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Woodland Skills: A pair of eco-minded architects build a house on a platform in the Catkills watershed, Dwell, May/ June 2019.
Their goal to preserve as many trees as possible while leaving the land and water flows undisturbed was coupled with their desire to build a house that consumed minimal energy—perhaps even giving back to the grid. After surveying the land and constructing a small studio on the site, they chose a plot toward the top of the slope, away from the streams, where they could place the septic field. They cleared a spot with a preponderance of ash trees, which were already threatened by an infestation of emerald ash borers in the state, and reluctantly sacrificed a large white pine that was in danger of toppling.