Thursday, October 01, 2009
Nina Dubois: LAND/ART 2009
Thank you to Yestermorrow alumna Nina Dubois for sharing photos of her most recent site project at the University of New Mexico Art Museum. Dispersal/Return: Land Arts of the American West 2000–2006 is an open exhibit that runs from August 28 – November 25, 2009 and has commissioned Nina for her piece, in collaboration with Jeanette Hart-Mann, entitled Culture Digest(e). The piece is a site-specific art laboratory that explores the waste stream of the University of New Mexico campus and its potential to be creatively diverted and reimagined. Designed as a passive solar greenhouse, the project functions as a repository where cultural artifacts such as office memos, newspapers, food waste, and landscape debris are collected and photographed. For more images of this project visit her album: http://tiny.cc/VXtY8
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 05674Sign Up for House Tours Saturday 9/26
ARCHITECTURE HOUSE TOURSaturday, 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
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.
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 CommunicationsChristy 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
“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!
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!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Save the Date! December 5th Art Auction
Dear Yestermorrow friends,
We are excited about our 5th annual Art Show and Sale. We are going to have a live and silent auction again this year. The date is December 5th and will be from 7 – 10 PM. This is one of the biggest events of the year and a major fundraiser for the school.
We’ll send out more details soon but right now, we want you to mark your calendars for the 5th of December, and to start working on your wonderful creations to donate or commission to the Art Show.
A few details:
1. We’ll have a reception with food and wine before the live auction begins.
We are looking for art submissions for the live auction from the Yestermorrow community. These can be paintings, photographs, furniture, ceramics, glass, metal sculpture, collage, jewelry, etc—something unique and handcrafted which shows the incredible talent of the people associated with the School. We are accepting pieces as donations to the auction as well as commissions. For commissions the artist can specify the minimum auction bid and the sale will be split 50/50 between Yestermorrow and the artist. All pieces must be at Yestermorrow by Thanksgiving at the latest. To submit a piece (or two or three), please contact Kate at kate@yestermorrow.org.
We are also accepting non-art donations for the silent auction. It could be anything from an interesting architecture book to a trip to the Bahamas. If you’re not much of an artist, but want to support the School with an in-kind gift, this is your chance! Got something you’d like to donate to the silent auction? please contact Kate at kate@yestermorrow.org.
We hope to see you all there, feel free to drop by and drop off your donation/commission while in town at the Architecture and Film Festival at the end of September http://www.adfilmfest.com/.
We are excited about our 5th annual Art Show and Sale. We are going to have a live and silent auction again this year. The date is December 5th and will be from 7 – 10 PM. This is one of the biggest events of the year and a major fundraiser for the school.
We’ll send out more details soon but right now, we want you to mark your calendars for the 5th of December, and to start working on your wonderful creations to donate or commission to the Art Show.
A few details:
1. We’ll have a reception with food and wine before the live auction begins.
We are looking for art submissions for the live auction from the Yestermorrow community. These can be paintings, photographs, furniture, ceramics, glass, metal sculpture, collage, jewelry, etc—something unique and handcrafted which shows the incredible talent of the people associated with the School. We are accepting pieces as donations to the auction as well as commissions. For commissions the artist can specify the minimum auction bid and the sale will be split 50/50 between Yestermorrow and the artist. All pieces must be at Yestermorrow by Thanksgiving at the latest. To submit a piece (or two or three), please contact Kate at kate@yestermorrow.org.
We are also accepting non-art donations for the silent auction. It could be anything from an interesting architecture book to a trip to the Bahamas. If you’re not much of an artist, but want to support the School with an in-kind gift, this is your chance! Got something you’d like to donate to the silent auction? please contact Kate at kate@yestermorrow.org.
We hope to see you all there, feel free to drop by and drop off your donation/commission while in town at the Architecture and Film Festival at the end of September http://www.adfilmfest.com/.
Monday, August 24, 2009
A student's experience in Carpentry for Women
One of our recent Carpentry for Women students wrote a great story about her experience at Yestermorrow on her blog, Ali's Cleaner Plate Club. Here's an excerpt:
There are nine of us in the class. In no particular order, we are:
Jory, a school social worker from Vermont, a hiker and gardener, mother of a college-aged daughter.
Ilona, a recent Smith graduate, former ultimate Frisbee player, student of an international boarding school, and classical guitarist, working now in an office job in the green economy in Washington DC.
Donna, a nurse from Central Massachusetts, a motorcyclist, who dreams of building a home closer to her two grown sons.
Alexis, a middle school art teacher and ceramicist who recently purchased five wooded acres of land in New Hampshire, where she plans to build her own timber-framed strawbale house.
Theresa, a former financial executive from New Jersey, a single mother whose children have grown. The day after her youngest child got a job, she quit her corporate job working for real estate developers, to move to Philadelphia where she will study urban planning.
Sarabel, a free-spirited employee of the Farm School in Western Massachusetts, a nonprofit that provides overnight, back-to-the-land experiences for children.
Cindy, a retired diplomat of the United Nations, now splitting her time between Vermont and South Africa.
Sasha, quiet, a 30-ish newlywed who works with youth, who is moving to a new city the day that class ends, and starting a new job two days later.
Then there is me: mother of two, wife of eleven years, semi-professional writer, striving to do more for myself.
I count the number of students who appear over 35, and under 30. The class seems split evenly — something that brings me no small relief.
We have two instructors, both professional women carpenters. Patti drives a silver Ford pick-up truck, is partial to Long Trail beer, and carries a guitar in a case emblazoned with bumper stickers, one of which says “Practice conscious acts of solidarity and organized resistance.” In her spare time, she rides motorcycles, plays folk festivals, has a radio show celebrating women’s music. She wears a scruffy T-shirt and a worn Yestermorrow baseball cap over her short hair. She stretches her muscled legs in front of her as she describes the 11-year process of building her own home. At one point during the week, she will tell us she does, in fact, own both an iron and a blowdryer — both are in her wood shop, used exclusively for carpentry.
Lizabeth — there is no “E,” though I will spend the week stumbling over that — is direct and wry, a former Peace Corps volunteer, simultaneously petite and rugged. Her long hair swept up casually, and she wears a T-shirt that says, “Don’t Panic: Go Organic.” Lizabeth explains why she became a carpenter in a single, short sentence: “because my dad was a sexist.”
Jory, a school social worker from Vermont, a hiker and gardener, mother of a college-aged daughter.
Ilona, a recent Smith graduate, former ultimate Frisbee player, student of an international boarding school, and classical guitarist, working now in an office job in the green economy in Washington DC.
Donna, a nurse from Central Massachusetts, a motorcyclist, who dreams of building a home closer to her two grown sons.
Alexis, a middle school art teacher and ceramicist who recently purchased five wooded acres of land in New Hampshire, where she plans to build her own timber-framed strawbale house.
Theresa, a former financial executive from New Jersey, a single mother whose children have grown. The day after her youngest child got a job, she quit her corporate job working for real estate developers, to move to Philadelphia where she will study urban planning.
Sarabel, a free-spirited employee of the Farm School in Western Massachusetts, a nonprofit that provides overnight, back-to-the-land experiences for children.
Cindy, a retired diplomat of the United Nations, now splitting her time between Vermont and South Africa.
