Front Porch Initiative

The Front Porch Initiative is currently collaborating with 19 housing partners throughout the South, building beautiful, resilient, and efficient homes in urban, suburban, and rural communities. This blog post highlights the team’s work with two of those partners, both of whom have featured the Sylvia’s House product line home. HomeSource East Tennessee (HSET) is located in Knoxville, TN and is part of NeighborWorks America, a federally chartered network of housing development organizations. East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity (ESTHFH), in Slidell, LA, is a Habitat for Humanity affiliate working to rebuild in Slidell where neighborhoods were affected by Hurricanes Katrina, Isaac, and Ida.

HomeSource East Tennessee (HSET) Knoxville, TN

HSET is a long-time affordable housing developer serving the Knoxville area, with a strong track record of community-based development. Through our collaboration, the Front Porch Initiative provided design and technical assistance to support HSET’s delivery of high-performance housing—working alongside their construction team to navigate site constraints, construction detailing, and third-party performance compliance.

At Granville Terrace in Knoxville, HSET developed two Sylvia 3-bedroom/2-bath homes on narrow, steeply sloped, wooded lots. As site conditions became clearer during site preparation, the team adapted the design to capture part of the crawl space as a living area, resulting in a walk-out basement with an additional living room and full bathroom.

The project highlights the on-the-ground challenges of implementing high-performance standards on steeply sloped infill lots. Both homes achieved ENERGY STAR certification. The Granville Terrace projects underscore the importance of early technical assistance, experienced trade partners, and flexible design strategies when balancing performance goals with feasibility—particularly on non-conforming urban lots that are often overlooked but critical to expanding housing supply.

East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity (ESTHFH) Slidell, LA

ESTHFH has several ongoing housing projects in the Alton Community, an unincorporated area of East St. Tammany Parish. The Front Porch Initiative partnered with ESTHFH to provide design and technical assistance as the affiliate sought to move beyond its previous experience with FORTIFIED Roof and pursue both ENERGY STAR and FORTIFIED Gold for Hurricane. Working alongside ESTHFH’s construction team and their local design partner, Clarke’s Design Service, the Front Porch team adapted a Sylvia 3-bedroom / 2-bath prototype to meet local floodplain, wind, and site permitting requirements, while helping align the project with these third-party performance standards.

Starting with two homes as a demonstration, the Alton Development is planning for four homes as the start of a larger housing development in the neighborhood. The initial four small lots are located in a minimal-risk flood zone, requiring the houses to be elevated to meet Base Flood Elevation (BFE) requirements. Because Slidell lies within a hurricane-prone wind area, a state licensed structural engineer was required to certify compliance for permitting and FORTIFIED Gold designation. The Front Porch team provided base drawings and ongoing guidance to establish inspection checkpoints and documentation protocols. Through this process, the project team established expectations early on about the distinct requirements and sequencing differences between ENERGY STAR and FORTIFIED certification.

Construction is now well underway, with the first home dried in and progressing through mechanical, electrical, and insulation, while the second home is working to finish framing and sheathing. Members of the Front Porch team joined volunteers on coordinated build days to interface with the affiliate and community members as well as provide some onsite oversight on key details relative to performance. The Alton Development underscores the value of early technical coordination, experienced trade partners, and upfront engineering review when building to beyond-code standards in high-risk environments. These lessons will directly inform future phases of the development, which will include additional homes and a reconfigured lot layout to further expand affordable, resilient housing in the region.

On October 16-17, 2025, Rural Studio hosted the ACES Housing Forum, a gathering of extension specialists and other Alabama housing experts. ACES, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, is an outreach program that provides education and resources to citizens statewide. In collaboration with Alabama A&M and Tuskegee University, Auburn University works with farmers, communities, youth organizations and other organizations to bring the expertise of universities and help solve the problems of Alabama citizens.

