where we are
Rocky Hill Cohousing will be built in a village of Northampton known as Florence, with its own small town center complete with post office, diner, pizza parlor, and hardware store. Northampton itself, home of Smith College, is 5 minutes away. Northampton has been called the #1 Small Arts Town in America, and boasts an enormous variety of restaurants, boutiques, bookstores, and art galleries. We are located on Interstate 91 in the Pioneer Valley region of Western Massachusetts. The land itself is lightly wooded with a great sledding hill, and is neighbor to Pathways Cohousing.
land
We have a 27 acres site consisting of mostly new growth forest with some wetlands. We plan to develop approximately 25% of this land and leave the rest as open space. The property has lots of mountain laurel, sweet fern, wild blueberry, and a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees.
site plan
Click on the map below to view a larger version.
architecture
We have designed 3 basic unit types, which can be varied and expanded to accommodate from one to five or more bedrooms. All but 2 of our 28 units are duplexes, each pair connected by a single story "link" which many of us plan to use as a shared mudroom. Some of us will divide the link and use it as extra interior space. All units will be built the entrance doors no more than 10-12" above grade so they can be easily and inexpensively ramped for wheelchair access. Images and floor plans coming...
energy efficiency
We have chosen to upgrade our insulation envelope, and will take extra steps towards sealing leaks. We expect our homes will exceed Energy Star standards by approximately 15-25%. As a group we have focused on green strategies which offer the highest return on our investment dollar. Some options, such as geothermal wells, are not appropriate for our site. Photovoltaic panels are too costly for most of our budgets, however we have prepared designs that can provide south-facing roof planes, optimally oriented and inclined - free of vents, chimneys, etc. and ideal for present or future installations of solar conversion technologies such as photo voltaic panels and solar hot water systems. |
