Give Us A Lift!

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

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

We need to raise $25,000 from our alumni and supporters by December 31, 2009 to come into compliance with the Vermont state access board, and to do it WE NEED YOUR HELP.

Please donate today to the “Give us a Lift” campaign—all donations are tax deductible. If each one of our alumni gives just $10 we can reach our goal!

Donate online today—

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

Sign Up for House Tours Saturday 9/26

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

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

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

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

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

Architecture and Design Film Festival Featured in Seven Days

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

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

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

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

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

Discussion of Modern Architecture in VT on Vermont Edition

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

The discussion includes Yestermorrow instructors John McLeod and Tyler Kobick.

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

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

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!

Architecture students learn to unlock their creativity with concrete

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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/.

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.”

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!

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...

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

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.

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.

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

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 wastestream. 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.

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...

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.