Sasha, quiet, a 30-ish newlywed who works with youth, who is moving to a new city the day that class ends, and starting a new job two days later.
Then there is me: mother of two, wife of eleven years, semi-professional writer, striving to do more for myself.
I count the number of students who appear over 35, and under 30. The class seems split evenly — something that brings me no small relief.
We have two instructors, both professional women carpenters. Patti drives a silver Ford pick-up truck, is partial to Long Trail beer, and carries a guitar in a case emblazoned with bumper stickers, one of which says “Practice conscious acts of solidarity and organized resistance.” In her spare time, she rides motorcycles, plays folk festivals, has a radio show celebrating women’s music. She wears a scruffy T-shirt and a worn Yestermorrow baseball cap over her short hair. She stretches her muscled legs in front of her as she describes the 11-year process of building her own home. At one point during the week, she will tell us she does, in fact, own both an iron and a blowdryer — both are in her wood shop, used exclusively for carpentry.
Lizabeth — there is no “E,” though I will spend the week stumbling over that — is direct and wry, a former Peace Corps volunteer, simultaneously petite and rugged. Her long hair swept up casually, and she wears a T-shirt that says, “Don’t Panic: Go Organic.” Lizabeth explains why she became a carpenter in a single, short sentence: “because my dad was a sexist.”
Read the whole story here: http://cleanerplateclub.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/carpentry-for-women-part-i-arriving/
Looking for feedback on logo
Yestermorrow is looking to our students, friends and supporters for feedback on our logo. Please take a couple minutes to answer our quick 10-question survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Ejwpz0GPFt2U3lGnsv175w_3d_3d
Thanks! This will help inform our decisions about logo and branding as we start to re-design our website adn launch into our 30th anniversary!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Ejwpz0GPFt2U3lGnsv175w_3d_3d
Thanks! This will help inform our decisions about logo and branding as we start to re-design our website adn launch into our 30th anniversary!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Art of Stone
Wow- beautiful! This amazing stone arch installation graces the entry to Yestermorrow's campus and was built by the one week Art of Stone class 7/5-10. Due to technical difficulties they were unable to finish the arch on Friday, but thanks to instructor Thea Alvin who came back after the class was finished to finish it off. See how it was constructed...
Monday, August 17, 2009
Buzz Ferver on Beyond Compost 8/19
Please join us at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, 8/19 for a talk by YM board member and instructor Buzz Ferver on
Beyond Compost...
The modern built environment pays little to no attention to its real effect on water quality, with stormwater being the single largest source of pollution in waterways. How can designers and builders make each and every project a place where water quality is being protected and improved, rather then degraded? One answer that is rapidly emerging is the use of engineered compost, especially in conjunction with geotextile fabrics.
Engineered compost is something most designers have never heard of. This represents a huge opportunity for designers to integrate into the landscape simple measures to put into practice the permaculturist's maxim "make water walk, not run". This same tenet is being extolled all over the country with different names..."Low Impact Development", "Rain Gardens", "Green Infrastucture"... Come and learn about how engineered compost for stormwater treatment works and how it can be integrated into the landscape in the form of gardens (both ornamental and food), paving edging, retaining walls and more.
before/after
Friday, August 14, 2009
Innovative Homes Tour of the Mad River Valley 8/22
Don't miss this rare opportunity to view some of the incredible and innovative residential architecture masterpieces of the Mad River Valley. Tour five spectacular homes led by the architects who designed these homes alongside the owners who live in them. This event is part of the Vermont Festival of the Arts which runs August 1-31, 2009. Bus transportation is provided for the day; the tour runs from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm and departs from Yestermorrow.This year’s tour will include:
A recent barn renovation project featuring locally sourced lumber, a high-tech wood boiler and renewable energy systems designed by local architect Jeff Schoellkopf
An all-concrete house with a green roof designed and built by local architect Dave Sellers
A net-zero energy home designed by local architect Jim Edgcomb
A hybrid timberframe with dramatic views designed for occupants with chemical sensitivity
A village home overhanging a river designed by local architect Mac Rood
Call now - 802-496-5545 - to book your seat on the bus because this tour always sells out! Reservations required: $50 fee includes buffet lunch at Yestermorrow and proceeds go to benefit Yestermorrow's scholarship fund.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Natural Building Intensive Open House & Graduation Ceremony
We are excited to announce the upcoming open house and graduation ceremony for our Summer 2009 Natural Building Intensive program next Friday August 21st. The Natural Building Intensive (NBI) is a unique 12-week course of study that brings together a collaborative group of experienced and enthusiastic instructors with students in an in-depth, hands-on experience in natural building, from the design and planning stages through the finishing touches. The open house is from 4-5pm at the project site, located on Jones Rd in Warren (off Plunkton Rd) at the Brodeur residence, and reflects what is capable in current natural building technology. The open house will be followed by a graduation ceremony for its 10 participants from 5-6pm. The building is an innovative, cutting-edge sustainable design/build project, featuring a hand-cut timber frame cut from local timber, a super-insulated roof system, and straw bale walls finished with natural lime and clay plasters. In addition, there are the added amenities of a masonry Rumford-style fireplace, radiant concrete floors, and natural daylighting features. For anyone interested in affordable and sustainable construction this would be a great opportunity to talk with students and instructors alike, as well as the owner, who are sure to offer both informative and diverse perspectives on the subject. In addition, as one work culminates another must begin; thus, we are currently soliciting a client for next year’s build. This person or group should already be considering a small scale building for the following year, and could see their project being enhanced by the inclusion of natural building methods.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Matt O'Connell's 7/22 Lecture Online
Continuous Transformations: Something Old, Something New in Making Next Generation Buildings with Matt O'Connell
This talk presents highlights from twenty years of transforming buildings and discusses the specific mechanics of integrating the design and construction processes with examples from collaborations that produced dynamic environments at various scales, from rooms to buildings and landscapes.
http://blip.tv/file/2445150
This talk presents highlights from twenty years of transforming buildings and discusses the specific mechanics of integrating the design and construction processes with examples from collaborations that produced dynamic environments at various scales, from rooms to buildings and landscapes.
http://blip.tv/file/2445150
Monday, August 03, 2009
Testimonial: Ben Griffin
In January of 2009, I officially incorporated my first small business, Greener Living Inc., a company focused on natural and green building; home energy audits and weatherization; as well as an educational component of teaching workshops. The most significant event that led me to starting my own business involved the 11 week Natural Building Intensive program at Yestermorrow. There were many experiences during the course that seemed to prepare me for the next steps of becoming an entrepreneur. Most importantly, the training I received gave me the confidence that I could pursue natural building as a career. Secondly, I saw individuals pursuing their passions in sustainable ways, and making a good living. Thirdly, I now had more tangible experience and relevant references to present to potential clients. With a certificate from a reputable institution and instructors who could, and happily would, vouch for my experience, skill, and ability I felt much more confident in marketing myself.
I left Yestermorrow at the end of July 2008 with a renewed positivity that I could make a living doing what I love and that earning money didn't have to harm the environment. I felt more confident than ever that I possessed the skills and knowledge to provide valuable insight and quality work to my clients. Furthermore, I had gained more awareness of how to run a business from engaging in many conversations with the instructors of the program. Perhaps most of all, I simply felt inspired, positive, and full of energy to take action, whatever direction that might have been.
