Big Ideas about Small Spaces, by Andreas Stavropoulos

I am pleased to introduce a new course for Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Designing Small Living Spaces is a course that has been years in the making.

The origin of the course lies in the frustration of bigness. Bigness, to borrow the term from Rem Koolhaus, permeates all aspects of American culture. Bigness of portions, bigness of vehicles, and bigness in homes are just a few, and they are leading to bigness of problems. Sadly, bigness begets bigness, and, until now, there were few constraints of just how big that bigness could get. In the last 50 years our culture has been flooded with propaganda equating size with quality, explicitly encouraged by big business and tacitly condoned by the government.

However, of late, there have been many big signs that all is not well in our culture of bigness. The recent big drop in the stock market, as well as the big credit crunch, have given us big cause for concern. Big increases in oil prices and food prices may cause big changes in the way that we fuel ourselves and our transportation. At the same time that we are painfully discovering these limits to bigness, there are a number of rapidly growing small movements afoot. A doubling in the number of farmer's markets over the past 5 years is a big step in the direction of smallness. Big advances in wind power technology and solar are allowing more power to be produced on a local scale.

So when I proposed a class to teach some big ideas about smallness, Yestermorrow was enthusiastic, of course, in a big way.

Designing Small Living Spaces is offered as a week-long course at Yestermorrow as way to demonstrate that quality design can allow us to design, build and get big rewards out of small spaces. In the course, we will look at domestic and international examples of how cultures and individuals have designed small dwellings. Some of the dwellings are iconoclastic while others are miniaturized versions of the white picket fence concept. We'll look at students' individual situations, and generate big ideas on how to solve them. We'll generate small sparks of genius and deliver big doses of encouragement as students work together to apply big ideas to small spaces.

(Andreas X. Stavropoulos is an airstream-dweller, cargo trailer remodeler, tipi aficionado who works by day as a landscape architect to combat bigness by designing small spaces for people in Berkeley, CA)

Yestermorrow Instructor Featured at Longwood Gardens

If life is driving you up a tree this spring, you might take a trip to Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania (visit http://www.longwoodgardens.org/NaturesCastles.html) and check out their treehouse exhibition--three very cool arbor abodes. If you like what you see and want to build one of your own, there is no better place to come than Yestermorrow. In fact, one of the lead builders of the Longwood structures is our very own Eyrich Stauffer. And he and Erik Hegre will teaching a class in Sustainable Treehouse Design and Construction on May 4-11th.

Other Yestermorrowians working on this project include:

Ben Cheney (YM instructor and former intern 2003)
Jay Tarlecki (intern 2006)
Christian Peterson (intern 2005)
Eric Stevens (alumnus)
Dan Wheeler (intern 2007)
Josh Jackson (instructor)
Skip Dewhirst (instructor)

Congratulations to all of you on job well done!

Bob Ferris

Instructor Ben Falk Featured on FastCompany.com

Yestermorrow instructor Ben Falk was recently profiled on www.FastCompany.com along with his business Whole Systems Design of Moretown, VT. Falk teaches a variety of courses at Yestermorrow, including Design for Climate Change and Biofuels. Read the full article here. Congratulations Ben!

Let's Face It!

With social networking being all the rage, how could Yestermorrow be left behind? The answer to that question is: We just won't. So now in among the sundry alumni pages featured on Facebook you will now find a Yestermorrow page too. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14368031554&ref=mf

Visit the page. Sign up and start communicating with your fellow Yestermorrowites (Yestermorrowians?).

Enjoy,

Bob Ferris

Yestermorrow Seeks Campus Master Planning Intern

We have a special opportunity which has recently come to our attention. As you may have heard, we are embarking on the first phase of our expansion plan to build a new shop in the spring of 2009. We have just sent out an RFP to recruit an integrated design/build firm to lead this process. Plus we are still continuing to refine our campus master plan which the folks from the Conway School of Landscape Design helped us with last year.

We are looking for a special Yestermorrow intern to work under the direction of the Building and Grounds committee to help prepare site plans, document our existing conditions, and help with the permitting and planning process. This could count for IDP credits (for architecture students). Ideally we’d like to find someone who can commit to 20 hours/week for 4 months, but could also work with someone for a shorter time period more intensively if it worked better for their schedule. We don't have lodging available on campus but could offer a camping spot or help you find a place in town.
We are still working out some of the details, but if you're interested in learning more about this new opportunity, please email kate@yestermorrow.org.

