Jeffery Broadhurst's Shack at Hinkle Farm
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 7.08
Image Credit: Anice Hoachlander/HD Photo
Architect Jeffery Broadhurst built this lovely little shack for his family n a 27-acre mountaintop property in West Virginia. According to Christopher Kieran in Architectural Record, "The convivial occupation of the shack echoes the nature of its construction. Broadhurst’s friends and neighbors helped him assemble it, using products pulled from the shelves of a home-improvement retailer. Simple board-and-batten siding and a standing-seam, terne-coated steel roof sits atop a wood platform supported by four pressure-treated pine posts. Inside the shack, you can see between the floor planks to the ground below. Rodent barriers, like those used to protect local corn cribs, arm the platform’s underside."
It has all kinds of simple but effective off-grid systems- oil lamps, wood stove, and gravity fed water system using a bilge pump to move water to a tank on the roof.
"The shack is refreshing for its simplicity and accessible do it yourself systems, but don't mistake it for a glorified clubhouse. Climbing into the house's one room, you experience a quickening rush as the trim walls seem to expand and West Virginia's steep slopes become part of the space." ::Architectural Record and ::Materialicious
Doesn't look wery green to me. Pressure treated lunber, lead roof (following the link:"lead-tin alloy of approximately 92% lead and 8% tin. ")
There is no way it could be used in the winter time with all the open spots to let in the cold air and snow.
Having my own place in WV I was interested in this but I want something that will actually a green construction.
my mom would feel she was in heaven to be there; she has long dreamed of a tiny place in the mountains.
So a guy goes to home depot, buys some building supplies; among them, poison-soaked wood. He then takes it up into the mountains in a place where only destructive off road vehicles can reach, and builds a getaway shack which is unsealed and uninsulated and usable only for recreational use during the warmer months of the year, every time driving out and back on off road vehicles. How is this sustainable or ecologically sound?
Very cool idea. Simple, low-cost, great view!
But that rain barrel on the side collects water from the roof which is coated with terne, an alloy which is 92% lead. US Steel doesn't say anything about its suitability for this purpose. It seems to be marketing it for industrial or mechanical use (like an oil pan for an engine). I wonder just how much the architect knows about the materials in use here.
I'm familiar with this property and the shack and I know that you don't have to have an off road vehicle to get there. it helps, but its not necessary because theres a well maintained dirt road running to the property. and also, the posts are not CCA treated, their treated with copper azole so there's no arsenic leaking in to the ground. also, it is not a led roof. it is a kynar painted roof. while its true the shack not practical for the winter, you can use it in spring summer and fall.
Lovely idea and design. As for the ecologically minded...stop ruining nice thoughts like this with your liberal stupidity. Where's the harm in living like you want. There's no sign of any problem with how things are taken care of here, don't invent one.