Mosaics class at Yestermorrow
I took a break from my kitchen and garden duties a few weekends ago to take the mosaics class. We were all able to go from start to finish on a project through the weekend and I decided I'd use my newly learned skill to spruce up the unisex bathroom in the lobby as one of my intern projects. I just finished and installed them. The artistic tiles were donated by one of my classmates.Mosaics are not terribly difficult to create, though there are time intensive. Aside from their relative ease , I love mosaics for their bright and colorful use of garbage. Most of the materials are broken mugs, plates or random colorful bits that are scavenged and kept out of the w
astestream. This past weekend we had one of our instructors and an artist create an art installation using reclaimed materials--garbage otherwise. The regenerative nature of recycled materials art is really attractive to me: in addition to materials being reclaimed and kept out of the waste strem, out of garbage comes something beautiful.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Dan Reicher Lecture Review
Dan Reicher, the director of Energy and Climate Initiatives at Google, spoke last night at Yestermorrow to an "overflow crowd of summer program students, area professionals and interested public," as part of the free summer lecture series. He previewed an array of Google sponsored R&D projects that deal specifically with energy consumption and alternative fuel. For more read these two reviews by Design Cultivation and Light Amber. Watch the lecture online at: http://blip.tv/file/2446293.
Art in the English Garden
Despite some epic rain (clearly Vermont is not the only place experiencing an extremely wet summer), our student in the Art in the English Garden course with instructor Thea Alvin had a wonderful time and pulled off an amazing project while also visiting some amazing gardens, seeing the local sites, and enjoing tea and scones! Full slideshow to come, but here's a glimpse of the final product...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tonight! Dan Reicher from Google at Yestermorrow
Dan Reicher, Director of Energy and Climate Initiatives at Google, former Assistant Secretary of Energy, and Obama Transition Team member will be at Yestermorrow tonight at 7pm to talk about the current state of play in energy and climate technology, policy and investment. He will discuss Google's increasing focus in the energy world and the critical role of Washington, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley including the massive energy stimulus package.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
John Ringel Lecture 7/15 online
Thoughts on Designing Additions:
From Context to Content and Intention to Invention
Topic Summary:
An “addition” attempts to transform an “existing condition”--with its unique history---into a new configuration for the present owner’s future aspirations. The Design has to account for the existing context with all its foibles, implications and technical challenges. The Design has to articulate the present intentions both stated and implied. The Design becomes an invention—a product of the imagination—that will be a future owners’ existing condition. This lecture will reflect, with examples, on some of the speaker’s experiences “adding on” to numerous residences over the years. It will also show as an example the currently Proposed Yestermorrow Design/Build School Shop Addition.
Bio:
John Ringel has been a design/builder since 1972 when he co-founded Jersey Devil design/build firm with Steve Badanes. His natural propensities led him to concerns of sun, site, and energy in buildings. He has specialized in energy and sustainable design and has design/built numerous homes, additions, and alterations to existing residences. John has taught at Yestermorrow since 1990.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Forest Management on Campus
Those of you who've visited Yestermorrow's campus know that one of the things we have an abundance of here are trees. Of our 38-acre campus, about 22 acres are in woodland. When Yestermorrow purchased the property in 1990, the hillside had been previously logged, and had grown back in a mixture of pine, hemlock and some mixed hardwoods at the upper parts of the slope. Over the past 10 years we've harvested a handful of trees in our Stump to Sticker classes and milled them up for use in projects around campus. We also harvested nearly 10,000 board feet of pine last year from around the Chalet for use in our Natural Building Intensive class project at Knoll Farm.This year we've taken a new fresh look at our forest management plan in anticipation of clearing a new cabin site on the north edge of our campus. As a result, we've decided to bring in a local logger to harvest a number of pines which we'll be able to mill and use for upcoming projects. At the same time, we'll clear space for a new 2 room cabin and our new fabric formed concrete structure. It makes sense for us to cut many of the surrounding mature pines at the same time, before they get too big to safely harvest (especially once the new cabins are in the way), and concentrate the inevitable disruption at one time. All in all we'll harvest 40-50 pines and a number of smaller poplars along the northern border of the campus in the next week or so.
While it'll be hard to see these big beautiful trees go when the skidder and chipper are here, we're looking forward to the long term possibilities that will result from the harvest. We will work to transition this mature pine stand into a mixed hardwood forest. The area opened up by the clearing is an ideal location for future food forest development especially in the form of large nut trees and hardwoods like oaks, walnuts, hickories, and chestnuts with some fruit trees along the edge of the meadow. The upcoming forest management activity represents an opportunity to stimulate real action on regenerative land transition on campus and move forward with our larger goals of campus master planning incorporating Permaculture principles.
Yestermorrow is looking for a cob building project
Yestermorrow is looking for a community client for our upcoming Introduction to Cob Building course September 6-12th. Cob is a combination of clay sediment, sand, and straw mixed together with water and hand formed into walls to create an affordable, safe and ecologically sound method of construction. This 6-day Yestermorrow course is looking for a project site in the Mad River Valley where we could build a small structure or create infill walls in an existing structure. Typically cob walls are finished with an earthen plaster after the cob has dried thoroughly. Potential projects could include a small shed, chicken coop, or garden wall which incorporates a door and windows. The community client is responsible for preparing the project site and paying for the cost of building materials, but all student and instructor labor is provided at no charge to the client.If you know of a potential project for the upcoming Cob Building course, or would like to find out more information, please call José Galarza, Community Outreach Coordinator, at Yestermorrow: 802-496-5545 or by email at jose@yestermorrow.org.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
New video! Lecture by Jacob Deva Racusin
Check out the 7/8 summer lecture by Jacob Deva Racusin on Bridging the Gap: Bringing Together the Worlds of Natural and Green Building at http://blip.tv/file/2394709. He discusses how the modern natural building movement has been growing slowly but steadily for decades across the globe, yet much misunderstanding still remains about its form, function, purpose, and potential. The growth of the green building movement has helped increase awareness of energy efficiency, building performance, and ecological sensitivity. Developments in natural building and design in our cold climate are addressing these concerns, while continuing to support core issues of social and ecological justice and affordability. Come find out how the natural and green building movements can - and must - learn from and work with each other to reach mutual goals.Jacob Deva Racusin is co-owner of New Frameworks Natural Building, a Vermont-based contracting and consulting business specializing in the integration of natural materials, holistic design principles, and intentional process to create high performance structures of beauty. Jacob has been creating functional art with wood, stone, straw, earth, and other found materials since 2000, when he began design and construction on a solar-oriented straw bale house in Montgomery, Vermont, in which he lives with his family. He has led Yestermorrow's Natural Building Intensive program in 2008 and 2009.
Stay tuned to http://www.yestermorrow.blip.tv/ for each week's public lectures, or join us in person at the School at 7pm on Wednesdays through the end of August. For a full schedule of the Summer Lecture Series, please visit www.yestermorrow.org/Lecture09.htm.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A few summer shots
We've posted a few new photo albums on our Picasa site from summer classes and just neat happenings around campus- check it out!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Summer Lecture Series video online
We're thrilled to have our summer lecture series video online now thanks to volunteer Cornelius Murphy! We'll be posting the presentations weekly on the new channel at www.yestermorrow.blip.tv. Check it out! You can also subscribe via RSS feed or iTunes to get notification of new videos as they're posted.
