The Butter Hut

This the house I designed and built after having my tiny house rejected by the local building department. it turns out the minimum size for a house in this county is 1200 square feet. The Butter Hut is 1201 square feet.

The site was originally considered unbuildable because of setbacks, and the huge rocks of a 12,000 year old moraine. Hence the original idea for a tiny home with a light footprint.

The house sits on stilts on a slope overlooking a lazy waterfall. The area flooded during Sandy, so the stilts are a practical move, but also give the place the feeling of a treehouse, perched in the forest canopy.

Four hundred square feet of bookshelves hold books that have been in storage for years. The kitchen s carved out of a large central element that anchors the house to its site, and also provides privacy for the sleeping loft above.

Made with super-simple materials (white pine, quarry tile, cedar) it achieves a sense of grandeur through bold proportions that are the antidote to a small apartment in NYC. It is passively cooled, taking advantage of naturally cool air on the waterfall outside.