Yestermorrow Launches Semester Program in Sustainable Design/Build

Yestermorrow and UMass Amherst will offer a cutting-edge semester program this fall as an alternative to typical “study-abroad” options.

Starting in late August 2011, Yestermorrow’s Semester in Sustainable Design/Build will give 15 undergraduate students from diverse colleges and universities a chance to immerse themselves in the hands-on process of collaboratively designing and building an architecturally innovative, high-performance “green” structure.

Students will explore what sustainability really means and looks like, in practice, through an intensive semester-long experience. Throughout the term, students will wrestle with the complexities of structural design, the political economy of affordable housing, and net-zero energy building systems with hands-on experience in the design studio and on the building site.

Geared for students considering a career in the fields of sustainable design, architecture, planning, construction, engineering, and landscape design, and looking for hands-on design/build experience, Yestermorrow’s undergraduate semester program will offer an immersive study away opportunity in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Unique in the world of architecture education, the Yestermorrow semester will offer admission to highly motivated and academically strong undergraduates, from any major at any accredited four-year institution of higher education. Yestermorrow has partnered with the Architecture + Design department of the University of Massachusetts Amherst to provide college credit for the semester program.

Applications are currently being accepted for the Fall 2011 class. For more information visit www.yestermorrow.org/semester-programs or contact José Galarza, Director of Semester Programs: jose@yestermorrow.org.

Natural Building in Costa Rica!

Yestermorrow, in collaboration with Rancho Mastatal Environmental Learning Center, is hosting a 16-day Natural Building workshop in the rainforests of Costa Rica, from March 16 - April 1. This course, ideal for students and professionals interested in an immersion into natural building techniques, will focus on participation in the construction of a community library for the small village of Mastatal.

Longtime Yestermorrow instructors Skip Dewhirst and Lizabeth Moniz will introduce students to the collaborative design process and offer training in natural building techniques (including bamboo construction, building with cob, wattle and daub, and timberframing) while placing emphasis on using natural materials to design in harmony with the environment.

In addition to the daily design and building schedule, students will partake in field trips to a recent residential project built by Rancho Mastatal as well as to local waterfalls and points of interest. Rancho Mastatal, founded by former Yestermorrow graduates Tim O'Hara and Robin Nunes, promotes holistic sustainable living through a variety of workshops and programs. A $2400 course fee covers tuition, food, and lodging for Natural Building in Costa Rica.