Click here for the first lecture from 6/24 with Jeff Parsons and Jared W. Poor from Beeken Parsons furnituremaking studio in Shelburne, VT on "What Were We Thinking? Reflections on how Place, Personality and Process Influence Furniture Design at Beeken Parsons"
Click here for the first lecture from 6/24 with Jeff Parsons and Jared W. Poor from Beeken Parsons furnituremaking studio in Shelburne, VT on "What Were We Thinking? Reflections on how Place, Personality and Process Influence Furniture Design at Beeken Parsons"
Thursday, June 18, 2009
2009 Summer Lecture Series
Yestermorrow is pleased to announce the 10th Annual Summer Lecture Series starting Wednesday, June 24th and continuing Wednesday evenings at 7pm through the end of August. The lecture series features a wide range of professionals related to the field of design/build speaking on topics as diverse as clean energy technology, compost, furnituremaking, real estate development, energy efficiency, natural building and much more.
For a full lineup of speakers and topics can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/kk6sgg
Please join us!
p.s. lectures will also be videotaped and shown on Channel 44 here in the Mad River Valley and posted online at http://www.yestermorrow.blip.tv.
For a full lineup of speakers and topics can be found at:
http://tinyurl.com/kk6sgg
Please join us!
p.s. lectures will also be videotaped and shown on Channel 44 here in the Mad River Valley and posted online at http://www.yestermorrow.blip.tv.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Pecha Kucha comes to Yestermorrow
We had a wonderful time Saturday night at Yestermorrow's Board and Faculty meeting. Good meetings during the day, a wonderful dinner by Heidi, Carrie and Austin, and then Yestermorrow's first ever Pecha Kucha (pronounced pe-chak-cha). The concept comes from the Japanese word for "chit chat" and this idea has been sweeping the design world by storm over the past few years. The idea is to see a lot of work in a short period of time, so each presenter can choose only 20 slides, and gets 20 seconds to say whatever they want to say about each one. We had 14 presenters, including Paul Hanke, Matt O'Connell, Josh Jackson, Mac Rood, Kathy Meyer, Skip Dewhirst, Ace McArleton, Monica DiGiovanni, Hilary Russell, Rich Montena, Keith Giamportone, Jeff Schoellkopf, Dave Sellers, Tyler Kobick, and Chris Cook (for WMAP). It was a classic demonstration of the diversity of the Yestermorrow community, showing work ranging from boatbuilding to historic preservation to timberframing to furniture to large scale architecture to hydropower to photography to food!
I've combined all the slides into two short (10 minute) videos:
It's split into two halves- for Part 2 click on:
or you can watch the individual presenters in short clips at: http://yestermorrow.blip.tv.
I've combined all the slides into two short (10 minute) videos:
It's split into two halves- for Part 2 click on:
or you can watch the individual presenters in short clips at: http://yestermorrow.blip.tv.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Yestermorrow to host fabric formed concrete course
Yestermorrow and the School of Architecture and Art at Norwich University are co-sponsoring a one-week program in concrete construction. The course is built around the annual workshop of ISOFF (The International Society of Fabric Formers) which is geared towards educators, practitioners, and students. Around the globe, from cutting-edge research in universities and institutes, to contractors and architects working in the field, fabric forming is a significant new force in concrete construction.This one-week event will bring together the world's leading innovators in the field to share techniques and strategies, while forming and pouring a series of concrete architectural components that allow for high efficiency, thermally massive, durable and sustainable structures. Participants will tour local architecture projects that use fabric form work and examine case studies to learn about the science and art of building with concrete.
The workshop will be held at Yestermorrow August 24-28 and is being co-sponsored by The School of Architecture and Art at Norwich University. Participants can register for the full week-long program ($1,200) or a one day Friday session, which includes hands-on casting and tour of local structures ($150). AIA continuing education credits available. Call 888-496-5541 for more information or Register Online. Click here for the planned workshop and conference schedule.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
The chickens are here!
Our new chickens have arrived this morning! A dozen pullets raised by YM alum Cathy Rubacalba. Check out this sweet mobile coop built by our interns over the past two weeks. Once these little guys get a little bigger, we're looking forward to collecting our own homegrown eggs every morning!
The crew and the chicken tractor
More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/yestermorrowschool/Coop#
Monday, June 01, 2009
Welcome new interns!
Yestermorrow welcomed two new interns on May 18th. They have survived the past 2 weeks and are already hard at work!
Karie Reinertson--Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Karie has
lived in nearly every major city on the east and west coasts, most recently Washington, DC. While working for the Landscape Architecture Foundation, an environmental design non-profit in DC, she realized that she needed to find out more about the type of design projects she was funding, hands-on. LAF supported this decision and Karie went to southern Spain to learn straw bale building and, after another stint with LAF, she learned cob building in the Costa Rican rain forest. She’s traveled extensively throughout the United States, Southeast Asia, parts of Central America, Europe, and Egypt. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2003 and hopes to start graduate architecture school in 2010, focusing on responsible community design/build in Latin America.
Tim Terway-- Tim joins Yestermorrow from Brooklyn, NY where he was working on ecological
and urban regeneration strategies including the NYC reforestation plan, an industrial ecology and development vision for the Southwest Brooklyn waterfront, and a cultural preservation plan for the bioregionally-dependent Maasai tribes of Southern Kenya. Originally from the anthracite coal lands of Pottsville, Pennsylvania and trained as a landscape architect and city planner, he has been to 5 continents while working to reconcile the design of cities with the natural systems they're dependent on in the wake of unprecedented resource challenges. Tim will use his time at Yestermorrow to immerse himself in the beauty of learning by doing while accepting that he'll no longer have an excuse to not help is dad with any building project imaginable.
Karie Reinertson--Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Karie has
lived in nearly every major city on the east and west coasts, most recently Washington, DC. While working for the Landscape Architecture Foundation, an environmental design non-profit in DC, she realized that she needed to find out more about the type of design projects she was funding, hands-on. LAF supported this decision and Karie went to southern Spain to learn straw bale building and, after another stint with LAF, she learned cob building in the Costa Rican rain forest. She’s traveled extensively throughout the United States, Southeast Asia, parts of Central America, Europe, and Egypt. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2003 and hopes to start graduate architecture school in 2010, focusing on responsible community design/build in Latin America.Tim Terway-- Tim joins Yestermorrow from Brooklyn, NY where he was working on ecological
and urban regeneration strategies including the NYC reforestation plan, an industrial ecology and development vision for the Southwest Brooklyn waterfront, and a cultural preservation plan for the bioregionally-dependent Maasai tribes of Southern Kenya. Originally from the anthracite coal lands of Pottsville, Pennsylvania and trained as a landscape architect and city planner, he has been to 5 continents while working to reconcile the design of cities with the natural systems they're dependent on in the wake of unprecedented resource challenges. Tim will use his time at Yestermorrow to immerse himself in the beauty of learning by doing while accepting that he'll no longer have an excuse to not help is dad with any building project imaginable.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Garden Updates on Ethicurean
Check out Kitchen/Garden Intern Stephanie Pierce's update on the Ethicurean blog about her experiences so far in the Yester-garden...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
YM Alum Guthrie Smith Shares Her Story
From 2007 Home Design/Build graduate Guthrie Smith:
"Ever since I was a child, I had planned to build a house. In 1975, pregnant with my first child, I built a log cabin in Huntington woods with my partner. Sixteen years later, when I was trying to move back to Vermont, I took the summer to build a cabin with my husband-to-be (I didn’t know it at the time) in Belvidere as a retreat for me and my four children. That same year I heard about Yestermorrow and wanted in the worst way to take a class there! I really never let go of that idea, and another sixteen years later, when it was time to build a REAL house, it was clear that the Home Design/Build class was finally going to happen for me.