Another aim of ACES is to address housing challenges in underserved communities, so they partnered with Rural Studio to share knowledge and build support networks. Rural Studio’s own Emily Glohn and Betsy Garcia are Auburn Extension Specialists, and they organized the ACES Housing Forum. The meeting brought Rural Studio faculty together with experts in property tax, heirs property, health and wellness, and disaster preparedness. Through two days of meetings, they explored myriad ways in which housing impacts the lives of Alabama citizens—monetarily, physically, and generationally.

Along with hosting, Rural Studio faculty introduced several facets of the Studio’s mission: student projects, the Front Porch Initiative, the Farm, and the Wasterwater Project. Combining the expertise of the extension participants with Rural Studio’s embedded knowledge and experience in West Alabama offers the potential for innovative extension partnerships roots. Emily believes this partnership can help expand Rural Studio’s impact:

The ACES Housing Forum provided the opportunity for Rural Studio’s team, Extension Specialists, and housing experts to collaborate about the needs of Alabama citizens. The meeting strengthened the relationship between Rural Studio and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System by exploring many implications of housing—the rural housing crisis, in particular—and how homes impact people and communities.

One strong connection was homesteading and farming. ACES works with individual homesteaders to better leverage their land for self-sustaining food production. Eric Ball, the Rural Studio Farmer, provided a tour of the Farm and explained how he uses organic methods and natural resources like sunlight and rainwater to grow about 6,000 pounds of produce a year, which provides fresh ingredients for meals served to the Rural Studio community. Rural Studio’s farming techniques may provide strategies for homesteaders in Alabama’s food deserts, communities without regular access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

The Front Porch Initiative team gained valuable insight from experts in heirs property.  Dr. Portia Johnson and Dr. Ryan Thompson from the National Heirs’ Property Research (in collaboration with the Southern Rural Development Center, SRDC) and Dr. Adam Rabinowitz and Dr. Portia Johnson from the Alabama Heirs’ Property Alliance explained the housing challenges of heirs property, which is land that has been inherited over generations to multiple family members who co-own the property, often without the legal benefits of deeds and other ownership documents. The presenters also described the informational resources being provided to Alabama property owners about the ownership and deeding rights of heirs property holders.

Emily sees the ACES Housing Forum as a starting point for more collaboration between Rural Studio, ACES, and other housing specialists: “The two-day event created connections that will lead to future events and collaborations. We look forward to developing this partnership and providing more resources for the citizens of Alabama.”

Longtime Rural Studio partner Chipola Area Habitat for Humanity (CAHFH) recently dedicated two homes in Chipley, Florida. The homes are based on the Sylvia’s House prototype, which has three-bedroom, two-bath and two bedroom, two-bath options. Both prototypes were designed to meet Energy Star 3.2 and Fortified Gold for Hurricane.

By building to these beyond-code standards, CAHFH ensures long-term affordability for homeowners. For example, on one of the homes, Fortified Gold certification will unlock a wind mitigation discount on the insurance premium, reducing the overall premium by more than 40%. Design energy modeling estimates that the home will consume 38% less energy than a typical US home due to the energy improvements incorporated like improved air sealing, a high-performance heating & cooling system, and beyond-code insulation levels. Furthermore, the homes employ durable materials, requiring less maintenance. A reduction of the operations and maintenance costs of the home through intentional design decisions results in a home that is more affordable over time.

Building to beyond-code standards was first piloted on four homes CAHFH previously constructed in Marianna, FL, called the Chipola Street Development. Following completion of those homes in 2022, CAHFH shifted activity to Chipley in adjacent Washington County to serve homebuyer applicants there. Rural Studio began the site planning exercise for the Chipley Heights development in 2023, when CAHFH proposed carving three additional lots out of six existing parcels for a total of nine lots. This undertaking increased neighborhood density and the number of families CAHFH could serve in the area. The pair of homes recently dedicated are the third and fourth homes in Chipley Heights.

In other efforts, CAHFH has continued work on a long-planned subdivision in Marianna, Gillis Ridge, where donated land and city funding has supported site preparation and infrastructure. In 2023, Rural Studio generated site planning for the seven trapezoidal lots around a cul-de-sac, and groundbreaking for the Gillis Ridge subdivision occurred on March 12, 2025. The first three lots are scheduled to be completed this year, including a new prototype, Patriece’s House, designed by a Rural Studio student team. Patriece’s House is a two-story prototype that fits a four-bedroom house within the footprint of a typical two-bedroom home. This design enables the affiliate to increase utilization of small lots unable to accommodate their standard four-bedroom design.

