UMass DesignBuild Program Celebrates Completion of 2023 Build with an Open House

UMass DesignBuild Program Celebrates Completion of 2023 Build with an Open House

On Thursday, November 2, the UMass DesignBuild Program celebrated the completion of its 2023 project, Paper House, named after Holyoke, The Paper City. There, in Holyoke in collaboration with OneHolyoke CDC, the Paper House will be placed on its permanent site where it will become a contributing member to Holyoke’s affordable housing inventory, addressing the inequities of affordable housing and climate justice in an underserved community. In addition to many Building and Construction Technology, Architecture, and Five College Architectural Studies faculty, plus all the students who participated in the DesignBuild program, as well as donors and sponsors of the program, the celebration was attended by multiple UMass officials: Chancellor Javier Reyes; CNS Dean Mike Fox; Humanities Associate Dean Pari Riahi; Environmental Conservation Head, Paige Warren; and Diane Barstow, CNS Development Head. The celebration was additionally honored with the attendance of the Director of OneHolyoke CDC, Mike Moriarity, and President of DOC, Joubin Hassanein both major collaborators. Fresh Cider and Atkins donuts were enjoyed...
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Hammer Time: How Students, Faculty, Local Businesses and Holyoke’s Community Development Corporation Are Teaming Up to Fight the Housing Crisis

Hammer Time: How Students, Faculty, Local Businesses and Holyoke’s Community Development Corporation Are Teaming Up to Fight the Housing Crisis

They call it “Paper House”: a modular, 500-square-foot, high-performance, net zero, low carbon house designed and built by the students in UMass DesignBuild, a joint effort between the Building and Construction Technology Program and Department of Architecture at UMass Amherst and the Five College Architectural Studies program. DesignBuild is in its second year, and it seeks to address major problems, both in the educational world, and in the broader world at large. “A builder might go through their whole education and never see the work involved in designing a house,” says Carl Fiocchi, a lecturer and professional master’s program coordinator in the Building and Construction Technology Program. “The reverse is true for architects, too, who might never get any experience actually building their designs.” The DesignBuild class seeks to bridge this gap between the builders and designers with a two-semester sequence. In the spring semester, students are given a set of design parameters—the house’s overall footprint, budget, materials, etc.—and with those in place, design the...
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UMass Student Team Places Eighth at National Competition

UMass Student Team Places Eighth at National Competition

The 2023 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Competition for four-year programs was held at the 2023 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, Jan. 31 - Feb. 2, 2023. The UMass NAHB Student Chapter team placed 8th in the competition. The mission of the NAHB four-year student competition is to expose students to an in-depth residential construction project from concept to closing. Using real projects, students compete with other schools as they display their problem-solving abilities and learn more about homebuilding. This year’s competition team included 14 students from the BCT program, the Department of Architecture, and the Isenberg School of Management. During the Fall semester, the students worked on developing a business proposal that included market analysis, product design, construction management, project management, financial and risk analysis, and sustainability related to a property in La Plata, MD. The students traveled to Las Vegas and presented their proposal to the judges and attended the International Builders’ Show, which is the housing industry’s...
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Pre-Construction Student Team Takes Second Place in 2022 ASC Competition

Pre-Construction Student Team Takes Second Place in 2022 ASC Competition

As in years past, BCT participated in the 2022 Annual Associated Schools of Construction Region 1 Student Competition in Albany, NY this past weekend with two teams. Under Prof. Romero's expert mentoring and with several months of hard work behind them, the Pre-Construction Team (shown in the image above) took home a stellar second place in the pre-construction category. This was only the third year in which our students competed in this competition. We congratulate the team members for this superb effort! The pre-construction team consisted of Patrick Koenen (Project Manager), Jocey Krooks, Erica Marschke, Cody McCreanor, Aidan McSheffrey, and Daniel Smith. The commercial construction team - which placed fifth this year - consisted of William Harmelink (Project Manager), Mark Carstairs, Jillian Contois, John McKinnon, Tali Shoham, and Hiram Tatis. Gallery Links ASC Region 1 website ...
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UMass Design-Build “HyggeHaus” at the Green River Festival

UMass Design-Build “HyggeHaus” at the Green River Festival

Residents of western Massachusetts have long marked the start of summer by the opening of the Green River Festival. Now in its 35th year, the three-day music festival held in Greenfield, Massachusetts draws a large crowd hungry for food, fun and dancing. This year, thanks to students and professors in UMass Amherst’s Building and Construction Technology Program, as well as the collaborative efforts of the UMass Department of Architecture, the Five College Architectural Studies program, and East Branch Studio, festival-goers were able to rock out at the HyggeHaus, a modular, 350 square foot, high-performance, net zero, low carbon accessory dwelling unit that served both as an auxiliary stage and as a model of sustainable living addressing both equity and the national housing shortage. Hygge, pronounced “hyoo-guh,” is a Norwegian term that signifies “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” This DesignBuild project was started begun by a group of UMass students and instructors in 2020, but the build was postponed due...
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