UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA AT LAFAYETTE . SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Building Institute

The Building Institute is UL Lafayette’s integrated project delivery, design-build program. The program brings architecture students, architects, engineers and contractors together in the design and construction of single-family, market-rate homes. The homes are built on infill property in the urban core neighborhoods of Lafayette, Louisiana and then publically sold at a market-rate. Students work hand-in-hand with local contractors to build the homes which achieve sustainability standards such as the National Homebuilder’s Green Building Standard or LEED. The Building Institute is structured through a graduate design studio in the fall, a construction documents course in the spring and the construction course in the summer. Students receive academic credit for each course and in addition, several team leaders receive paid summer internships allowing them to accrue IDP credit. The Building Institute is not a simulation- it is hyper-reality. As architect-developers, the students become agents of change.

PROJECT CATEGORY : Featured / Homes / Large Projects

NEXThouse

Lafayette, Louisiana

The NEXThouse is the second market-rate, sustainable home in the UL Lafayette Building Institute’s Neighborhood Infill Program which was designed and built during the 2011-2012 school year. The home demonstrates a unique public-private partnership whereby a public trust lends money to the university who in turns serves as architect and developer- designing, building and selling the home. A local contractor worked in tandem with the students. In this unique project delivery system, students are actively involved through participation and decision making with all the design/construction entities. The Building Institute is structured through a graduate design studio in the fall, a construction documents course in the spring and the construction course in the summer. Students receive academic credit for each course and in addition, several team leaders receive paid summer internships allowing them to accrue IDP credit. The NEXThouse sets a precedent in the at-risk neighborhood it was built by being the first new home built in over 30 years and by achieving the National Green Building Standard level of Bronze while remaining market-rate. In this way, the home serves as a sales “comp” for the real estate market where there was none before, thus easing the way for future green projects.

Project Delivery:

Design-bid-build (Students designed the project, produced construction drawings, bid the project, and worked with a contractor to build the home) 60% students and 40% contractors/subcontractors.