In mid-May, three members of our team—Mackenzie Stagg, Laurel Holloway, and Betsy Farrell Garcia—gladly participated in the affiliate’s annual Women Build event. Women Build volunteers framed walls and assembled cabinets for the second and third homes in Gillis Ridge. As part of the day’s programming, our team provided a presentation about the applied research of Rural Studio, the history of our CAHFH partnership, and the new house prototype, Patriece’s House. As a member of the student team that designed and built the original home in Greensboro, Laurel provided a brief overview of Patriece’s, including how the living spaces can be subdivided into two attached units as family space needs change. Many thanks to CAHFH for inviting our team to participate in an inspiring and productive Women Build event. We look forward to seeing these Gillis Ridge homes complete!

Auburn University’s Mackenzie Stagg has been selected to be part of the 12-person cohort of researchers for the 2025 Academy for the Public Scholarship on the Built Environment: HOUSING EQUITY. Mackenzie is a research faculty member in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, part of the College of Architecture, Design and Construction. She has been with Rural Studio’s Front Porch Initiative since its founding in 2018 and has been an integral part of this scale-up of Rural Studio research. This research digs into questions about housing that focus not just on the immediate affordability of homes but on the interconnected, long-term issues of getting people into—and keeping them in—homes that are not only beautiful and thoughtfully designed for a lifetime-plus of use but are also durable, resilient, low maintenance, and built with healthful materials. And the Front Porch team brings evolving solutions to partners in the field, offering not only prototype designs but also invaluable technical assistance.

In short, Mackenzie’s research is focused on housing affordability and access, exploring the products, policies, and partnerships that facilitate developing high-performance housing. Specifically, she studies how the creation of high-performance homes can reduce the total cost of homeownership while simultaneously reducing risk for the homeowner, lender, and insurer. Centered around the areas of efficiency, resilience, health, and community, this research touches the areas of building technology, housing policy, and finance. A Rural Studio alumnus, she brings to the table previous related experience: she worked with Community Housing Partners in Christiansburg, VA on affordable, multi-family housing, and with Waggonner & Ball in New Orleans, LA on urban design projects aimed at increasing resilience in coastal cities.

The Academy for which Mackenzie has been selected is a project of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and the ACSA Research & Scholarship Committee, in partnership with The OpEd Project. This cohort brings together twelve architecture faculty whose scholarship addresses housing equity and seeks to influence the policies and narratives shaping the built environment. They will participate in The OpEd Project’s virtual “Write to Change the World” workshops, connecting participants with diverse identities, voices, and ideas. Cohort members will also join a series of training modules led by experts on issues of housing equity and public scholarship, including members of the AIA Housing & Community Development Knowledge Community and allied organizations working toward housing equity.

The Academy will present participating cohort faculty with an extended training opportunity to expand the impact of their research and scholarship beyond the academy. Mackenzie, whose work already reaches beyond the academy, will find even more avenues for extending her work’s reach. After the workshop, cohort members will have up to three months of access to The OpEd Project’s Mentor-Editor network to get individualized feedback on their op-ed drafts to double their chances of publishing success. By the end of the training, cohort members are expected to complete the workshops and submit an op-ed for publication in a local, regional, or national newspaper.

In case you missed the news, although Mackenzie currently holds the title Assistant Research Professor, that will soon change: she has been approved for promotion to Associate Research Professor, effective Fall 2025!

Here’s the full 2025 cohort for the Academy for the Public Scholarship on the Built Environment: HOUSING EQUITY:

Jeffrey Carney, University of Florida

Francesco Cianfarani, University of Oklahoma

Sascha Delz, University of Southern California

Wes Hiatt, Lehigh University

Jeffrey Kruth, Miami University

Karen Kubey, University of Toronto

Asma Mehan, Texas Tech University

Rashida Ng, University of Pennsylvania

Edward Palka, Columbia University

Mackenzie Stagg, Auburn University

Helen Stopps, Toronto Metropolitan University

Stathis Yeros, University of New Mexico

Learn more about the 2025 Cohort and the project from the ACSA.