I came to the class with enthusiasm, motivation to learn and do, and some bare-minimum skills in the building area. I left with a great house design and the ability to make designs, some more and better building skills, and some great ideas. The class was amazing – working all day and sometimes into the night with others, all of us focused on our own visions. I learned from everyone, not just the instructors. The most important thing I got from taking the class was the confidence and excitement to actually take what I had begun and make it into what would end up my home!
I waited many years for the right time to take this class, and as much as I looked forward to it, I could never have imagined it being quite as helpful and life-changing as it was! 
I was involved in every aspect of the design of the house, practicing my newly-acquired drafting skills, and tried my hand at as much as I felt able to do in the building process. During the year of building, I did some basic carpentry work, window and door trim, laid and cut tile. Now, among other things, I’m making some shelves and cabinets, a result of another great Yestermorrow class!"
Monday, May 25, 2009
Filipino Design/Build Project
Check out this great design/build project in the Phillipines led by Yestermorrow instructor and board member Kyle Bergman and his longtime friend and collaborator Jim Hubbell. This project is part of their ongoing Pacific Rim Parks project and has been a design/build process involving Filipino architecture students over the past month. There are lots more amazing images on their blog: http://www.prppearls.blogspot.com/. The posts are chronological, so if you want to start at the beginning, go to the bottom of the page and scroll up.
A Hands-on Revolution- Financial Times feature
Financial Times- May 23, 2009
A Hands-on Revolution by Madeleine Johnson
A Hands-on Revolution by Madeleine Johnson
A few years ago Jon Biehler took a life-changing bicycle ride through the US state of Maine. He happened upon a school – the Shelter Institute – which would eventually transform him from a teacher into an architect and builder, the sort of man able to put a roof over his own head.
“[I was] already interested in building a house for myself with good construction techniques and a very open feeling [and] I realised that Shelter Institute could give me the knowledge to either contract out or take on whatever portion of the work I wanted,” recalls Biehler, who is based in Germany. “A few summers later, I took their three-week post-and-beam course.”
Enchanted by the school’s surroundings, he bought a nearby plot of land, where he erected a pre-cut 20ft by 40ft post-and-beam structure, which he finished himself, while calling in professionals for wiring and plumbing. Within three summers he had a completed vacation house, garden shed and boat house. And now, after getting “invigorated” by his summer 2008 school project – a frame cabin – he has started work on a year-round retirement home.
Read more... (Yestermorrow story starts a few paragraphs down)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
New York Times Article Hits Home
The most emailed story from the New York Times today was "The Case for Working with Your Hands." Our changing economy is one force that is apparently helping the trades look more appealing than many office desk jobs, probably for the first time in several generations. I know that as a young "knowledge worker" I often craved a visible result or a tired body from my workday. This craving, combined with my desire to learn how to approach work in a way that leaves the world a better place rather than a more toxic place, is part of what drove me to the internship program at Yestermorrow.
It's an interesting article that resonated with me when I read it. Enjoy.
It's an interesting article that resonated with me when I read it. Enjoy.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
New Regenerative Design Course: June 28-July 3
The leading edge of the sustainable building movement is beginning to push the envelope beyond the greening of conventional buildings, into the territory of regenerative design and development -- the process of integrating buildings, communities, and their inhabitants as healthy contributors to the living places of which they are a part. This course begins with the practical essentials of building system integration -- the process required to achieve affordable and effective environmental design. Deeper technical system integration will also be addressed relating to the design of buildings that function as organisms -- net positive energy generators and clean water contributors (Living Buildings).
This new course, to be taught by three pioneers in the fields of sustainable, integrated, and regenerative design -- Bill Reed, John Boecker, and Joel Glanzberg -- will provide a rare opportunity to explore the design world's cutting edge with some of the field's pre-eminent practitioners. Course dates are June 28 to July 3. Click here to learn more about the Regenerative Design & Development course. To register, click here for online registration, email shannon@yestermorrow.org or call us at 888-496-5541.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Permaculture 101
From the great Bioneers.org site:
Permaculture expert Penny Livingston-Stark shows how natural systems can teach us better design practices. Learning to work with the earth not only creates a healthier environment, it also nourishes the people who live in it.
Find more videos like this on Bioneers Community
Permaculture expert Penny Livingston-Stark shows how natural systems can teach us better design practices. Learning to work with the earth not only creates a healthier environment, it also nourishes the people who live in it.
Find more videos like this on Bioneers Community
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
May 2009 Newsletter Now Online
In this issue...
Student Profile: Mike Horgan
Upcoming Classes
Class Spotlight: Regenerative Design
Bike and Build
Fabric Formed Concrete Conference
Public Information Sessions in NYC and Philadelphia
Visit http://www.yestermorrow.org/pdf/May09newsletter.pdf view the latest Yestermorrow e-newsletter.
Student Profile: Mike Horgan
Upcoming Classes
Class Spotlight: Regenerative Design
Bike and Build
Fabric Formed Concrete Conference
Public Information Sessions in NYC and Philadelphia
Visit http://www.yestermorrow.org/pdf/May09newsletter.pdf view the latest Yestermorrow e-newsletter.
Biophilic Design Book Wins Award
Yestermorrow Board member Stephen Kellert's recent book, "Biophilic Design: the Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life" (John Wiley 2008) just won the 2008 American Publishers Award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (the PROSE awards) in the Architecture and Urban Planning category. Congrats Stephen!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Instructor Thea Alvin's show opens May 4th
Yestermorrow instructor Thea Alvin (Art of Stone, Art in the English Garden) will debut a show of drawings from her recent trip to China and the calligraphy for it at the Bees Knees in Morrisville, VT. She's also binding books of the story that she wrote home on her trip. May 4th at 6 pm.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Online Auction continues
Yestermorrow's online ART AUCTION continues this week with a piece made by Sarah Phillips entitled "Security Sunscape".
Mixed media collage created from used security envelopes.
The piece measures 9" x 7 3/4" and is signed on the back by the artist.
Approximate value is $290.
Sarah Nicole Phillips is a Toronto born, Brookly-based artist. Sarah has donated this work to Yestermorrow Design/Build School (www.yestermorrow.org) to help us raise funds for our mission to inspire people to create a better, more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative, interactive process.
