Semester in Design/Build

Translate theory into practice, designing and building an architecturally innovative, high-performance shelter.

The 2024 Semester is scheduled for August 25 - December 6.

Applications are open for 2024! Apply today

About

Started in 2011, the Design/Build Semester is an ongoing partnership between Yestermorrow Design/Build School (Waitsfield, VT) and UMass Amherst’s Department of Architecture (Amherst, MA). Operating annually from mid-August to mid-December, the Semester Program takes up to 15 students from a variety of backgrounds through an architectural design process to the substantial completion of a year-round structure. Past projects have included back country cabins, tiny houses, and site-built homes. Each year is a unique experience as it largely driven by the project. Students receive instruction in design, assembly and detailing, and building performance while exploring group process, definitions of sustainability, and relevant contexts in. This full-immersion, credit-bearing semester in building and design complements architecture, building science, engineering, and environmental design majors and has wide application in liberal arts curricula. Class formally meets on weekdays from 9am - 5pm. Students in this program have the option to earn 15 credits.

This program begins in the design studio for several weeks where students gain experience in group design and facilitation as well as project management. Students should be prepared to have their creative boundaries pushed as they learn essential drawing and drafting skills that will allow them to effectively communicate their design thinking. Following this design intensive, students translate theory into practice as they begin construction on an architecturally innovative shelter of their own design. Graduates of this program will know how to develop their own positions and arguments for good design, understand sound ethical and environmental building practices, how to use a variety of hand and power tools and feel comfortable on a building site.

 Nowhere else can liberal arts students get this level of intensive, hands-on instruction for college credit from professional designers and builders who are leaders in the field.

The Yestermorrow-UMass Design/Build Semester offers admission to highly motivated students from a variety of academic and non-academic backgrounds including professionals, individuals seeking a career change, undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates from any major at any accredited degree-granting institution of higher education—no previous architecture or building experience is necessary. 

Yestermorrow Design/Build School has been in the forefront of the design/build movement since its inception in 1980, teaching architects, builders, and laypeople methods and tools to reduce ecological impacts by creating environmentally responsible architecture. Our Vermont campus is located in the Mad River Valley which is a locus for innovative architecture. The UMass Architecture + Design program is New England’s only public accredited architecture degree.


Syllabus

The semester’s multidisciplinary curriculum is taught as an integrated whole: lectures, seminars, discussions, studio explorations, and job-site work are designed to reinforce and complement one another while informing the group design/build project. Students work together in a collaborative environment with the project as the focal point. The classroom is much like a professional studio or jobsite, except that the instructors-—as mentors—are there to facilitate the student’s creative vision.

Students are enrolled in 15 credits per semester, granted through University of Massachusetts Amherst’s department of Continuing and Professional Education. 

The course descriptions below are intended to help students, faculty, and registrars translate the program into discrete course credits at their home institutions. 

Click here for the full syllabus.

ARCH 497A: Sustainable Building Systems: Building Science for Cold Climates​ (3 CREDITS): This course examines the basic principles of building science, material performance (individual and integral in an assembly), and appropriate, resilient technology. Focused primarily on the New England climate, this course also examines appropriate responses to different climatic and ecological regions. Students will develop an understanding of how natural (wind, moisture, gravity) and imposed forces (heating/cooling/electrical load, sudden impact, portability) affect the design and performance of a building’s structure and envelope. Attention will be paid to relevant energy and performance standards (LEED, Living Building, Passive House, et al) as guiding principles. Guest lectures will include innovators in their fields; field trips will provide students opportunities to understand the breadth of material options and explore conventional and unconventional applications. Readings and Assignments are designed to introduce students to principles of building materials, assembly methods and performance and cultivate robust knowledge of initial principles of structure, building science, and durability.

ARCH 497B: Sustainable Design: Defining Metrics for Sustainability (3 CREDITS): This course draws from multiple arenas to cultivate in students an awareness of the multi-faceted notions of ‘sustainability’. Students will describe their own convictions and actions surrounding sustainability, work towards an initial shared set of values, and develop rhetoric surrounding a ‘triple bottom line’ of environment, equity, and economy. Students will examine current practices, analysis, and theory in topics including building performance, human health, ecological impact (at all phases of a building), affordability/accessibility, durability, and community resilience. Students will consider these topics from positions of various stakeholders and develop a definition of sustainability appropriate to the cohort, project, and client. Additionally, students will use these explorations to work towards a metric for decisions incorporating qualitative and quantitative attributes.

ARCH 497V: History and Theory of Design/Build (3 CREDITS): This course will explore the different models of project development, management, and delivery through an examination of New England’s regional architecture from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through contemporary practice with a focus on the built environment of Vermont and New England. Emphasis will be placed on the Design/Build model, its evolution, and its comparisons to typical delivery models. This course will incorporate guest lectures, field trips, and readings with a goal of applying knowledge in vernacular response, resource allocation, and project management to the program’s current and students’ future projects. Particular attention will be paid to developing, evaluating, and maintaining an internal framework for communication, decision-making, and self- and peer-evaluation. Additional emphasis will be placed on social, cultural, and economic factors and their changing effects on the built environment and its perception and effect.

ARCH 497C & 497D: Design & Visual Communication Studio (6 CREDITS): This course will examine the underlying principles of initiating design. By focusing on various informants (client’s values, project’s social significance, tectonics, gesture, budget), students will gain understanding of different approaches towards design genesis. With an emphasis on diagramming as visual communication and clarifier of form and program, students will work to articulate their individual interpretations of the design intent. Through frequent peer-, faculty-, and practitioner-based reviews, students will demonstrate the clarity of their underlying design principles and work towards a set of guiding informants for the cohort’s design project. Students will be led through exercises to examine the relationship between the nature and description of drawings of the resultant built work. Through field trips, readings in theory and approach, and extensive iteration, students will cultivate and invoke design processes that realize an innovative element in the built environment.