Here’s the scope of the project as we have defined it so far:
1) Creating a unified format set of plans of the various master plans and visions over the past 10 years.
2) Gathering all current base information, and putting it in uniform format- Survey and topo info, ANR GIS info, soils, hydrology, vegetation. Updating more detailed mapping of the "campground" and other misc structures and gardens, trails, etc. Updated plans of the chalet existing conditions. Updated plans of the school building existing conditions. All official permit plans and Act 250 submission, wastewater and water permitting information, etc.
3) Developing massing, grading, and site layout for the school zone master plan. Developing utilities infrastructure plan for the campus. Develop a base "permaculture plan" for the central green and school zone areas, including locating existing trees and making a plan as to which stay and which go.
4) Develop a soft costs budget, to further planning, engineering, and permitting that will be necessary to make progress with plans.
5) Develop models, plans, CAD models, etc that will be useful in fundraising efforts.
The Campus Master Planning intern will work under the guidance of the Buildings and Grounds committee (which meets approximately bi-weekly) and document the process of the committee.

Go AIA, Go Green

A few years ago I attended my wife's 20-year reunion for a year that she spent overseas in Florence, Italy. This was an arts and architecture year abroad so many attending the event in Venice (CA) were now architects including my wife. As I cruised around the party I talked with many architects and asked them how often their designs included solar panels. As this event was in Southern California, I was surprised that the response was often: We love solar panels and will include them in our designs as long as our clients as for them.
I was a little taken aback. If architects are not aggressively recommending solar panels, who will? While I was going through this, the AIA (American Institute of Architects) was also taking a look at how green building and sustainability were being taught at architecture schools. Their conclusions were similar to mine: more needed to be done in this arena. Architects need to know about sustainability and green building and need to sell it in the same breath that they are selling good design.

My response to this need has been to push our students at Yestermorrow Design/Build School harder and harder as it relates to these important educational threads--and to offer more courses in these areas. And the AIA's response is outlined below. Great move AIA, please let us know how we can help!

CES Sustainability Requirement – NEW!

During the March 2008 AIA National Board of Directors meeting, it was approved that beginning January 1, 2009 the AIA would require all members to complete four (4) hours of sustainable design. These 4 Sustainable Design (SD) hours would be included as part of the current 8 hour / HSW requirement. They are not additional hours to the 18/8 LU hours that the AIA already requires. This requirement would run until 2012, at which time it will be evaluated.
The AIA is currently finalizing the rules of Sustainable Design (SD) Learning Units. During the course of this summer the AIA/CES will be establishing the infrastructure for CES providers to determine, register, and report their future continuing education courses to qualify for Sustainable Design (SD) learning units. These rules will be based upon the following definition.
Sustainable Design (SD) Learning UnitsSustainable design is achieved through an integrated design and delivery process that enhances the natural and built environment by using energy sensibly with a goal toward carbon neutrality, improves air and water quality, protects and preserves water and other resources, and creates environments, communities and buildings that are livable, comfortable, productive, diverse, safe, and provide enduring value to our community and society as a whole.

To qualify as Sustainable Design learning units, the content must meet 4 thresholds:
It must address the AIA definition of sustainability.
It must be a structured (third-party) program (i.e. no self-study).
At least 75% of program content must qualify as HSW.
Its primary purpose must address at least one of the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Measures of Sustainable Design and Performance Metrics
Examples: Design & Innovation; Regional/Community Design; Land Use & Site Ecology; Bioclimatic Design; Light & Air; Water Cycle; Energy Flows & Energy Future; and Materials & Construction to reduce product-cycle environmental impacts and optimize occupant health and comfort.

If you feel that your CES Provider courses will qualify as Sustainable Design (SD) learning units please plan on providing that information to the AIA/CES Records Center this fall once we announce the procedures. Additional progress reports will be offered in coming issues of the CES Provider Connection as well as the AIA/CES website. NO action is necessary at this time.

Invest in Something Positive

The coming paper flurry known as the economic stimulus checks will tempt many Americans to apply those checks towards the frivolous and ephemeral. We at Yestermorrow would urge all to take a moment and take a breath before casting this "bread" on just any passing waters. Our counsel would be to invest that money in change for the better. So what would that be? How about plunking it down to support your local farmer's market or a non-profit trying to make a difference in your neighborhood or the world (hint: Yestermorrow)? Or how about investing in yourself through taking a class at somewhere that will change your life (hint: Yestermorrow).

This idea of enriching the world or your small chunk of the globe with these funds is catching fire and groups such as Keep it in Vermont (http://www.keepitinvermont.org) are full of great ideas of how you can invest these funds locally in a manner that will last much longer than that cashmere sweater or weekend at the spa. Pony up and be the change.

