Blacksburg, Virginia — This small residence and office for an author began as a reaction to the site, a field of plinths remaining from a former trailer park. The forgotten thresholds inspired a design based on the rotation of the trailer typology into a compact vertical housing prototype. The project questions the impermanence of the typical "mobile" home, subverting the standard orientation in favor of an "in-situ" home that touches the earth with it's short dimension.

The tower was constructed to re-imagine the concrete slabs on the site as a vertical translation of the footprint in a stack, and circulation was left outside to maximize interior space. The exterior stair configuration also allowed the discovery of a new entrance on each level, redefining the idea of the front door. Heavy concrete screen walls and aluminum siding over light steel framing provide an honest materiality that was chosen to respect the cost-effective heritage of the American mobile home.