainable. The goal is to create an easily adaptable house for future residents with little to no operational and maintenance costs, and use eco-friendly materials, renewable energies, and low-impact design to reduce the home’s environmental footprint. The team is using AutoCAD to create conceptual designs based on the 2012 Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and the Harrisonburg Municipal Code. As outlined in the Harrisonburg Municipal Code, the tiny house will be able to be moved from different zones, including R-1 Single-Family Residential District, R-2 Residential District and M-1 General Industry District, to suit the needs of future residents. These concepts were presented to the team’s sponsor and client to ensure the stakeholders’ needs and wants will be satisfied. The team hopes this project will provide a model for future James Madison University engineering students as well as other individuals who are interested in following the tiny house movement for economic, environmental, or other reasons.
Project Abstract
The tiny house movement is a trend in the US to create a sustainable house smaller than 400ft2. These houses come in a variety of styles such as permanent structures or moveable trailers, which opens up numerous possibilities for design. The capstone team’s project scope is to design, build, and test a sustainable tiny house for a housing-insecure individual living in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Sustainability entails three pillars: socially sustainable, economically sustainable and environmentally sustainable. The goal is to create an easily adaptable house for future residents with little to no operational and maintenance costs, and use eco-friendly materials, renewable energies, and low-impact design to reduce the home’s environmental footprint. The team is using AutoCAD to create conceptual designs based on the 2012 Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code and the Harrisonburg Municipal Code. As outlined in the Harrisonburg Municipal Code, the tiny house will be able to be moved from different zones, including R-1 Single-Family Residential District, R-2 Residential District and M-1 General Industry District, to suit the needs of future residents. These concepts were presented to the team’s sponsor and client to ensure the stakeholders’ needs and wants will be satisfied. The team hopes this project will provide a model for future James Madison University engineering students as well as other individuals who are interested in following the tiny house movement for economic, environmental, or other reasons.
Organizer
Marilyn Lehmuller
Organizer
Harrisonburg, VA