Yellow Barn Music School PowerPods

Location: Putney, Vermont
Square Footage: 500
Number of Modules: 2 (per powerpod)
Completion Date: June 2008

The PowerPod is a modular green building with about 500 sq ft of living space and 8 pods were installed for The Yellow Barn Music School in Putney, VT.

From the outside, the most distinguishing feature of the PowerPod is its roof line, designed for both passive and active solar energy. Called the Solar Butterfly, the sloping roof allows sunlight in for heating and lighting during the winter months. The shorter south-facing roof holds a solar electric array and a hot water heating system. With windows that go up to the ceiling, natural daylight reaches about half of the indoor space. The high windows, made from recyclable aluminum and glass, also provide cooling and ventilation during the summer. The overhang on the front of the house is supposed to provide shade during the summer months and still let light in during the winter. The building’s designers are aiming to create an aesthetically pleasing space that has many green features. For example, the floor and baseboards are made from bamboo. The clapboards on the outside are made from sustainably forested wood and were milled locally. The building uses a combination of LED, Halogen and compact fluorescent lighting.

The PowerPod is designed to be transportable on a flatbed truck and installed without a crane. The entire building is made at the factory and folds up for shipment. Once it arrives at its destination, it can be dropped onto supports and hooked up to utility and water lines. Installation takes two or three days.

Between the solar electric array, the solar hot-water system and other features like insulated walls, the designers say that the PowerPod can be 80 percent more efficient than a typical home.