As part of the Vlock First Year Building Project, a mandatory part of the architecture curriculum, first-year students of the Yale School of Architecture are building a two-story plywood house at 16 King Place to house a female veteran who fought in the Afghan or Iraq wars.
With a budget of $200,000 to build an affordable structure, the design for the project and its construction was the product of teamwork. Jacob Dugopolski, one of two student project managers, said that in addition to the three-bedroom ground floor intended for the client herself, the house has a one-bedroom tenant unit on its second floor that the client can rent out. The house has a simple gray structure and moderate height to match the surrounding buildings with orange veneer and gabled roof.
The Building Project chose to target a female veteran, both, because of the prevalence of homelessness among veterans, and the challenges of designing for disabled citizens. Adam Hopfner, the director of the Building Project, said that 30% of homeless people are veterans. The New York City development non-profit Common Ground, which specializes in development solutions to homelessness, partnered with the school for this project and will be responsible for finding the buyer that fits this profile.
The dedication of the house will take place on September 24, 2009.
