The BrightBuilt Barn is an attempt to push the envelope of sustainable design. It is the practical outcome of an in-depth collaboration between Kaplan Thompson Architects, Bensonwood Woodworking Company, a Who’s-Who team of Maine’s green engineers, and a visionary client to create a super green, offsite fabricated net-zero building that can be adapted and replicated over time. Designers, building fabricators, high performance building experts and solar energy professionals from all over the northeast have participated in the project.

The building has a small but adaptable initial purpose – it will serve as a working studio for the client, or can be configured as a one or two-bedroom unit. With large intentions, its mission is to demonstrate an alternative method of building that allows a level of flexibility and sustainability beyond the reach of typical residential construction. The unit being fabricated and erected in the summer of 2008 is a prototype with production of successive versions potentially available for purchase by 2010; at a square foot cost equivalent to the average small American home.

From its inception, the design of the BrightBuilt Barn has been driven by five guiding principles: Livability, Sustainability, Replicability & Affordability, Disentanglement, and Education. More on these guiding principles is offered later.