Spec House 001
Boone, North Carolina
Affordable housing is a problem in Boone, North Carolina due to the numerous students and tourists that consume most of the reasonably priced houses. However, the client of Spec House 001 determined it necessary to build low cost, contemporary houses for average people and used this project as his first of many responses to the crisis. Comprised of 1600 heated square feet, Spec House 001 is situated on a virtually unbuildable lot that includes a very steep slope and a limited buildable area. The awkward constraints coupled with the minimal budget forced the design to be simple. As a result, the plain form finds expression through the elimination of finished layers, which reveal built-up wooden trusses, columns, and beams. Clad in local white pine siding and corrugated Galvalume roofing, the three bedroom and three bath house abstracts rural vernacular elements and forms in an effort to be contextual as well as affordable.
