H H Richardson And The Suburban Subdivision
H H Richardson is best known for his Romanesque revival style, where the massive, bulky elements of medieval Romanesque architecture...
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VRT Resimercial Design Theory
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A Terrain-Adaptive Housing System Designed for Real Life
At its simplest, the Micro-Compound is a housing system designed to solve three persistent problems at once: affordability, adaptability, and land efficiency. It does so without architectural compromise—and now without being limited to flat sites. The system is fully engineered for lots with slopes of up to 10% , allowing deployment across the majority of residential land that conventional designs exclude. The Design Premise Most housing is designed for a single moment in lif
robert carpenter
Jan 143 min read
At 3 AM the only sound you’ll hear in your Micro-Compound… is rent paying your mortgage.
The most adaptable home ever engineered. When Frank Lloyd Wright angled living spaces to expand the mind, we listened.When Mies van der Rohe aligned glass walls with landscape, we listened.Then we asked a single question: What if intelligence in architecture wasn’t carved in stone…but transformed with life itself? So we designed two precision-built homes on one fee-simple lot , each with its own private courtyard, storage, and parking, and engineered them to sleep eleven
robert carpenter
Nov 29, 20252 min read
Why This 40' x 27' Courtyard Doublewide Beats Every “Missing Middle” ADU on the Block
If you’ve ever looked at backyard ADUs, “gentle density,” or Missing Middle zoning and thought, There has to be a smarter way, you’re right. This is that way. We call it the NextGen Courtyard Doublewide™ :a 40' x 27' modern Mies/Farnsworth–inspired home on a 70' x 45' lot that: Sleeps up to 7 people comfortably Uses less land per person than typical ADU-in-the-back schemes And can, in many cases, pay its own mortgage 1. The Living Room That Sells the Whole Idea Most doub
robert carpenter
Nov 17, 20255 min read
🚫 The Trailer Park Killer 🚫
Why the Micro-Compound is the Future of Manufactured Housing For decades, the phrase “trailer park” has been synonymous with stigma. Rows...
robert carpenter
Sep 6, 20253 min read
The $150K Villa: Why Rent an Apartment?
The $150K Villa That Makes Apartments Obsolete For decades, we’ve been told the same story: if you want affordability, you have to rent...
robert carpenter
Aug 21, 20253 min read
The DoubleWide SingleWide Courtyard Combo
1. Lot Geometry and Density Math We’re talking about a tiny lot : Lot size: 65’ × 78’ = 5,070 sq. ft. ≈ 0.116 acres Occupancy capacity:...
robert carpenter
Aug 20, 20252 min read
Reimagining the Singlewide: A Synthesis of Wright, Antiquity, and the Garden Square
The American housing crisis demands not merely cost-effective shelter, but a re-enchantment of affordable living, an architecture that...
robert carpenter
Jul 31, 20253 min read
Introducing the El Centro 40’ x 27’
“Don’t tell me it’s affordable. Show me it lives like a $2 million flat in Echo Park.” — David Ogilvy (if he sold homes in 2025)...
robert carpenter
Jul 15, 20252 min read
The Best ADU Ever Made? We Think So.
Let’s be honest: most ADUs feel like an afterthought. Bare-bones. Spartan. Cold. A box with plumbing. Not this one. Introducing the...
robert carpenter
Jul 13, 20251 min read
The El Centro Manufactured House / ADU Combo: Where Smart Design Meets Affordable Ownership
A major trend in urban design today is the splitting of oversized suburban lots to make room for additional housing—most often in the...
robert carpenter
Jul 10, 20252 min read
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