Meet our current staff and interns

Here's a shot of the current Yestermorrow crew (with apologies to Carol, our bookkeeper, who wasn't here today for the photo). From left to right: Back row: Adam, Scott, Josh, Erin, Bob, Austin, Lawry; Front row: Dave, Heidi, Kate, Dan, Monica, Ted, Courtney.

Bill McKibben Strikes Again

Bill McKibben--Advisory Council member and general friend of Yestermorrow--is launching a new initiative that all folks should pay attention to. Check out the below for a message from Bill and links to his new intiative:

http://www.350.org/

A Letter From Bill McKibben

Dear friends,

350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.

We're planning an international campaign to unite the world around the number 350, and we need your help. We need to make sure that the solutions the world proposes to climate change are to scale with the level of crisis that this number represents. Everyone on earth, from the smallest village to the cushiest corner office needs to know what 350 means. The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable.

What we need most right now are your ideas for how to take the number 350 and drive it home: in art, in music, in political demonstrations, in any other way you can imagine. We will connect actions all around the world and make them add up to more than the sum of their parts–but we don't have all the ideas and all the inspiration. We need yours. 350.org@gmail.com
We could also use your help spreading 350. Can you contact anyone you think might be interested and willing to help–in every country on earth–and send them our way? 350.org@gmail.com

Many thanks,

Bill McKibben and the 350.org crew.

Yestermorrow Plays Key Role in Local Actions to Fight Global Warming

From the Feb. 27th edition of the Barre/Montpelier Times Argus:

Valley Towns Tackle Global Warming

February 27, 2008

By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau

WARREN – From abolishing nuclear weapons to impeaching the president of the United States, Vermonters have long used their town meetings to weigh in on matters of national scope.

On Tuesday, in the Mad River Valley, at least three towns will tackle the issue of global warming. But for Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston, the ballot measures have a decidedly local focus. According to backers of a plan to reduce carbon emissions in the Valley by 10 percent, this rural Vermont enclave is as good a place as any to start solving the international climate-change crisis.

"We wanted to test out a prototype approach for organizing people and getting them to start changing behaviors," says Bob Ferris, head of the Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren. "… The assumption is that towns, and the elected set of officials representing our government, should take a leadership role in this, and people see what's going on and adopt it in their own lives."

Ferris is among the founding members of "Carbon Shredders," the coalition of Valley residents that petitioned to have the carbon-reducing articles on town meeting warnings in Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston. Moretown may consider the measures from the floor.

All three towns will consider a nonbinding resolution to reduce the energy use and carbon emissions of residents, businesses and institutions by 10 percent by 2010. Warren will also vote on two additional articles: one mandates town participation in the so-called "10 by 10" effort; the other asks voters to appropriate $600 to Carbon Shredders to help fund the group's Valley-wide effort.

Gregor Barnham is head of the corporate responsibility division at the Burlington-based company Seventh Generation and a Carbon Shredders founder. As a Valley resident, Barnham wanted to incorporate the firm's "footprint" mitigation efforts into his own community.

"I thought it'd be fun to start this group and use it as a launching pad – Can we get the whole valley to reduce its carbon footprint by 10 percent by 2010?'" Barnham said.

It's still unclear exactly what Valley residents are signing on for. Barnham says the carbon-reduction mandate will assume whatever form its participants choose.

"It means something different for everybody," he says. "How many showers you take a day, the insulation in the house, buying food locally … You can actually find ways to reduce your energy consumption just by paying attention to what you're doing."

Calculating the amount of energy saved – and carbon sequestered – means voluntary participation in a Web-based carbon-tracking system. By inputting various behavioral changes into a tracking site, Valley residents as a whole will be able to quantify their impact.

"We can have this whole thing reported, and it becomes inspirational in the rest of the country," Barnham says.

Barry Simpson is a longtime selectman in Warren. He says he supports the underlying concept behind the articles but is wary of the measure that mandates 10-percent energy reduction in town facilities. While the town will continue to pursue good environmental practices, Simpson says, selectmen cannot do so at the cost of Warren's fiscal health.

"I believe they're going to amend that so that rather than mandating it, it would be expressed in terms of the town's ability to accomplish that within future budget constraints," Simpson says.

Still, Simpson says environmental and economic interests often overlap. The town has already sought energy efficiencies in its operations, and he says it welcomes the expertise of the Carbon Shredders in finding even more.

"This is a group that certainly has a lot of creditability in terms of what its members have done and achieved previously," Simpson says.

