Design-build architects are trained not just to envision a home or structure, but to build it themselves and to improvise based on their on-site experiences.

For years this movement centered around Prickly Mountain in Warren. A handful of visionary young architects moved to Vermont’s Mad River Valley in the 1960s to explore the more creative and experimental aspects of homebuilding. 

Waitsfield filmmaker Allie Rood grew up in and around Prickly Mountain homes. Her feature-length documentary, “Prickly Mountain, and My Design/Build Life,” premiered last fall. It won the best documentary award at Vermont Public’s Made Here Film Festival.

There are many local architects who were inspired by the work of Prickly Mountain. We learn about the design-build movement of today with Britton Rogers, executive director of Yestermorrow in Waitsfield, and Danny Sagan, architecture professor at Norwich University.