In 2018, Rural Studio founded the Front Porch Initiative (Front Porch) with the mission of increasing access to high-performance homes throughout the South and beyond. Front Porch works with housing providers in under-resourced communities, providing support, technical assistance, and architectural resources. Our research and innovation are supported and enhanced by a range of government and industry relationships. This range of partnerships allows us to think holistically about the larger systems—such as policy, insurance, and finance—that influence housing access and affordability. The resulting homes are not only beautiful, well-designed, and high-performance but also affordable.

In the beginning, the Front Porch consisted of only two team members, Rusty Smith and Mackenzie Stagg, but we continued to grow over the following five years, adding Betsy Garcia and Christian Ayala. Earlier this academic year, the Front Porch staff almost doubled in size, with recent additions of Research Architects Laurel Holloway, Gregg Ussery, and Timothy Tamulonis. Let’s meet these newest team members!

Laurel Holloway

Laurel is an alumnus of Rural Studio, and of both Ophelia’s Home and Patriece’s Home, who spread her wings after graduation to work in Nova Scotia with Brian MacKay-Lyons through the Ghost Residency. Her research chops and a love of the Studio brought her back to us as a Research Architect.

Among her current portfolio, Laurel’s work includes a project with one of Front Porch partner’s Eastern Eight CDC, located in Johnson City, Tennessee. She is producing drawings and providing the partner technical assistance for a new version of Patriece’s Home, the student project she helped build as a 5th-year student. She’s also been working on the second generation of a duplex design first created for New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, mapping housing conditions in Selma as part of recovery work through a USDA grant, and developing technical resources that are extensible to a wider network of housing providers.

Gregg Ussery

Gregg joined the team from the Windy City, where he worked with our friends at Landon Bone Baker Architects (LBBA). His degrees, including his master’s in architecture, are from Clemson, and he comes with strong drawing skills (renderings and the like).

Gregg is providing technical assistance on a USDA-funded project to expand the City of Selma’s capacity to increase the inventory of high-performance homes, helping with tornado recovery efforts. Gregg is also working alongside the City and Front Porch team to research and document processes—such as how resources flow, how partners are involved, and how to leverage multiple partnerships toward shared project goals—for a long-term sustainable housing development program in Selma. Along with this community engagement, Gregg has been working on the drawing sets for partners in Tennessee and Arkansas and applying his skills to developing renderings for partners to share with community members, project sponsors, and municipalities.

Timothy Tamulonis

Tim comes to us from Syracuse University and the Harvard Graduate School of Design via studios in New York, Boston, and New Orleans. He, too, is an outstanding resource, with his interest in equitable architecture and the power of design to foster positive changes in communities.

Tim has been a great asset to Front Porch Initiative’s contributions to the BuildBetter with Whirlpool program. This partnership with Habitat for Humanity International helps track the efficacy of beyond-code energy-efficient and climate-resistant features in selected Habitat for Humanity homes. He is assisting with data collection, analyzing the data, and then illustrating the findings. He is also working on site planning projects with partners in Arkansas, Alabama, and Texas, as well as developing drawings for a new project with Chipola Area Habitat for Humanity in Marianna, Florida. Tim has also participated in a number of site visits where he has documented project progress and checked as-built conditions.

Mackenzie shares, “Laurel, Gregg, and Tim have been valuable additions to the team and have brought fresh energy and excitement to the team as well as bringing their own unique experiences and perspectives to the work. We were overwhelmed by the interest we received as we were looking to expand the Front Porch Initiative team, and we’re excited to work with the next generation of “housers” who are working on increasing equitable access to an affordability of housing for all.”

Rural Studio is excited to expand our outreach, increase our research, and better serve our partners with these new colleagues. Welcome to the Front Porch team, ya’ll!