Barnham says the Carbon Shredders will follow the Town Meeting Day vote with a March 18 event preparing residents for the carbon-reducing program. Teams of about 10 people will be sent off to train other Valley residents on carbon-reduction measures.

"We'll begin to see if the ripple effect actually works," Barnham says. "We'll have a Web site, and we're looking at a marketing-buzz strategy to keep people going."

By reframing global warming as a local-warming issue, Ferris says, residents may recognize the benefits, or hazards, of their own personal behavior.

"I think may people think it doesn't really matter, or it's such a big issue they may feel disempowered," Ferris says. "But when they see the needle start to drop on their own carbon usage, it gives you hope … The point is to get people to start thinking."

Yestermorrow on the Today Show!

Well... our banner showed up on national TV. Many thanks to our intrepid volunteers, interns, and staff for braving the zero-degree mountain top temps early this morning.

January 2008 Newsletter Archive

Check out our January 2008 e-newsletter!

In This Issue
Yestermorrow Profile: John Abrams
Hands-on Education: Cabinets and Built-ins
Yestermorrow on YouTube

Yestermorrow Welcomes New Facilities Manager Dave Warren

We are very pleased to announce that Dave Warren has come on board as Yestermorrow's new Facilities Manager. With a firm belief in the importance of a creative collaborative relationship between design and building, Dave has found a home at Yestermorrow. He has over 35 years experience in residential and light commercial construction in Oregon as owner/operator of a custom building company and most recently in Vermont as carpenter to project manager for a couple of local contractors. In addition to the use of hand tools and the employment of responsible building practices, Dave enjoys making music, sailing, and politics. He looks forward to sharing this with the folks at Yestermorrow. We are very pleased to have someone of his experience and caliber on our staff.

The Prickly Mountain Gang Rides Again

If Yestermorrow is the tree of all design/build knowledge--and we think there are strong arguments that it is--then it also should be argued that this metaphorical tree has its roots firmly buried in Prickly Mountain. The boys and girls who have called that hallowed mound home are the stuff of legends and are still deeply involved in Yestermorrow. To learn more about their exploits please visit:http://www.wishtank.org/magazine/commons/prickly_mountain_gang_freedom_in_architecture/

While reading the story you will see names of folks who have served on our board, taught our classes, lent their children to us a interns, and helped us refine our mission and master planning process. Thank you Prickly for feeding our roots and leading by example. Long live Prickly Mountain!



Bob Ferris

Doing Good In and Out of the Classroom/Studio/Shop

One of Yestermorrow's great strengths is our steadfast commitment to community exemplified by our own work in the Mad River Valley and by our courses in responsible community development and design. There is no true measure for the impact of these activities, but one indication that what we are doing is being noticed are mentions of our work and actions in The Valley Reporter--our Valley's weekly paper (http://www.valleyreporter.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=5&Itemid=38).

And this week was a big one for Yestermorrow:

Page 6: Article on Yestermorrow's new catalog for spring/summer classes

Page 11: Nearly full-page coverage with one article on taking personal responsibility for your carbon footprint and another on the actions of the Mad River Valley Carbon Shredders in putting forth climate change resolutions in 3 out of the 4 Valley towns in preparation for town meeting day. The Carbon Shredders were brought together by a team of folks from 7th Generation, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Yestermorrow. The Carbon Shredders use Yestermorrow as their clubhouse.

Page 12: Covers the recent developments regarding the purchase and conservation of the Kingsbury Farm. Here again, Yestermorrow was involved and we have provided meeting space for the steering committee and are currently managing the farm property until suitable buyer or buyers can be located (http://www.kingsburycommunityfarm.org/).

Page 14: Has a full page spread on the Souper Bowl which was a fundraising event for the Mad River Valley Localvore Project. If you look close on the page you can see a picture of Yestermorrow's own Dan Eckstein. Kate Stephenson is very active in the group and they frequently use our conference room for meetings (http://www.vermontlocalvore.org/).

We do all of this because we believe in what we teach at Yestermorrow and we hope that others will follow these examples and undertake similar efforts in their own backyards.

Good luck on your efforts!

Bob Ferris

Doing Good in the Dominican Republic

This 17-day design/build adventure is focusing on a rural community project for the Women's Club of the Future of El Rincon. The Women's Club is dedicated to strengthening their community by creating opportunities for their residents, especially their young adults. Their projects include utilizing the nearby Laguna Del Diablo as a guided tourist hike through steep mountain farmland offering an experience of rural Dominican culture. They also offer public sewing machines (with instruction), and rainwater harvesting for public use.