Visit our eBay Giving Works auction site to place your bid today:
http://tinyurl.com/cn4cy9
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Interesting NYTimes Article on Earthquake Resistant Strawbale
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/straw-simplicity-quake-resistance/
Dot Earth: Straw + Simplicity = Quake Resistance
By By Andrew C. Revkin
Published: April 6, 2009
A shaky test reveals the strength of a simple design for safe structures in poor places.
Dot Earth: Straw + Simplicity = Quake Resistance
By By Andrew C. Revkin
Published: April 6, 2009
A shaky test reveals the strength of a simple design for safe structures in poor places.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Thoughts on Farm Design
A guest blog from Yestermorrow instructor Jesse Selman
Broad Context
A farm is a complex system that involves the movement of vast amounts of mass and energy. This warrants a certain degree of foresight. Most farmers make business plans that look years into the future. A key part of this is the articulation of goals and strategies to achieve those goals. A farm design is a spatial energetic plan that can be anything from a snapshot of the present to a multi-generational road map to a farm for the future. The key is to put goals and strategies into the context of the whole farm, watershed, foodshed, ecology, and community resilience.
Sense of Place
Understanding place begins with information gathering. It means walking the land. Watching the effects of the earth moving around the sun. Seeing wet and dry. Making lists, maps, and diagrams. Watching the animals including humans. (It can be very hard to step outside oneself, especially in the routines of agriculture. Yet it is useful to take time away from the routine in order to get the mental space needed to examine it.) Observation can lead to a deeper understanding of the system beyond what needs to get done. Cows prefer to walk up hill and towards light. People tend to not put things away if the storage place is hard to access. This roof is covered in moss, that one isn’t.
Design is a process
The challenge is applying big picture goals to the complex situation of a real farm. This is not just about a new barn or greenhouse. It is about hopes, dreams, and expectations mixed with budgets, phases, and coordinated steps towards a set of goals. A far-reaching design will create an infrastructure that is adaptable to changes in climate, economy, society, or the changing needs of the farmer and her family. The design process should be set up to mimic the dynamic reality of a farm. Make it flexible, adaptable, and useful when a set of plans gets pulled off the shelf in 10 years. The process itself can create its own benefits, such as the transfer of experience from one person’s mind to a group leading to a more stable system of shared knowledge. Tracking how decisions were made will provide useful information as ideas naturally get revisited.
Good design is the communication of ideas
At my most wonderfully inarticulate moments my wife kindly reminds me of the adage “if you can’t explain something then you don’t understand it.” I believe there are other ways to understand things that don’t involve words, but the concept is very important. The simple act of articulation brings about varied levels of understanding and points of view. It is a way to test ideas and show them to others. Perhaps one articulates the land by mapping it. That act of representing the sensory experience of a place is a powerful way for the designer to see a point of view and test ideas. The result is a sharable view that can be exchanged with apprentices, neighbors, contractors, or lenders. Simple diagrams that show a process or relationship can clarify leverage points and guide decisions of where the effort of time or money should be invested.
Innovation, beauty, and durability
At some point design becomes reality; whether that means a hedgerow or barbed wire fence. For all the practical reasons to take certain actions it can be easy to leave out the simple poetry of a clever, handsomely crafted, and rugged product. I would not consider it superfluous to take the extra time to make something special. A farmer I know recently put up some new paddocks and needed half a dozen gates. He bought some, but the ones he would pass through each day he made himself. They were composed of the left over arched tubular steel from an old greenhouse. He used the curved pieces to make an elegant series of gates that will be enjoyed for years and bring pleasure as he passes through them.
Be humble
Despite all the lofty goals we can throw at any endeavor, I will never forget the wise words once said to me as I fussed over an eighth of an inch while placing a new beam above a pig pen. The farmer watched me squint at my level and rolled her eyes. As she walked away, she called out, “Done is perfect.”
Jesse Selman will co-teach a course on Farm Design/Build this fall (October 25-November 6, 2009) at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, VT. He approaches green building and design with over a decade of experience growing food and creating and managing sustainable farmscapes. In 2003, he created Small Farm Builder offering sustainable agriculture infrastructure design and a pedagogical building experience to non-profits and small farms. He has worked with numerous farms on master plans, infrastructure implementation, housing, root cellars & farm structures. As a farmer and educator his experience ranges from animal husbandry to watershed stewardship. He currently works at Coldham & Hartman Architects - a firm committed to ecologically intelligent design – while pursuing his graduate studies in architecture.
Broad Context
A farm is a complex system that involves the movement of vast amounts of mass and energy. This warrants a certain degree of foresight. Most farmers make business plans that look years into the future. A key part of this is the articulation of goals and strategies to achieve those goals. A farm design is a spatial energetic plan that can be anything from a snapshot of the present to a multi-generational road map to a farm for the future. The key is to put goals and strategies into the context of the whole farm, watershed, foodshed, ecology, and community resilience.
Sense of Place
Understanding place begins with information gathering. It means walking the land. Watching the effects of the earth moving around the sun. Seeing wet and dry. Making lists, maps, and diagrams. Watching the animals including humans. (It can be very hard to step outside oneself, especially in the routines of agriculture. Yet it is useful to take time away from the routine in order to get the mental space needed to examine it.) Observation can lead to a deeper understanding of the system beyond what needs to get done. Cows prefer to walk up hill and towards light. People tend to not put things away if the storage place is hard to access. This roof is covered in moss, that one isn’t.
Design is a process
The challenge is applying big picture goals to the complex situation of a real farm. This is not just about a new barn or greenhouse. It is about hopes, dreams, and expectations mixed with budgets, phases, and coordinated steps towards a set of goals. A far-reaching design will create an infrastructure that is adaptable to changes in climate, economy, society, or the changing needs of the farmer and her family. The design process should be set up to mimic the dynamic reality of a farm. Make it flexible, adaptable, and useful when a set of plans gets pulled off the shelf in 10 years. The process itself can create its own benefits, such as the transfer of experience from one person’s mind to a group leading to a more stable system of shared knowledge. Tracking how decisions were made will provide useful information as ideas naturally get revisited.Good design is the communication of ideas
At my most wonderfully inarticulate moments my wife kindly reminds me of the adage “if you can’t explain something then you don’t understand it.” I believe there are other ways to understand things that don’t involve words, but the concept is very important. The simple act of articulation brings about varied levels of understanding and points of view. It is a way to test ideas and show them to others. Perhaps one articulates the land by mapping it. That act of representing the sensory experience of a place is a powerful way for the designer to see a point of view and test ideas. The result is a sharable view that can be exchanged with apprentices, neighbors, contractors, or lenders. Simple diagrams that show a process or relationship can clarify leverage points and guide decisions of where the effort of time or money should be invested.
Innovation, beauty, and durability
At some point design becomes reality; whether that means a hedgerow or barbed wire fence. For all the practical reasons to take certain actions it can be easy to leave out the simple poetry of a clever, handsomely crafted, and rugged product. I would not consider it superfluous to take the extra time to make something special. A farmer I know recently put up some new paddocks and needed half a dozen gates. He bought some, but the ones he would pass through each day he made himself. They were composed of the left over arched tubular steel from an old greenhouse. He used the curved pieces to make an elegant series of gates that will be enjoyed for years and bring pleasure as he passes through them.
