ECo Department Archives | Page 3 of 4 | Building and Construction Technology

Introducing: BCT’s New Summer “CityLab” Pre-College Program in Newton

February 28, 2022November 27, 2023 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

This summer, BCT is offering an exciting opportunity for high-schoolers in the Boston area to learn about buildings, cities, and the many technologies that are used to create and operate them as part of a two-week summer pre-college program. This program, housed at our beautiful Mount Ida campus in Newton, MA can be attended as a commuter, but a residential option is also available. See below for more information. CityLab The BCT (Building & Construction Technology) CityLab is a two-week immersive pre-college program for high school students interested in exploring building construction, sustainability, engineering, architecture, and technology-related career paths. The BCT CityLab course format includes a series of daily hands-on activities including construction site tours, use of emergent technologies (drones, infrared cameras, air quality testing, AR/VR), software (Fusion 360, SketchUp, Minecraft, AutoCAD), and fabrication tools (specialty 3D printers/lasers, hand/power tools, industrial sewing machines, CNC equipment). Students also conduct science lab experiments and participate in service-learning activities. The learning experience culminates with a design-build...

UMass Students Place 11th in National Competition and BCT Program Receives $100k Grant

February 25, 2022February 24, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

Students Participate in Residential Construction Competition As in years past, a group of UMass students traveled to the International Builders Show (IBS), a national conference, which was held this year in Orlando, FL. There they competed in the "Production Homes" category of the Residential Construction Management Competition, which allows our students to practice many aspects of their coursework, such as estimating and budgeting, scheduling and various other pre-construction topics. Under the faculty supervision of BCT's Dr. Ho-Sung Kim, this group had been busy preparing for this competition for the entirety of the fall semester. The UMass team landed the 11th place spot this year out of 27 competing schools. Its members were Akira Ontsuka, Matthew Klingman, Mohamid Zabir, Lauren Nothe, Oliver Pullin, and Samuel Khokhlan. See the gallery below for some impressions from the event. BCT Program Receives $100,000 Grant From NHE's HELP Program The Homebuilding Education Leadership Program (HELP), launched in 2006, establishes closer relationships with institutions of higher education by awarding major...

BCT Students Start Construction on the “Hygge House” Design-Build Project

February 22, 2022February 22, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

The Hygge House1 is a portable, 350 sq. ft, Net Zero, Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) designed and built by students in a collaborative effort between UMass Building & Construction Technology, UMass Architecture, Five College Architectural Studies, & East Branch Studio. The semester-long design-build course that encapsulates this project is led by L. Carl Fiocchi (BCT), Robert Williams (Architecture), Naomi Darling (Five Colleges) and Kent Hicks (East Branch Studio). It offers learning opportunities in high performance construction, construction practices, low load mechanical systems selection and installation, performance verification, and carbon accounting. The project as well as the course helps students understand the climate impacts of carbon in the built environment and explores ways to design and build better structures, as the inefficiency of buildings is responsible for approximately forty percent of global carbon emissions. After the Build is completed, students will have the opportunity for teaching about the building when the Hygge House is used as an Auxiliary Stage at the Green...

UMass Student AGC Group Wins Outstanding Emerging Chapter Award

February 7, 2022February 4, 2022 by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed

The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) national organization has announced that the AGC Student Chapter at UMass Amherst has earned the Outstanding Emerging Student Chapter Award. The judges for the 2021 AGC Outstanding Student Chapter Contest said they were impressed with the obstacles the UMass chapter overcame, as well as the growth documented in its application. The UMass Student AGC Chapter flourished this year under the leadership of its president, undergraduate Nathaniel Wright of the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department, and its faculty co-advisors, CEE professor Scott A. Civjan and BCT professor Fernando Romero. This team initiated a full schedule of events for both the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, despite being remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter hosted two virtual construction site tours, OSHA-10 Training for 47 student participants, multiple guest lectures, and multiple chapter meetings. The chapter also developed a club website containing event information, blog posts, resources, and event summaries. Beyond that, the officers overcame the fact that none of them...

BCT Lecture: Affordable High Performance Construction and the COVID Era

February 1, 2022June 9, 2022 by . BCT . Comment Closed

Seth Lawrence-Slavas, BCT Alumnus & President and Principal at Wright Builders Inc. will present this lecture. Monday February 7th, 4-5:15 pm, Olver Design Building Room 170 or via Zoom. The COVID era is with us to stay. As material prices soar, labor availability plummets and shipping delays cause mass chaos in the building world, the need to provide affordable, safe, energy efficient housing remains. Mr. Lawrence-Slavas will explore the unexpected and expected consequences of the virus to affordable project development, estimating, and physical construction. This lecture brings tangible examples of success and failure for an honest look at what it means to be building in this climate. umass.science/bctlectures ...