Yale Building Project

Building construction project

Year: 2024
Site: New Haven, CT

The Jim Vlock First Year Building Project is Yale's design-build program that engages students in the full process of conceiving and constructing a dwelling. The 2024 project involved designing and building an affordable house for two households in New Haven. Our team worked from foundation through finishes, integrating structural, spatial, and technical elements under the guidance of studio instructors.

In this project, I engaged in collaborative design, hands-on construction, and the translation of ideas into a fully realized building — foundation formwork, timber wall framing, insulation, MEP coordination, and finish work — demonstrating teamwork and practical problem-solving carried all the way to a real, occupied result.

Construction photograph of two team members setting out foundation formwork on site, wearing green hard hats on excavated ground. — Setting Out Foundation Formwork

Construction photograph of the full team raising a framed timber wall wrapped in sheathing, wearing green hard hats. — Timber Wall Framing

Construction photograph looking through the completed timber wall framing, sunlight streaming through the exposed structure. — Timber Wall Framing, interior view

Construction photograph of team members measuring and installing the floor finish inside the framed house. — Floor Finish Installation

Construction photograph of interior mechanical, electrical, and plumbing rough-in work within the framed walls. — M.E.P. Services

Photograph of the finished house's hallway, light wood flooring and built-in cabinetry leading toward a sunlit window. — Finished Shot — hallway

Photograph of the finished house's shared kitchen, maple cabinetry, a skylight, and a figure walking past the island. — Finished Shot — shared kitchen area

Photograph of a group gathered around a table beneath the skylight in the finished house. — Moment under the Skylight

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