Be humble
Despite all the lofty goals we can throw at any endeavor, I will never forget the wise words once said to me as I fussed over an eighth of an inch while placing a new beam above a pig pen. The farmer watched me squint at my level and rolled her eyes. As she walked away, she called out, “Done is perfect.”
Jesse Selman will co-teach a course on Farm Design/Build this fall (October 25-November 6, 2009) at the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, VT. He approaches green building and design with over a decade of experience growing food and creating and managing sustainable farmscapes. In 2003, he created Small Farm Builder offering sustainable agriculture infrastructure design and a pedagogical building experience to non-profits and small farms. He has worked with numerous farms on master plans, infrastructure implementation, housing, root cellars & farm structures. As a farmer and educator his experience ranges from animal husbandry to watershed stewardship. He currently works at Coldham & Hartman Architects - a firm committed to ecologically intelligent design – while pursuing his graduate studies in architecture.
Monday, March 30, 2009
A great quote from Vitruvius
Our Board Chair and Instructor Mac Rood recently sent along this great quote from the first century Roman architect Vitruvius in his introduction to The Ten Books of Architecture. I think it articulates well the importance of the design/build approach-- clearly something which is not new, but in fact reflects an ancient practice.
The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgment that all work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child of practice and theory. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise of employment where manual work is done with any necessary material according to the design of the drawing. Theory, on the other hand, is the ability to demonstrate and explain the productions of dexterity on the principles of proportion.
It follows, therefore, that architects who have aimed at acquiring manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a position of authority to correspond to their pains, while those who relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the shadow, not the substance. But those who have a thorough knowledge of both, like men armed at all point, have the sooner attained their object and carried authority with them.
The architect should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgment that all work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child of practice and theory. Practice is the continuous and regular exercise of employment where manual work is done with any necessary material according to the design of the drawing. Theory, on the other hand, is the ability to demonstrate and explain the productions of dexterity on the principles of proportion.
It follows, therefore, that architects who have aimed at acquiring manual skill without scholarship have never been able to reach a position of authority to correspond to their pains, while those who relied only upon theories and scholarship were obviously hunting the shadow, not the substance. But those who have a thorough knowledge of both, like men armed at all point, have the sooner attained their object and carried authority with them.
Courses for AIA Sustainable Design Credit
Yestermorrow Design/Build School offers architects an excellent opportunity to take classes to fulfill their AIA requirements. This is an opportune time to build on a firm’s strengths, add to employees’ areas of competence, or fill in gaps in skills. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) requires that all members participate in continuing education, and in 2009 introduced a new requirement of 4 units of Sustainable Design. Yestermorrow is a Registered Continuing Education Systems Provider through the AIA and has been offering courses on the topic of sustainable design for nearly 30 years.
Yestermorrow Design/Build School offers over fifty 1-day, 2-day, 1-week, and 2-week courses that fulfill AIA Continuing Education requirements. AIA members are required to take 18 units of continuing education per year, including 8 units of Health, Safety, and Welfare. Many states also require additional learning units to maintain registration of one’s architecture license.
Some Yestermorrow courses that meet the AIA’s Sustainable Design requirements include Green Development Best Practices, Constructed Wetlands, and Real Time Building Energy Analysis. A full listing of Yestermorrow’s AIA credit courses is available at www.yestermorrow.org/aia-ces.htm. The AIA Board instituted the requirement for Sustainable Design credits in response to the issue of climate change and the impact of buildings on carbon emissions. The requirement became effective at the beginning of 2009 and extends through 2012.
Founded in 1980, the mission of Yestermorrow is to inspire people to create a better more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative interactive process. Yestermorrow is committed to providing educational opportunities for practicing professionals and students in the fields of architecture, environmental design, fine arts, landscape design, engineering, and planning. The School’s goal is to expand the horizons of those already in the design and construction field, and to deepen their understanding of the interrelationships between the design process and the construction process.
Yestermorrow Design/Build School offers over fifty 1-day, 2-day, 1-week, and 2-week courses that fulfill AIA Continuing Education requirements. AIA members are required to take 18 units of continuing education per year, including 8 units of Health, Safety, and Welfare. Many states also require additional learning units to maintain registration of one’s architecture license.
Some Yestermorrow courses that meet the AIA’s Sustainable Design requirements include Green Development Best Practices, Constructed Wetlands, and Real Time Building Energy Analysis. A full listing of Yestermorrow’s AIA credit courses is available at www.yestermorrow.org/aia-ces.htm. The AIA Board instituted the requirement for Sustainable Design credits in response to the issue of climate change and the impact of buildings on carbon emissions. The requirement became effective at the beginning of 2009 and extends through 2012.
Founded in 1980, the mission of Yestermorrow is to inspire people to create a better more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative interactive process. Yestermorrow is committed to providing educational opportunities for practicing professionals and students in the fields of architecture, environmental design, fine arts, landscape design, engineering, and planning. The School’s goal is to expand the horizons of those already in the design and construction field, and to deepen their understanding of the interrelationships between the design process and the construction process.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Yestermorrow Announces Advisory Board
Five nationally and internationally recognized leaders in architecture, green building, energy and the environment have agreed to serve on Yestermorrow's newly announced Advisory Board.
Bill McDonough - is an internationally renowned designer and one of the primary proponents and shapers of what he and his partners call 'The Next Industrial Revolution.' Mr. McDonough is the founding principal of William McDonough + Partners, an internationally recognized design firm practicing ecologically, socially, and economically intelligent architecture and planning in the U.S. and abroad.
Bill McKibben - is an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks associated with human genetic engineering. He is the author of The End of Nature, and Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. He is a Scholar in Residence at Vermont's Middlebury College and is a leader in the movement to raise awareness about and combat climate change.
Dan Reicher - is the Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for Google.org which works to advance policy in the areas of climate change and energy, global poverty, and global health. Dan has been a dedicated public servant, holding the post of Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from 1997 - 2001, among many other positions with the DOE.
Dave Sellers - is a practicing architect in Warren, VT (Sellers and Co.), and was named as one of the 100 foremost architects in the world by Architectural Digest. Mr. Sellers' body of work includes 46 years of continuous experiments and designs from architecture to industrial design, from town planning to research and teaching. In addition to former teaching positions at Yale and MIT, Dave has been an influential instructor at Yestermorrow for nearly 20 years.
Sylvia Smith - is a Senior Partner at FXFOWLE Architects and directs the firm's Cultural/Educational Studio which has won numerous awards for design excellence. She believes that every project, regardless of type or size, can make an architectural move that empowers it and enlivens the experiences of people who visit or pass by. Her current work includes the redesign of the Lincoln Center public spaces and the expansion of the Juilliard School (with Diller Scofidio + Renfro), the Lion House reconstruction and the Jose E. Serrano Center for Global Conservation, both at the Bronx Zoo.
It's an honor for the School to have such a high caliber of supporters and advisors. You can read their full biographies on our website.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
When I'm not on the clock...
I've been working on a mobile drafting kit that I can take back and forth with me to the studio and the chalet. It started as our shop orientation project and found a life of its own. I entered it into the "Outside of the Box" contest on FineWoodworking.com. Check it out if you'd like.
Tim's mobile drafting kit
My next personal project is a rolling tool cart that I can stack all of my individual tool boxes on. I think I'd like to incorporate some beefed up shoji screens as well as some green wood and maybe some turnings. Stay tuned.
