Building Project I: Research, Analysis, Design

This course explores the conception and construction of dwelling space in the city. Through a term-long process of collaborative research, analysis, design, and technical documentation, student teams examine the specific relationship of the human body to its environment, the elemental concerns of inhabitation, and the physical, spatial, and technical formation of building. A series of iterative analytical exercises, conducted at a range of scales using various analytical tools and design media, address the building site, its enclosure, apertures, interior surfaces, and its fixtures and fittings, and their roles in mediating our experience of private and social space, of weather, and of climate. This collaborative process begins at the start of the term with the formation of design teams and the introduction of our Building Project partners: our clients at Columbus House of New Haven, a New Haven-based shelter and permanent supportive housing provider for the homeless, and the New Haven city officials who administer the city’s zoning, building, and life-safety laws and regulations under the auspices of New Haven’s Livable City Initiative. Over the course of the term and in conjunction with a series of lectures, field trips, and workshops, each student team develops and documents a distinct and technically detailed design proposal for a two family house, one of which is selected at the end of the term. This work sets the stage for the second phase of the course and the subsequent work of the summer: the construction of the Jim Vlock Building Project house in New Haven’s Hill neighborhood.