The class project is to create a gathering area where both the local community and a burgeoning eco-tourist community can congregate. The design challenge is to make the site inviting for tourist vehicles that pass by on their way to famously beautiful Rincon Beach, as well as create a shaded public place for the residents of El Rincon. The site is in the middle of the small village.

See pictures of the class in action, and read more about the impact the class is having here.

Moving forward

As planet earth begins a new rotation, and the calendar signifies a new year, my thoughts naturally turn to the lengthening days ahead, despite the bitter cold temperatures that seem to have frozen everything, including time, in place.

A new year means many things. Resolutions. Tax time. Time for change. Fresh starts. Personal reflection. Opportunity for growth.

It seems that I'm not the only one looking ahead. The phone here at Yestermorrow has been ringing non-stop. Our new Spring/Summer '08 Course Catalog has just been sent out and posted on our website. Late winter and early spring is a great time to dig into oneself: learn a new skill or hone an old one; push a boundary or comfort zone; or turn a dream into a reality.

Yestermorrow is stretching its wings as well. Out of our 79 courses for the '08 Spring/Summer Semester, 14 of them are new, including Ecological Water Systems, Deconstruction and Material Re-Use, and Designing Small Living Spaces. We constantly make efforts to improve our offerings and respond to the learning needs of our students. As our mission says, we strive to inspire people to create a better, more sustainable world.

Like I've said here before, change is good. Each one of us has a fresh opportunity to change our world and make it a better place, and make ourselves better along the way. Happy New Year and Carpe Diem!

Yestermorrow Instructor Bert Yankielun's Book Hits the Streets

Yestermorrow is excited to announce that instructor Bert Yankielun's book, How to Build an Igloo, and Other Snow Shelters is hot off the presses. Bert has been teaching the Igloo Design/Build course at Yestermorrow since 2004. He's been featured in a recent issue of Architecture Week with an excerpt from the book, and in 2005 his Yestermorrow class was featured in the NY Times Travel section. In his regular day job, Bert is an electrical engineer designing and using ground-penetrating radar with the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, NH, or participating in scientific expeditions to Arctic Alaska, Greenland, and Antarctica. Yestermorrow will offer its annual 1-day Igloo Design/Build workshop on Saturday, March 1, 2008. The course is open to students of all ages and the tuition is only $50 per family.

Friend of Yestermorrow offers Internship in Ghana

This from Anthony Broese, a Yestermorrow grad from Australia who is doing some great community development work in Africa.

"I'm writing to inform you of the project commencing in January 2008 in Ghana. Basically the project is about peace building through food security. This means that it has many faces. Landscape design and restoration will be addressed through permaculture. There is also an aspect of peace building and conflict resolution and using art as a form of expression. I wanted to offer the opportunity to people interested in these issues to intern/ volunteer on the project.Within the scope of permaculture we will also address water and sanitation, and hopefully, if the right skilled people present themselves, building. We are in the midst of registering this as an NGO but in the mean time the project is also being run by the two other NGOs I am working with whom are registered. They are, Aliamos an Australian based NGO and Self Help Initiative for Sustainable Development (SHIFSD) a local Liberian NGO (we are working with the Ghanaian branch). "

For more information, contact Anthony directly at abroese@gmail.com.

3rd Annual Exhibition and Sale

We are busy this week getting ready for the 3rd Annual Yestermorrow Exhibition and Sale: Art from the Yestermorrow Community. Once again we will feature an amazing lineup of artists from Yestermorrow's talented crew of instructors, interns, staff and board. Our Main Studio will be magically transformed next Saturday into an art gallery and we will celebrate with a public reception and opening with wine and cheese from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, December 15th. The show will stay up for one week and is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through the 22nd.

This year's show includes furniture from wood and metal, functional ceramics, photography, jewelry, watercolors, prints, wood carvings, stained glass, collage, light fixtures, mixed media, and oils. Featured artists will include Michael Sullivan, Benjamin Cheney, B'fer Roth, Yumiko Virant, Art Schaller, Monica DiGiovanni, Carl Bates, Dave Sellers, Robin Foster, Randy Taplin, John Anderson, Ted Montgomery, Carrie Burr, Dick Montague, Diana Nicholas, William Schnute, Larry Jacquette, Nadia Khan, Chris Gabriel, Anya Domlesky and Dan Wheeler.

This featured piece is stained glass by Nadia Khan, a former Yestermorrow intern from 2005. In addition to creating custom stained-glass pieces in her spare time, she is also a carpenter and treehouse builder.