Hammer Time: How Students, Faculty, Local Businesses and Holyoke’s Community Development Corporation Are Teaming Up to Fight the Housing Crisis

Hammer Time: How Students, Faculty, Local Businesses and Holyoke’s Community Development Corporation Are Teaming Up to Fight the Housing Crisis

They call it “Paper House”: a modular, 500-square-foot, high-performance, net zero, low carbon house designed and built by the students in UMass DesignBuild, a joint effort between the Building and Construction Technology Program and Department of Architecture at UMass Amherst and the Five College Architectural Studies program. DesignBuild is in its second year, and it seeks to address major problems, both in the educational world, and in the broader world at large. “A builder might go through their whole education and never see the work involved in designing a house,” says Carl Fiocchi, a lecturer and professional master’s program coordinator in the Building and Construction Technology Program. “The reverse is true for architects, too, who might never get any experience actually building their designs.” The DesignBuild class seeks to bridge this gap between the builders and designers with a two-semester sequence. In the spring semester, students are given a set of design parameters—the house’s overall footprint, budget, materials, etc.—and with those in place, design the...
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Register now for BCT’s Summer 2021 Online Professional Education Courses

Register now for BCT’s Summer 2021 Online Professional Education Courses

With an increasing number of our courses now online, we are announcing the immediate availability of the following professional education courses for the upcoming Summer Terms (Summer 1: 5/17 - 6/25; Summer 2: 7/6 - 8/13). There is no need to be a matriculated UMass student to take these courses. Anyone with a professional interest in our field can take them on a per-credit fee basis through University Without Walls (UWW). Register Now! Learn more about these courses and register now on the UMass UWW website at the following link: Find Courses and Enroll   (filter by “Subject” and look for “Building and Construction Technology” or “Environmental Conservation”) Want More? Many of these courses can be taken to fulfill requirements of our Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Building Construction or our Professional Masters in Sustainable Building Systems. Contact us anytime if you would like to learn more about those options. Summer 1 Upcoming Courses International Construction The main objective of this course is to prepare the students to try to adjust to...
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Introducing: Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Building Construction

Introducing: Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Building Construction

BCT is now offering a graduate certificate in sustainable building construction to professionals seeking an opportunity to pursue in-depth studies in sustainability in building design and construction without needing to complete a full degree program. This certificate’s topics comprise sustainable (green) building systems and materials, energy and conservation, building technologies, and construction management. 16 credits of flexible coursework can be completed through a combination of online and in-person courses*, with in-person courses offered in Amherst, Newton (on our Mount Ida campus) or both. If you are considering applying to the Professional Masters in Sustainable Building Systems program after completing the certificate, all 16 course credits will transfer toward your degree. Benefits Who Should Apply? This certificate is for you if you intend to learn more about any of these topics: Building energy assessment and modeling Design of wood structures, including mass-timber High-performance building design Sustainable building certification systems Building Information Modeling (BIM) Managing sustainable building projects Apply and Enroll Applications are accepted on a rolling basis here but you can always start this...
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Washington Post Article on MassTimber Features the Olver Design Building and BCT’s Research

Washington Post Article on MassTimber Features the Olver Design Building and BCT’s Research

Today, the Washington Post published an article about the rise of MassTimber buildings (which are predominantly made using glulam and cross-laminated timber). The article featured exemplary projects throughout the country with the John W. Olver Design Building at UMass as a prominent example. BCT's research into Eastern Hemlock CLT is being described in the article through interviews with Prof. Peggi Clouston and Conrado Araujo, a BCT undergrad student who has been involved in this research for the past year. Forget the log cabin. Wood buildings are climbing skyward — with pluses for the planet – Washington Post (12/12/2019) Reposted from: https://bct.eco.umass.edu/news/washington-post-article-on-masstimber-features-the-olver-design-building-and-bcts-research/...
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BCT Summer and Fall Continuing Education Courses and Events at Mount Ida Campus in Newton Announced

BCT Summer and Fall Continuing Education Courses and Events at Mount Ida Campus in Newton Announced

BCT is again offering continuing education courses and professional-focused events at UMass Amherst's new Mount Ida Campus in Newton, MA. Extend your knowledge and expand your professional horizon with BCT’s continuing education courses. Join us for convenient after-work in-person courses or learn online at your own pace. Continuing Education Courses and Academic Programs Our upcoming courses (at Mount Ida, online, or in Amherst) are: Sustainable Building and LEED Certification (Summer 2019) Online| BCT 414 (undergraduate) Instructor: Ho-Sung Kim | 3 credits | Course details | Register Sustainable Building and LEED Certification (Summer 2019) Online| ECO 697DL (graduate) Instructor: Ho-Sung Kim | 3 credits | Course details | Register Introduction to Building Energy Modeling (Fall 2019) Mount Ida Campus | BCT 597BE Instructor: Peter Levy | 3 credits | In-Person | Course details | Register Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering, and the Construction Process (Fall 2019) Mount Ida Campus | BCT 597N Instructor: Steve O’Neill, Esq. | 3 credits | Hybrid (In-Person + Online) | Course details | Register Legal Aspects of Architecture, Engineering, and the Construction Process (Fall 2019) Amherst Campus | BCT 597N Instructor: Steve O’Neill, Esq. | 3 credits | Hybrid (In-Person + Online) | Course...
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