(Image: UMass News Office)
November 13 was moving day at the DesignBuild Site at UMass Amherst—which means that three giant flat-bed trucks and three enormous tow trucks, plus a crane and a crew of a dozen hard-hatted operators to manage it, were ready for work. Instead of people moving into a house, though, moving day for the undergraduate and graduate DesignBuild students means lifting the small, high-performance, high-efficiency house they built over the course of a year off its blocks, hoisting it 40 feet in the air, placing it gently on those flatbeds, driving it down to its final resting place in Holyoke, and then putting it back together so that it can become the permanent home of one of the many Holyokers currently facing housing insecurity.
Read the full UMass News story here......
The annual Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region 1 Competition offers a unique learning environment for students, significantly enhancing their educational experience. ASC organizes regional competitions sponsored by construction companies, with many programs across the U.S. The BCT program recognizes and supports the benefits of student participation in intercollegiate competitions like this and we have sent teams to this competition for a few years now. In this competition, students submit proposals to construction industry executives, who serve as judges, and then defend their proposals in front of an audience during the event.
Throughout the competition, students face real-world scenarios that challenge their skills.
The BCT program began participating in the ASC Competitions in 2019, finishing last in our first year. We improved to 6th place in 2020. In 2021, we created a dedicated course (BCT 392C) to better prepare our students, resulting in a 3rd place finish. We continued to climb the ranks, achieving 2nd place in 2022 and finally securing 1st...
The 2024 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Student Competition for four-year programs was held at the 2024 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, NV on Feb 26-27, 2024. In this competition, the UMass Amherst team placed 7th in the Custom/Small Build category.
The mission of the NAHB 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 7 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 Woodstock, Georgia.
The students traveled to Las Vegas, presented their proposal to the judges, and attended the International Builders’ Show, which is the housing industry’s largest...
We are thrilled to announce that after a semester of hard work and dedication, BCT's amazing preconstruction student team, under the skillful guidance of Prof. Fernando Romero, have achieved their goal and brought home the first place trophy at the 34th Annual Associated Schools of Construction Region 1 Student Competition and Conference in Albany, NY.
Our student teams were able to secure 3rd place in 2021, 2nd place in 2022, and this year, we clinched the ASC competition and brought home the 1st place trophy. As Prof. Romero said: "I am incredibly proud of each and every one of my students who made this possible, and it is a true testament to our collective effort and commitment. Your outstanding performance was noticed, and the judges were thoroughly impressed by your fantastic presentation."
Additionally, the UMass Commercial team's hard work and dedication earned them a commendable 4th-place finish.
The team members were:
Preconstruction: Jocey Krooks, Madison Mathieu, Connor Perley, Brendan Ware, Lucas Kubaska, Luke Fairbanks.
Commercial:...
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...