Tim's mobile drafting kit
My next personal project is a rolling tool cart that I can stack all of my individual tool boxes on. I think I'd like to incorporate some beefed up shoji screens as well as some green wood and maybe some turnings. Stay tuned.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Vote for Sprawl Free Vermont
Dear friends of Yestermorrow,
We're partnering with Dave Sellers on a proposal to create a statewide design competition to create fossil fuel free communities. Over the past few years Dave has taught a Yestermorrow course on Sustainable Communities of the Future, and this proposal is a natural outgrowth of that work.
Sprawl Free Vermont is a collaborative organization seeking to unite the rail towns of Vermont under a cohesive design forum to fortify and enrich the ecosystem of environmental and human community. All Vermont public schools, colleges and community groups will be invited to participate in an annual design competition to develop strategies for designing and implementing revised and new configurations for communities that will last for 500 years plus with minimum to zero requirement for fossil fuels to support civic societies that can change and evolve over time. Emphasis will be focused on adjusting and generating new technologies, but maintaining important traditions, artistic integrity and respect for natural and civil interactions between residents, businesses, craft and manufacturing.
The overall goal of Sprawl Free Vermont is to generate interest and awareness of the opportunities and creativity available world wide, regionally, and locally for long-term human settlement that does not invade, damage, limit, exhaust resources, or pollute the planet. Ultimately, Sprawl Free Vermont seeks to recognize creative and inclusive configurations that challenge and inspire future change, yet recognize important, unique aspects of the Vermont cultural and environmental landscape.
You can support this proposal with your vote-- the proposals which receive the most public support will be considered for a $200,000 grant from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.Just click here- it's easy:http://www.justmeans.com/competitionidea/10222/promoteidea.html
We're partnering with Dave Sellers on a proposal to create a statewide design competition to create fossil fuel free communities. Over the past few years Dave has taught a Yestermorrow course on Sustainable Communities of the Future, and this proposal is a natural outgrowth of that work.
Sprawl Free Vermont is a collaborative organization seeking to unite the rail towns of Vermont under a cohesive design forum to fortify and enrich the ecosystem of environmental and human community. All Vermont public schools, colleges and community groups will be invited to participate in an annual design competition to develop strategies for designing and implementing revised and new configurations for communities that will last for 500 years plus with minimum to zero requirement for fossil fuels to support civic societies that can change and evolve over time. Emphasis will be focused on adjusting and generating new technologies, but maintaining important traditions, artistic integrity and respect for natural and civil interactions between residents, businesses, craft and manufacturing.
The overall goal of Sprawl Free Vermont is to generate interest and awareness of the opportunities and creativity available world wide, regionally, and locally for long-term human settlement that does not invade, damage, limit, exhaust resources, or pollute the planet. Ultimately, Sprawl Free Vermont seeks to recognize creative and inclusive configurations that challenge and inspire future change, yet recognize important, unique aspects of the Vermont cultural and environmental landscape.
You can support this proposal with your vote-- the proposals which receive the most public support will be considered for a $200,000 grant from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.Just click here- it's easy:http://www.justmeans.com/competitionidea/10222/promoteidea.html
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
What's going on?
The Yestermorrow interns have been busy with various projects and classes around the campus lately, so I thought I'd post what we're all up to. Will, Tressa and Stephanie spent time in Architectural Woodcarving this past week with Bill Schnute. Bill is a great guy and an amazing wood carver. It was incredible to see people's progress in only one week's instruction. Tressa's fish is a great example of what was accomplished. Zach and Kendall were participating in the NESEA Building Energy Conference in Boston, so I spent the majority of my week fixing broken tools. I'm into that type of thing, so it was fun.
This week, Kendall and Tressa are taking Beginning Furnituremaking, so Stephanie wrangled the remaining three of us and put us to work on gardening preparation: building straw bale cold frames, garden siting and compost area clearing. Now that the snow has left the garden patch, she has a better idea of what she is working with (and up against). Herb planting boxes are next on the list, and we've found some barky slabs that we're planning on using for them.
Tomorrow, we'll head up to Randy Taplin's shop to continue working on the router table we've been redesigning and building with him. Randy has been great in teaching us traditional cabinetry methods and skiing with us on his property. The views up there are out of hand, and our new router table will be almost too nice to use (or abuse) when it's finished.I'm signed up for Efficiency by Design this weekend and am really looking forward to it. I'm fairly new to building efficiency and this class is purported to be a knowledge bomb that I hope will help Stephanie and me out when we're looking to build our own home one day. I would love it if we could have a home one day that met all of it's own needs and ours without negatively affecting other people and the environment.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Yestermorrow Partners with Green Mountain College on Renewable Energy and EcoDesign program
Starting in the fall of 2009, Green Mountain College in Poultney, VT will offer a certificate program in Renewable Energy and EcoDesign (REED). Undergraduate students at GMC have the opportunity to explore the renewable energy and green building fields through the REED program. It reflects the same characteristics as GMC’s award-winning Environmental Liberal Arts curriculum: the program is field-based and interdisciplinary. GMC has partnered with Yestermorrow Design/Build School and Solar Energy International to provide an external 3-credit practicum to offer REED students real-world technical training in building and alternative energy systems. The program is open to GMC students in any major and is made up of 18 credits of coursework.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Timberframing Part 3: The Raising
In the past two parts of my timberframing primer, I wrote about theory, layout and some joinery. In this post, I'm going to talk a little bit about the raising of the 10 x 8 shed we built (mostly - we didn't get to the rafters). The first thing to know is that raising is a community event. It takes a bit of group strength and coordination to lift hundreds of pounds of hemlock into position safely - our instructors were extremely experienced in handling structures much larger than our shed.
Most all of our joints were too tight and had to be tweaked before they fit well. After one bent's joints were satisfactory, we tilted it into place. Major rules for lifting these beasts are:
Enjoy.
Most all of our joints were too tight and had to be tweaked before they fit well. After one bent's joints were satisfactory, we tilted it into place. Major rules for lifting these beasts are:- One person is in charge and everyone listens to him/her.
- Don't lift if you don't have to. (use crowbars and levers when possible)
- Don't lift timbers alone. Ever.
Enjoy.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Permaculture Project Wanted
Interested in a permaculture design for your property, but don't have time to come take our 2-week Permaculture Design Certification course? Here's a great opportunity for you... one of the students in the upcoming class (who also happens to be a Yestermorrow stone masonry instructor) is looking for a project to focus on in our upcoming April Permaculture class.
Dan Bermingham owns a small landscaping company in Huntington, VT focused on organic landcare, stonework, and permaculture design and installation. If you would be interested in working with Dan to design a permaculture landcape for your land at a steep discounted rate, please email Dan at smallaxelandcare@hotmail.com -- the sooner the better! Small Axe Landcare website: http://www.smallaxellc.com/
Dan Bermingham owns a small landscaping company in Huntington, VT focused on organic landcare, stonework, and permaculture design and installation. If you would be interested in working with Dan to design a permaculture landcape for your land at a steep discounted rate, please email Dan at smallaxelandcare@hotmail.com -- the sooner the better! Small Axe Landcare website: http://www.smallaxellc.com/
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