Faculty

The Semester in Design/Build is lead by Charlie Firestone of Studio-Matter and Adam Zawistowski of Pillar Design/Build. 


Admissions and Application

 

CLICK HERE TO APPLY TO THE DESIGN/BUILD SEMESTER

The Design/Build Semester offers Priority, Standard, and Rolling admissions. We recommend that you submit your application as early as possible. Our program is open to students of all backgrounds including current undergraduate and graduate students, recent graduates from any college or university, and individuals who have no past or current collegiate affiliation. For students enrolling for credits, credits are transferred at the discretion of the student’s home institution. No previous architecture or construction experience is necessary; the only prerequisite is self-motivation.

Applications are  open for Fall 2024. We will respond to applicants within 14 days of receipt.

If your circumstance requires a quicker admissions decision, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss options.

You will be contacted by Yestermorrow to discuss your application or to request additional information. 

All accepted applicants will have their space in the program reserved for two weeks from their acceptance date.  After this time the ability to enroll is subject to availability of space in the course.  Accepted applicants may secure their position in the course by returning a completed Admissions Packet (provided with acceptance letter) and furnishing a $1000 non-refundable enrollment deposit to Yestermorrow Design/Build School.

The Design/Build Semester accepts students in several different ways depending on their affiliation.

  • 1) Students from any college or university, or those seeking credit but not currently enrolled in a college or university, can participate in the Design/Build Semester by enrolling in 15 credits through UMass Amherst's University Without Walls program. Students will become continuing education students at UMass earning 15 undergrad and graduate level credits. There is no additional application process for students enrolling through the UWW program.
  • 2) Domestic exchange students—National Student Exchange, UMass Student Exchange, or New England Land Grant Exchange—can enroll directly through UMass Amherst assuming approval of the exchange application. Domestic exchange students are considered to be UMass Amherst students for the semester. Students apply for financial aid through their home institution or through UMass, depending on the payment plan on which they are accepted. Click here for a full list of participating institutions. See the NSE coordinator on your campus to find out more information about how to apply, application deadlines, and financial aid transfer.
  • 3) UMass Amherst students can, with departmental approval, enroll directly in 15 credits of courses offered through the Department of Architecture. 
  • 4) Students who are not currently enrolled in a degree program and who do not wish to earn credits will be enrolled through UMass as a non-credit student. There will be no tuition fees but students will pay a non-credit fee instead.  There are only a limited number of "non-credit" seats available and admittance under this option is at the discretion of the admissions staff.

2024 Semester schedule

  • Program Dates: August 25, 2024 - December 6, 2024
  • Fall break: October 12th - 15th
  • Thanksgiving break: November 27 - December 1st

The program will meet Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm. We will take an hour break for lunch at noon each day. 


Program Costs

Yestermorrow and UMass set fees for certain parts of the program independent of each other.

Tuition and registration fees are determined by UMass in June of each year. Fees for the prior year are listed for reference and significant increases are not expected. Tuition (credit fees) will vary by residency, matriculation status and type of credit.

  • Full time matriculated UMass students pay their regular tuition fees.
  • Students who are earning credits, but are not full time UMass students, will be registered through the UMass University Without Walls (UWW) program.  In 2022, the UWW tuition fee was $7,425 + a $60 registration fee. 
  • There is an option to earn graduate level credits for additional fees.
  • For those who do not plan to apply this program to a degree, we also offer a non-credit option. 

You will be asked on your application which enrollment circumstance best applies to you.

Yestermorrow determines program fees, materials, room and board fees. UMass determines credit and registration costs.

Below are the 2022 Non-UMass Undergraduate Fees for reference.

Approximate Non-UMass Undergraduate Student Fees: $23,585

  • 2022 Non-UMass Undergraduate tuition & registration fees: $7,485 ($495 per credit + $60 registration fee)
  • Program Fee: $10,000 (includes $1,000 enrollment deposit)
  • Materials Fee: $100
  • Room: $4,000
  • Board (3 meals/day, 5 days/week): $4,215

Cancellation Policy

A $1,000 nonrefundable deposit is required to secure your place in the program. This deposit is paid directly to Yestermorrow. The program fee, credit fees, materials, room and board, less the $1,000 deposit, will be paid directly to UMass following their billing schedule

Yestermorrow will follow the UMass Refund Policy for Credit Courses with two exceptions

  • The $1,000 deposit is not refundable under any circumstances
  • Yestermorrow will charge students a prorated amount for any meals or lodging they participate in prior to withdrawing

The policy is as follows:

  • 100% refund on tuition and program fees (less the $1,000 deposit) during the first two weeks of classes
  • 50% refund after the first two weeks and before the Withdrawal period ends
  • No refund after the withdrawal period ends

Specific dates are available in the UMass Academic Calendar


Credit Transfer

The Design/Build Semester at Yestermorrow is offered through UMass-Amherst’s NAAB-accredited Department of Architecture + Design and the Department of Continuing Education. All credits earned are transferable only at the discretion of the receiving school. UMass uses the semester credit system. Students are enrolled in 15 credits for the semester.  Upon completion of the program the students can request an official transcript from UMass. In order to transfer UMass credits to your home institution, approval from a faculty member, academic advisor, and/or the registrar is required. 


 

 

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