OPEN_1

Crotched Mountain > Community > OPEN_1                                                                             

The strategic vision for the future of our Greenfield campus calls for creation of neighborhoods of mutual support. These neighborhoods will be home to a diversity of people including students attending the Crotched Mountain School, employees and their families, clients from the Brain Injury Center continuing their rehabilitation in a community setting, and people of all walks of life who want to live in an intentional community that embodies principles of life sharing and co-housing.  For the past few years we have begun to create more diverse opportunities for residential support and living on campus. Apartment buildings that once housed only staff, now have a mixed population of staff and clients living side by side.

Download a documentary about the OPEN_1  Prototype Home

Some of the group homes on Fox Meadow Lane are now homes for adults. We have reduced the number of students living in our group residences. Our own construction crew is renovating these homes and adding new amenities such as porches is well underway.

Crotched Mountain's first step towards this vision began with a partnershp  with Bensonwood Homes, an enlightened home builder from Walpole, NH and the MIT Open Source Building Alliance, based in its School of Architecture, the campus was the site of the first of a series of custom built prototype homes designed to demonstrate revolutionary design and building concepts.

Called the Open Prototype Initiative, the first house, Open_1, serves as the transitional home for clients leaving the Brain Injury Center. The architect and designer of the home, Eli Gould of Bensonwood Homes, worked closely with a team of therapists from the Brain Injury Center to accomplish multiple goals.

• The house is highly accessible using universal design principles. An elevator allows residents to move between the ground, first and second floors. Cabinets, designed by Pompanoosuc Mills, have pull-down features so that someone using a wheelchair can reach them. Counter tops and tables are at accessible heights. There are accessible appliences in the home such as doors that swing to the left or right. The bathrooms allow for wheelchair access and the ground floor bath features a Parker tub.
• Open_1 promotes good health. The structure and components incorporate systems to monitor and measure indoor air quality. Excessive moisture is reduced through careful ventilation. The house will be built with materials that do not give off harmful gases. Natural lighting is featured in all rooms.
• Open_1  has high levels of energy efficiency and sustainability. The house was built using "green" building practices to reduce energy use.

Open_1 demonstrates how a home can be adapted to changing needs as people's mobility or health varies over time.

Open_1 is the first in a series of four prototype homes that Bensonwood Homes plans to build over the next five years to demonstrate how "open building" concepts can be applied to the home construction industry. This will allow for more standardization in building components, reduced costs and customization. More information about the Open Prototype Project can be found on the website www.openprototype.com.

Open_1 was assembled on the Crotched Mountain campus in June of 2006 in only 20 days.

"A House For Crotched Mountain"	Watch this documentary on how the OPEN_1 Prototype house was built. Please Note: A highspeed Internet connection is needed to view this video.
The OPEN Prototype Initiative Website	Use this link to learn more about the OPEN_1 Prototype project.
OPEN_1 Snapshots	Review photos of the OPEN_1 prototype home as it was being constructed.
OPEN_1 Building Plans	View and print a .pdf document of the architectural drawings for Crotched Mountain's Open Prototype home.
OPEN Prototype	OPEN Prototype, led by the MIT Open Source Building Alliance (OSBA) and Bensonwood Homes (BWH), will allow industrial partners to work together to create smarter, more efficient homes, appliances, and components. This initiative brings together advanced academic research prototypes, with sophisticated commercial design and production processes. View and print a .pdf document that describes Bensonwood's Open-Built home construction process.
Newsroom	View and print news stories and press releases about the OPEN_1 Prototype project.
Bensonwood	For more than thirty years, Bensonwood has delivered uncompromising quality and innovation in every timberframe structure we design and build. We can provide complete custom design, timber engineering and consulting services, or a new home designed from our QuickHome process.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology - House_n	The mission of MIT is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. View and print a .pdf document which describes OPEN Prototype Initiative project between Bensonwood Homes and MIT.
Directions	Come visit our Campus in Greenfield, NH anytime. Please call ahead for a tour of the construction site.
Contact Information	Michael Redmond Crotched Mountain 603-547-3311, ext 1479 1 Verney Drive 603-547-3232(fax) Greenfield, NH 03047 marketing@crotchedmountain.org