All summer long, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture have been blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. This week, we present the final installment of the Yale Building Project blog. Click here to read the series in its entirety—and, as always, leave your thoughts in the comments form below.

Click for a larger image. Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

As we ramp up in fervor and productivity to the imminent finish line, this final blog post is a tour of the house, melding concepts and thoughts. To give a holistic and cohesive view of how the Building Project is solidifying as the final week of construction approaches, I asked my fellow summer interns to help create a virtual tour of the house. Here is a raw glimpse inside: Read more…

All summer long, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture have been blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Next Monday we will post the final installment of the Building Project blog. Click here to read the entire series thus far—and, as always, leave your thoughts in the comments form below.

Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

Wow, the house looks great—what a lot can change in four weeks!

My reaction when I visited the Yale Vlock Building Project site early this week was one of surprise and enthusiasm. I am not a member of the crew working to finish the house over the summer, and have been away from the project since the end of June. I was impressed with what my industrious and exhausted classmates have been able to accomplish in the last month: siding, flooring, plywood sheathing, and dozens of details. One team designed and built custom cabinetry with the help of Breakfast Woodworks; it was ready and waiting to be installed when I visited. “Jimmy”—barely a rough concept when I left—has emerged in the fine points of the design: plywood sheathing details and the hotly debated choice of a bright red color for the exterior porch spaces. Read more…

Every Monday until mid-August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

The siding saga has finally come to a close. Perhaps more momentous than nailing in the final ridge pieces on the front of the house was taking down the scaffolding, revealing the fruits of our labor. This was the first time we were able to stand back and view the entire house with the siding in place, taking in the sea of Plateau Grey. With the few remaining patches of Tyvek covered over, few of us will miss the paint-crusted rollers, the sawdust of the chop saw, or the balancing act on the scaffolding. Like it or not, the so-called siding blitz is over.

With this mammoth task behind us and the interior entirely painted, the beginning of this week brought a new flavor to our workday: specialization. Read more…

Every Monday until mid-August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

The crew mounts scaffolding to paint the interior of the owner unit. Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

The issue of affordability has been a subject of discussion since the very first day that our class met with our program director, Adam, back in February. We had all gathered in the basement of the architecture building for our weekly meetings, during which we were introduced to the history, clients, schedule, process, and constraints of the annual Yale Vlock Building Project. Adam raised a question on an issue that many of us were not anticipating to be open for debate: he asked if we were interested in pursuing donations for the house or if we would rather work within the budget we were originally given. If I recall correctly, choosing to stay within budget would result in the use of cheap carpet (gasp) and standard vinyl siding (which, come to think of it, after three weeks of custom cedar siding, sounds amazing!) Naturally, as with the years before us, we thought that the former route would be beneficial to both the process and the outcome. And so, with 49 classmates alongside me (this was possibly the closest thing we’ve had to a class-wide consensus since my classmate Matt was offered free bagels for the site), we agreed to pursue donations as a substantial source of funding for the house.

Fast-forward to July 27. Read more…

Every Monday until mid-August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

The presence of “Jimmy” is noted through the changing board sizes. The denser the boards, the closer you are to Jimmy (cue suspenseful music). Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

As week 13 of the Yale Vlock Building Project draws to a close, many of us are finally feeling the effects of the long 40-hour weeks. And rightfully so, for the last few weeks have been anything but slow. We left last week with a certain sense of accomplishment; we had finished painting the exterior siding, begun installing the birch-plywood ceilings, selected our interior paint color, and cleaned up the interior window trim. The roof was finally complete and the drywall was ready for a fresh coat of paint. All the rapid-fire installation and site work, made possible through our use of prefabricated components—the subject of several previous blog entries—seemed to live up to its promise. That said, none of us was prepared for the task at hand, or the trade-off for using so many standardized elements in the early phases: the tremendously arduous art of fine needlework, known to many of us as the exterior cladding. Read more…

Every Monday until mid-August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

Voting slips from exterior-cladding pattern decision, Type C / June 20. Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

The unfinished shell of the house stands before us, a testament to the many decisions that have been made and those that still remain. It seems silent, waiting for the materials and colors that will define and bring life to the frozen form. I am sure that each of us walks through with a different image in our head even six weeks from completion, but that is part of the beauty of this open organizational structure. The initial pressure in decision making from the SIP shop drawings back in early May has faded, and without a cut-and-dry standard we continue to make our way toward determining the design of our house. Read more…

Every Monday until mid-August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

Sixteen King Place, home of the 2009 Yale Vlock Building Project, witnessed, by my count, at least seven Significant Occurrences this week, in addition to the (approximately) five hundred thousand and forty-two Only Slightly Less Significant Occurrences that came to pass, including the creation of (approximately) eighty new tire treads in the dirt, the wasting of (approximately) one hundred and nine bent nails, and the consumption of (approximately) three hundred ounces of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. Allow me to outline them for you. Read more…

Every Monday until mid-August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

A student applies exterior sealant tape around newly-installed windows. Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

Something about today felt much different. Our crew of 12 still seemed to be recovering from this week’s review of digital-media projects (the second class we are taking during this summer—as Dean Stern put it, he wouldn’t want for us to be “bored” during the off-time from our Building Project shifts.) Our minds are still fluttering amidst the constellation of digital animations, CNC-milled surfaces, and interactive Web sites. It’s as if the realities of the day have yet to truly set in. Today is the last day that the majority of us will be on site until the ceremony marking the completion of the Yale Vlock Building Project in August. Read more…

Every Monday until mid-August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

Case-study images in the studio. Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

This week we reach a turning point in the construction of the Building Project: The windows will be installed, the roofing material laid down, the siding put up, and the drywall hung. The cavernous shell of the building will be compartmentalized. Crisp, walled rooms will emerge from a field of two-by-fours. No longer will we shortcut between spaces, passing specter-like through walls, or carry on conversations across the two residential units. Read more…

Every Monday until August, first-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are blogging about their progress building an affordable, accessible owner-renter residence in New Haven. Click here to read the previous posts.

Left: The interior of the house at the start of the week. Right: Installing SIPs on the roof, on one of the few sunny days of the month. Photos: courtesy the Vlock First Year Building Project

Some notes after a month on site:

I’m on the Thursday–Saturday afternoon crew. We were scheduled to work twelve days over the first four weeks of construction. We’ve been rained out for two, had one off for a school function, and skipped one because we were ahead of schedule and out of things to do. Plus I missed a day for my brother’s college graduation and another to visit my girlfriend. The Monday–Wednesday crews pretend to resent us.

I want to work more. I should work some doubles to make up for the shifts I’ve missed, but at this point I’m not sure if it will happen. When we are not on site we are in school, and if not in school we are trying desperately to make good use of our meager free time: pursuing independent projects, working out the details of the house, watching basketball. Read more…