![From left] Harlan Cleveland, Paul Ehrlich, and George Mitchell at the Third Woodlands Conference, 1979. Schmandt, v.](https://cdn.filepicker.io/api/file/jgmEsR1zToCmPLEZ2gQq/convert?fit=max&format=jpg&h=&quality=95&w=408&compress=true&fit=max)
Student Work
Title
Thin House
Project Description
The Thin House is a prototype for non-conforming narrow lots that sit vacant in New Haven. By reducing the interior width of the ground floor to 10 feet, a generous side yard can continue along the length of the dwelling. Outdoor living and dining spaces occupy this yard and serve as an extension of their interior counterparts. Upstairs, wider bedrooms cantilever overhead, producing shelter and highlighting the different zones that exist in this continuous outdoor space. Restricting bedroom glazing to east- and west-facing surfaces protects occupants from neighboring glances while focusing views down the lot toward a lush back yard. Continuous stud walls form the body of the house but shed their sheathing as they move outward, becoming porches, fences, and trellis in the landscape.
By committing to a thin enclosure and allowing program to spill outside, the house maximizes its outdoor space. Thinness is perceived as thickness.