Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Waitsfield, Vermont offers over 80 hands-on courses per year in design, construction, woodworking, and architectural craft and offers a variety of courses concentrating in sustainable design. Now in its 35th year, Yestermorrow is one of the only design/build schools in the country, teaching both design and construction skills. Our hands-on 1-day to 3-week workshops, certificate programs and semester programs are taught by top architects, builders, and craftspeople from across the country. For people of all ages and experience levels, from novice to professional.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Give Us A Lift!

As part of our goal to make our campus facilities universally accessible, Yestermorrow needs your help to raise $25,000 to install a vertical platform lift. Our main building is nearly ADA accessible, but we don’t have any way for someone with a wheelchair or walker to go between the two floors without going outside and through the parking lot.

We want our classes to be open to everyone, regardless of their mobility challenges.

We need to raise $25,000 from our alumni and supporters by December 31, 2009 to come into compliance with the Vermont state access board, and to do it WE NEED YOUR HELP.
Please donate today to the “Give us a Lift” campaign—all donations are tax deductible. If each one of our alumni gives just $10 we can reach our goal!

Donate online today—
Or you can send check, cash or money order to: “Give Us a Lift”, Yestermorrow, 189 VT Rte 100, Warren, VT 05674

Sign Up for House Tours Saturday 9/26

ARCHITECTURE HOUSE TOUR
Saturday, September 26 10:30 – 1:30
For one day, film festival attendees will have an opportunity to view three wonderful, innovative buildings built by three of the pioneering architects who helped turn the Mad River Valley into a national architectural hotspot. What's more, the architects have generously agreed to give the tour of their buildings.

The first building is a recently completed work designed by one of the founders of Prickly Mountain, Architect Dave Sellers. The (Archie) Bunker is an all concrete building that will make you see (and appreciate) concrete in a new way.


The second stop is a house in Warren village that was remodeled by Architect John Connell, the founder of Yestermorrow. This building now houses the office of John's architectural firm, 2morrow studios.


The third stop is the unbelievable home of Architects Jim Sanford and Ellen Strauss.

The tour begins at the Yestermorrow Campus in Warren at 10:30am.
Cost $40 per person. Call 802-496-6662 for reservations. Space is limited, reserve early!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Architecture and Design Film Festival Featured in Seven Days

Unique Film Festival in Waitsfield Celebrates Architecture and Design
State of the Arts
By Kirk Kardashian [09.16.09]
"If Kyle Bergman wasn’t an architect, he’d be a filmmaker. That’s why the 47-year-old New York resident combined his profession with his passion to create the Architecture and Design Film Festival, a new four-day event taking place at Waitsfield’s Big Picture Theater.

All the proceeds from the festival are being donated to Yestermorrow Design/Build School, where Bergman is a member of the board of directors. Incidentally, Yestermorrow is what first brought Bergman to Vermont — he took a class there in 1985 while getting his degree in architecture. He later purchased a house in Warren and spends a good chunk of time there when he’s not in the city running his own design/build firm.

By Bergman’s count, there are at least 1000 films about architecture and design. And for good reason: The medium offers the next best thing to physical presence in a building. Compared with still photography, says Bergman, “film gives you a better sense with which to feel the space.”
Although a film festival about architecture may sound like it’s aimed at architects, Bergman assures that it’s not. “I think more and more people are caring about where they live, and how it looks and feels,” he says. “I’ve set it up so it has a broad reach.”

The festival is composed of 30 films organized into 12 series with themes such as “Going Green,” “Making Stuff” and “Fluid Art.” Each series, roughly two hours long and shown twice during the festival, includes one or two short films and a medium or long feature. The films chronicle each stage of the design process, from the creative phase to reactions to the final product."

Read more at http://www.7dvt.com/2009unique-film-festival-waitsfield-celebrates-architecture-and-design

Discussion of Modern Architecture in VT on Vermont Edition

From today's Vermont Edition with Jane Lindholm, "Homes and buildings in Vermont aren't often thought of as "Modern" with a capital "M." Most of our structures tend to veer toward the more quaint and old-fashioned. And without a strong corporate presence in many areas of the state, the large, modern structures found in many cities, aren't found in Vermont. But in recent years, Vermont has evolved, and become a hot bed of a new, regional style of modernism that focuses on sustainability and a sense of scale and place. We learn more with architectural historian Glenn Andres, and architect John McLeod."

The discussion includes Yestermorrow instructors John McLeod and Tyler Kobick.

Listen into the archive at http://www.vpr.net/episode/46913/

The show will also be replayed tonight at 7:00pm on your local VPR station.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Yester-Eggs


After much anticipation we are very excited to announce that the chickens have finally begun to lay eggs. A little small, but they're just getting started!


Monday, September 14, 2009

Architecture students learn to unlock their creativity with concrete

by Dirk Van Susteren, correspondent © Sept. 11, 2009, Norwich University Office of Communications

Christy Ketchel, dressed in work clothes, looked up an 11-foot embankment as a large cement-mixing truck poured its contents into forms for a wall of what will one day be a small cabin.

“Isn’t it great? It looks like a blow-up mattress,” she exclaimed as the forms began to fill.

“It looks like a plastic grocery bag filling up,” added another person.

“Sounds like heavy rain or hail,” said a third, as the mixture continued down the metal chute into the form.

Special projects invite imaginative descriptions. And for a group of architects and architectural students, work on the cabin at Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vt., was indeed a special project.

Read more at http://www.norwich.edu/about/news/2009/091109-fabricConcrete.html

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Fabric Formed Concrete

Last week was very exciting with the International Society of Fabric Forming workshop going on, led by YM instructor Sandy Lawton and Norwich University professor Eleanor D'Aponte. It was quite an international crew, from Copenhagen to Manitoba to Chile and a few locals mixed in too! They worked for over a week to prepare forms and pour the first two walls of what will be our future concrete cabin.

Check out the slideshow of the progress:


We'll continue in the spring pouring more wall, beams, and a roof (to be planted as a green roof). Stay tuned!