Developing Skills and Designing Affordable Homes in the Community

This is not the first student-designed house plan to come from the academic-community partnership between Habitat for Humanity of Addison County, Middlebury College Architectural Studies, and McLeod Architects. The collaboration began in 2017, when Habitat for Humanity volunteer and Middlebury alumnus Ashley Caldwell ’70 approached Associate Professor John McLeod, founder of Middlebury-based McLeod Architects, with the idea of having college students design Habitat homes. McLeod considered the proposal, “I said, I just have one caveat… it has to be a true design experience. It can’t be playtime or pretend architecting where we just spit out cookie-cutter stuff.” Caldwell agreed, as did the college administration, which fully backed the course and provided robust support. Now, seven years later, the partnership underpinning the Habitat Design Studio is going strong, giving students an opportunity for hands-on learning while bringing good design to affordable housing. “We’re designing the 11th house,” says McLeod, “[the Habitat homes] have won design awards, they’ve been published, while also being some of the most energy-efficient housing stock being built in Vermont and serving the needs of some well-deserving families in our community.” 

Mica Bodkins ’26, an Architectural Studies and Environmental Studies major currently participating in the studio, was among the exhibitors at the Spring Symposium. Bodkins has been part of the project since the conceptual phase began in the fall. After taking Introduction to Architectural Design and Intermediate Architectural Design, she was drawn to the opportunity because of the unique connections to the Middlebury community embedded in the course: “Having a real-world experience, especially at a liberal arts college, is really special and something that students, even at more technical schools, don’t get the opportunity to do.” 

The first semester of the Design Studio includes between 12 to 14 students, while the class size for the spring semester is half that.  The smaller group in the spring term learns to use a high-powered professional software called Revit to draw and document the building design, a time-intensive undertaking reserved for only those students who are wholly committed to the experience and its results. “These guys are basically practicing architecture–under the guidance of a licensed architect, of course–without having gone to a professional architecture school, much less gotten licensed,” says McLeod, “[It] is a very hands-on process and when it gets to that level of sophistication and advancement, it just can’t happen with one professor and 12 students.” The reduction in students from term to term reflects the high level of professor-student interaction and the degree of coordination required among students that would otherwise not be feasible with a larger group. 

Working collaboratively in the Habitat Design Studio is a key departure from the hypothetical, individualized projects students complete in their prerequisite architecture courses. Bodkins recognizes that being a part of a team can be challenging for some students, but that aspect of this experience is something she finds most valuable. “I think people have different skills and that’s what makes design really cool…Your idea is not always going to fly with everyone else, even if you think it’s great, and that’s part of compromising. And I think we’ve come to something really beautiful, all together.”

Bodkins looks forward to seeing their work come together in the construction phase, slated to start in May 2026, the same month as her graduation. If the timing works out, she plans to join the building crew. “I think that’s one thing that’s super important in architecture that’s been kind of lost, is having that connection between the design process and actual constructability,” says Bodkins. “I’m excited to stay and work with the Habitat volunteers.”

This awareness of the importance of community engagement is not only foundational to the Habitat Design Studio experience, but it is also part of McLeod’s overall approach to architecture outside of the classroom: that good design should be accessible to everyone. It’s called Architecture for All. “And yes,” explains McLeod, “that includes privileged people, but it  also means families who can’t afford market rate housing, and even chickens who need a house, too,” referring to some chicken coops that McLeod Architects and a team of students designed and built for a school in Maine. ”It’s the ethos of our firm, and it’s the ethos, I think, of Middlebury Architectural Studies, most exemplified in the Habitat program…. It’s this idea of serving all, serving the community, serving society.” In the spring of 2024, McLeod organized a symposium at the college by the same name, bringing together internationally and locally recognized architects, students, and the general public for five days of presentations and events centered around the practice of architecture for the betterment of society.  

Understanding how to make architecture accessible to all people, no matter their socio-economic status, has made a lasting impact on Bodkins. “We’re going against that narrative and showing that architecture can be used for public buildings and lower-income housing.” Working with Habitat, she reflects, has opened her eyes to another realm of the discipline and her understanding of who architecture is for and the needs it can address.

While the technical skills learned through participation in the Habitat Design Studio were abundantly evident from the display at Bicentennial Hall, the renderings and models represented just a fraction of what students gained from the project. From making construction documents to meeting building codes, acquiring permits, and presenting to clients, to staying on schedule and budget, all while collaborating with a design team, they acquired a depth of knowledge and insight into the profession of architecture only a hands-on, real-life experience could offer. For the client, Habitat for Humanity of Addison County, the collaboration provides more than just another blueprint for a home; it expands the scope of the organization’s mission and vision to do good for the community. Says McLeod, “Not only are they delivering affordable housing, but they’re participating in the education of the next generation.”