By Scott A. Sabol, P.E.

On October 24, 2023, Stowe Electric Department held a design charrette at the Green Mountain Technical & Career Center in Hyde Park to get engineering and architecture ideas for their renovations of two historic structures in Moscow, Vermont. Students from Vermont State University’s Architectural Engineering Technology and Renewable Energy programs joined Norwich University, University of Vermont, and Stowe High School students in multidisciplinary teams to brainstorm ideas on how to convert a vacant office building into a useful energy-efficient space that can accommodate conference room and working spaces plus a power-outage command center.  AIAVT members volunteered with other design professionals and professors to help the student teams develop ideas for improved aesthetics, room layout, energy efficiency, and ADA compliance for the building. The groups also looked at how to incorporate renewable energy, as well as ways to improve the site layout for parking, EV charging, and stormwater management.

Teams included ideas useful to Stowe Electric that also would benefit the community, including possible river access for recreation, possible inclusion of a small coffee shop, and ways to highlight the historic nature of the building and adjacent mill. Significant improvements to entryways, inclusion of appropriate restrooms, and leveling an uneven roofline were among the many ideas the students developed.

Teams reported out results to the entire group, which included members of the local historic society, and that information is being used by university students in various senior capstone and other course projects this academic year.  The effort was sponsored, in part, through AIAVT assistance and a Carol Miklos Community Outreach Grant.

All participants enjoyed the event, and Stowe Electric seemed pleased with the results.