In October 2012, Matthew Agrella-Sevilla, a TimberHomes employee for nearly two
years, completed his Certificate in Sustainable Design and Build through Yestermorrow
School in Warren, Vermont. The certificate involved taking the touchstone course,
Ecological Design in the Built Environment, as well as several week-long and weekend
courses. Matthew’s culminating practicum presentation was an in-depth study of
TimberHomes’s business model. His project focused not only on the financial bottom
line, but on the environmental and social bottom lines as well.
A big thank you goes out to Stephen Doig of The Rocky Mountain Institute who was
Matthew’s advisor and helped him focus his energy and areas of study. Matthew is
also grateful to the TimberHomes owners – Sean, Timo, Josh, and Sean – who openly
shared their business models and company philosophy to make Matthew’s practicum
possible.
In the process of completing the certificate, Matthew designed and built a treehouse
largely from repurposed material for clients in Brevard, North Carolina. He fell in love
with the treehouses and their sustainable construction! Check out the picture of the
North Carolina treehouse project.
Classes Matthew took in order to complete the certificate:
• Ecological Design in the Built Environment
• Designing for Deconstruction and Reconstruction
• Sustainable Treehouse Design and Build
• Introduction to Timber Framing
• The Art of Building
• Advanced Timber Framing
• Stump to Sticker
• Green Remodeling
• Super Insulation for Net Zero Building
• Hygro-Thermal Engineering: Managing moisture in the home
• Introduction to Structural Engineering
• Re-inventing Small Business
Treehouse!
