• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

South Mountain Company

Martha’s Vineyard’s integrated design/build company

  • What we do
    • Process & Practice
    • Architecture & Engineering
    • Building
    • Interior Design
    • Solar & Energy Technology
  • Who we are
    • Our Team
    • The Company
    • Martha’s Vineyard
    • Beyond our Shores
    • Our History
    • Our Model
    • Careers
    • Internships
  • Portfolio
    • Residential
    • Non-Residential
    • Solar & Energy Technology
    • Affordable Housing
  • Media
    • Newsletter
    • Press Archive
    • Blog Archive
  • Contact
  • Search

Dear Reader,
This blog is now an archive. John Abrams (Founder of South Mountain, author of this blog, and a book of the same name) retired on December 31, 2022. All posts published up until this date are preserved below.

For updates on John's next chapter, visit abramsangell.com.

For updates on South Mountain's second act, subscribe to our newsletter using the form below.

M-Line Homes

By John Abrams | April 25, 2017

In 1980 a woman named Madeline Blakeley asked me to look at a piece of land with her. She was a librarian in her early sixties whose husband had recently died. They had no children and had always lived in rented apartments. Her dream was to own a piece of property.

She had $7,000 in cash. A realtor showed her a lot priced at exactly that, but her friends advised her against buying it. The lot fell steeply south to a sweet little valley, a perfectly matched solar exposure and view, but it was right beside the main road from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown, which was very loud. Except for that proximity and the fact that the whole lot was a hillside, it was lovely. There was nothing else on Martha’s Vineyard even close to her price range.

I suggested that we could cut and fill and build an earth-bermed, partially underground house. “The southern orientation aims away from the road just enough, and the berming would dull the noise as long as the house doesn’t open to that side. We can design the traffic right out of this scene!” She was excited. Even though she didn’t imagine she could afford to build anything at all, the idea that the land could eventually be sensibly used was appealing. I didn’t tell her that we didn’t – at the time – actually know how to properly build an earth-integrated house.

She bought the property.

Soon after, we learned that the Farmer’s Home Administration had a rural housing program with 1% interest loans for low and moderate income people. She qualified. Would they finance a passive solar earth-integrated house for Madeline? We completed plans, submitted them to Farmer’s Home and requested that they raise the mortgage limit from $40,000 to $48,000 due to the promise of carefully analyzed and documented energy savings. After extensive bureaucratic wrangling the increase was approved.

The house was built (we learned!). Madeline’s dream was realized. She and her dog moved in and lived there for many years. In a state of rapture.

Blakely-Ext-001-1024x687

Blakely-Int-001-1024x686

In 2010 she died, and and within her very small estate were two bequests to SMCo, one to do an educational solar demonstration (which, I am embarrassed to say, we’re still working on – that’s a long story that I’ll tell when it’s finally done) and one to do something for affordable housing on the Vineyard.

The size of the affordable housing bequest did not allow us to actually build anything, so we decided to use it for design: to create several ready-to-build home designs to be made available free-of-charge to first time homeowners and housing organizations. The objective was to fill the need for high performance, high quality, exceptionally well designed homes that can be affordably built on Martha’s Vineyard, without such houses having to be custom-designed each time. It was to be our modest contribution – our local piece – of the remarkable efforts that are happening today to match quality, performance, and affordability in modular homes (like BrightBuilt Homes) and panelized homes (like Unity Homes). Our version would be stick-built.

In honor of Madeline, we abbreviated her name, and the project became known as M-line Homes.

Our goal was to generate complete plan sets that would serve a variety of site conditions and incorporate all the good things houses should have in the 21st century. You know, like:

A healthy and comfortable indoor environment by using natural, non-toxic materials and finishes and heat-recovery ventilation
All electric “Net Zero Possible” performance with solar electric system
A super-insulated and exceptionally well-sealed building envelope
Simple, affordable and understandable mechanical, plumbing and building systems that are easily operated and maintained
Durable low maintenance materials with no painted exterior surfaces
High efficiency plumbing fixtures or composting toilets to conserve water
Good natural daylighting to reduce electric use during daylight hours
Clean, comfortable and timeless aesthetics.
All those things.

We developed concepts. One of our SMCo Architects, Matt Coffey. took the lead. The first home built in this program was two stories with three bedrooms, located on a sloping site with a tight building envelope. It was completed in April 2012 for a family in Aquinnah.

Aquinnah-image-01

Aquinnah-image-02-1024x768

Aquinnah-image-03

Matt modified and expanded the plan into several iterations appropriate for varying site conditions. In the summer of 2012, the Island Housing Trust, our local land trust, held a design/build competition for two homes on a wooded lot in West Tisbury. After submitting the winning entry, South Mountain had an opportunity to develop the design and build several of the one story, three-bedroom version of the M-Line Home.

IHT-image-04-1024x682

The fourth iteration was a modification for a previously existing foundation in West Tisbury and the fifth version was for my daughter Sophie.

Sophie-image-05-1024x682

We are now beginning number six for an electrical contractor who does most of our electrical work.

It’s a pleasure to watch the design evolve. Iterations have new aspirations. Slight changes have large impacts. The design is like a flowering vine – it keeps climbing and each bloom is different. Or like somebody’s tricked-out hobby truck; we keep tinkering to get it right or to fit the site or to fit the wishes of the latest owner/occupant.

I wonder where M-Line’s next appearance will be. Want one? Or maybe more?

______________________________________________

My last post, way back in May (sad to say) made this query: “most people, when they respond to my blog posts, e-mail me directly rather than commenting on the blog for all to see. I love getting responses either way, so don’t hesitate, but I am curious about why most people choose to do it that way. I’d like to learn. Let me know.”

Several people wrote to me and said that from time to time they are moved to respond to me, because they know me, but are not interested in public dialogue. I get it, and I appreciate.

But Anne Alexander wrote, to the blog: “I think the problem is you put the whole post in your email, so clicking “reply” (via email) is the most natural thing for many to do. If you only post half the post and then [read more here] with the link to your blog, you’ll get more comments.”

Thanks for that Anne. You’re pointing to a deficiency, I think, in the form of the communication, and the way people are led to respond by what they receive. Doing it as you suggest might cause more people to go to the blog, rather than just reading the e-mailed post and hitting “reply” (to me).

So . . . we happen to be smack in the middle of the grueling task of re-designing and re-making our website and blog (hey what was wrong with those nice little static brochures 25 years ago??) and we will re-program the blog so it does just what Anne says!

Onward.

Categories: Design, Energy, Housing, Martha's Vineyard, South Mountain Company Tags: anne alexanders, bright built homes, farmer's home administration, Island Housing Trust, matt coffey, unity homes

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

sidebar

Footer

UPS/Fedex

15 Red Arrow Road
West Tisbury, MA 02575

USPS

Post Office Box 1260
West Tisbury, MA 02575

Call/Email

508.693.4850

info@southmountain.com

Subscribe

Follow Us

  • Instagram
  • Houzz
  • Pinterest