VT students design a multi-generational home to keep families together while maintaining independence

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Students at Virginia Tech are designing a home they say could help address the nation’s housing shortage while keeping families together across generations.

The U.S. faces a housing shortage that would require more than 2 million new homes to resolve, according to some estimates.

The crisis has put homeownership out of reach for many families dealing with affordability issues, scarce childcare and an aging population with specific needs.

The Virginia Tech students are participating in a National Housing Innovation Challenge that seeks solutions to major housing problems.

Their design, called NestHAUS, focuses on multi-generational living that supports people across life stages.

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Personal experience drives design

The concept grew from personal experiences with multi-generational housing.

“My grandparents’ house is what kind of sparked this multigenerational thing,” said Maral, one of the students. “And so thinking about how his house was a two-story house, but it was two different houses placed on top of one another.”

The design features an open concept home with a courtyard as green space. Each part of the home can be added or removed as needed, allowing the structure to evolve with the family.

Accessory dwelling unit provides independence

At the center of the design is an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, where an aging parent can live while maintaining independence.

“We would have, like, the main house, the ADU, which could function for anything,” said Adrianna, another student on the team. “Like, there’s times where my grandmother would love to have her independence back. It would be great to have her in this unit. But also having this courtyard having a shared safety space to not worry about her wandering off.”

The architecture uses a system of interchangeable cartridges that allow the home to grow and shift over time.

“A lot of the times right now, your home is a little inflexible. If I have to make an adjustment, I usually have to demolish something to renew that room,” said Bobby, a team member. “But what if you thought about it a little bit differently? What if these parts were actually more discreet where those parts could actually be updated or upgraded over time?”

Factory-built components reduce costs

The modular components are manufactured in a factory and transported to the building site on flatbed trucks.

“In a factory, these items are built and manufactured and then they are brought on the back of a flatbed truck to the site and installed to help reduce the cost of both building on the actual site and the manufacturing of the house itself, which helps to just lessen the cost of building,” said Taylor, a student on the project. “And then in the future with the lens of something being able to snap in and out and be modular.”

The project involves students from the College of Architecture, the College of Engineering and the School of Construction.

The competition includes around 26 teams from other universities and will be held in October 2027 in Charlotte, North Carolina.