American architect Alex Scott Porter designed a vacation home specially made for her father on an inhabited Ragged Island in Maine. It is a self-contained refuge in the state's outermost island that is 20 miles away from the coast.
Her writer and retired journalism professor dad Bruce has initially purchased the 'floating acre' a few decades ago specifically as hideaway. The island's surrounding community has no roads, ferries, telephone connection or permanent residents. In order to sustain living there, the 550-square-foot cottage has an efficient off-the-grid features.
They utilized solar panels on the island home's southeast porch to collect that needed energy and store it on batteries in order to power the refrigerator and heat water. Going old school, they also have a wood stove that is anchored by a hearth made from local beach stones so that heat is radiated throughout the house.
A rainwater catchment system was installed in order to save clean drinking water without the use of a well. During rainy days, the system will discard the first five gallons collected in order to clean off the roof while the rest are collected in a cistern. Drinking water is then separated from the cistern to prevent contamination from any sediment collected on the top or bottom of the tank. They utilize a specialized composting toilet since the island does not have a septic system.
Unfortunately, Maine has a very cold winter so the Porters decided to use corrugated steel as the outside cladding so that it is comfortable during the spring, summer and fall. It also has retractable storm shutters to keep it secured from the violent snowstorms and hurricane gales during winters.
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