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

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

by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed
The HyggeHaus (pronounced “hyoo-guh house”) is a UMass collaborative design-build effort between UMass Building & Construction Technology, UMass Architecture, Five College Architectural Studies, & East Branch Studio. After a full semester of building this house in Chesterfield the time has now come to show it off. As can be seen in the video timelapse below, the house was loaded on a trailer and is en route to Greenfield where it will be part of the Green River Festival in Greenfield, MA (6/24-6/26). Festival visitors can enjoy performances on its porch (where it will serve as the Green House Stage) and can sign up for tours led by our students and faculty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYenidAaok Project Background This project was started by a group of students and instructors in 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19. Vaccinated and itching to finish the build, we have a new group of students who will be completing the project by this summer (2022). The HyggeHaus is a modular, 350 sq. ft,...
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93.9 The River Interviews Design-Build Students

93.9 The River Interviews Design-Build Students

by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed
Local station 93.9 The River recently interviewed BCT student Owen Grierson, M. Arch student Megan Futscher, and BCT Adjunct Faculty Kent Hicks about this year's iteration of the Design-Build program (a collaboration between the BCT program, the Department of Architecture, Five College Architectural Studies, and East Branch Studio). The house, which is currently under construction in Chesterfield on the East Branch Studio property, will soon transform into a pop-up stage at the upcoming Green River Festival in Greenfield, MA. Listen to the story as told by our students... https://soundcloud.com/939theriver-1/the-hyggehaus-at-the-green-river-festival Links: The HyggeHaus at The Green River Festival | 93.9 & 101.5 The River (wrsi.com) Hygge House Project Blog Green River Festival...
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BCT Students Start Construction on the “Hygge House” Design-Build Project

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

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...
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Creating a Bridge to the Future with BCT and Digital Ready

Creating a Bridge to the Future with BCT and Digital Ready

by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed
On December 1, 2021 BCT faculty and students hosted Digital Ready (DR), a Boston-based non-profit that provides talented, young Black and Latinx students from Boston Public Schools a no-cost, head-start to a STEM degree from UMass. The DR cohort of 27 students participated in a unique peer-to-peer learning exchange program developed by CSN faculty Dr. Paul J. Wolff III and students in the new communication course required for all BCT majors (Communicating Building Science and Sustainability). The Immersion Event featured live presentations, hands-on demonstrations, building/lab tours and one-on-one time with current BCT students. The event began with ice-breaker activities and was followed by a series of presentations featuring coursework, extra-curricular activities, internships and a Q&A discussion about what it is like to live, learn and work at the UMass Amherst campus. The Immersion Event culminated with lunch at the award-winning UMass Dining Halls for all participants. The Digital Ready Cohort enjoyed live skits, informational giveaways and interactive presentations of student work such...
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The Sustainability Road Less Traveled: BCT’s Applied Learning Pathways Lead to Jobs

The Sustainability Road Less Traveled: BCT’s Applied Learning Pathways Lead to Jobs

by Alexander Schreyer Comment Closed
During the last year, 10 pioneering UMass students took the road less traveled – pursuing the BCT (Building Construction Technology) Applied Learning Pathways, a new option for students to ‘study abroad’ at the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, Massachusetts. Students worked one-on-one with a faculty sponsor to create a customized, hands-on learning experience based on their interests in sustainability. These one-of-a kind pathways built the students’ confidence and portfolios (i.e. GIS mapping, augmented/virtual experiments, original research, multi-media videos, 3D models) as they collectively pursued more than 30 academic credits toward the completion of their degrees. “As a master’s degree student at UMass, I wanted my learning to be meaningful and to have an impact,” said Abigail Moore, B.S. ’19, M.S, ’21. “The Independent Study project I designed with my professor focused on the idea of ‘Living Buildings;’ structures that generate more than they consume – and I was able to focus on understanding how these buildings can work with...
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