UMass DesignBuild (UMDB) is an interdisciplinary program that brings together architecture and building construction students to design and build small, affordable, low-carbon houses for local affordable housing providers. Our mission is twofold: first, to provide students with transformative, experiential learning opportunities that prepare them to be leaders in their chosen professional fields, and second, to directly address the affordable housing crisis and associated issues of social and climate equity through the construction of houses for those experiencing housing insecurity.
In 2022, UMDB completed the construction of a 350-square-foot, net-zero ready accessory dwelling unit. After being showcased at the Green River Music Festival, the “Hygge House” was donated to OneHolyoke Community Development Corporation (CDC), a not-for-profit community housing provider in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
In 2023 and 2024, UMDB continued working with OneHolyoke CDC to deliver innovative, small-scale, affordable housing. Both houses that the students design and constructed - the "Paper House" and the "8th Sister" - exceed energy code requirements, feature a variety of low-carbon building assemblies, and provide a compelling vision for contemporary, small-scale affordable housing.
The design-build program comprises a spring semester design-studio followed by an intensive summer build session where the same cohort of students constructs the house they designed on a campus build site.
For more information, please follow along at the UMDB blog.