by David Perevala
On Monday, May 12th, we are glad to finally present to the public our finished plans for our project that we worked tirelessly throughout the Spring of 2025: Casita de Vida! (“Little House of Life”).
We appreciate the guests who came to witness the lengths and challenges our team pushed themselves through to execute an ambitious housing project within our local community! We want to thank our instructors, Mrs. Darling, Mr. Leinfelder, and Mr. Fiocchi for their close support in making sure of this project runs smoothly. And a special thanks to our guest speakers who provided us with further guidance: Mr. Fortier (Structural Engineer), Ms. Picciotto (BEAM expert), and Ms. Douillet (HERS rater).
Special thanks to the Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity and all our generous sponsors for making a difference in the Holyoke community and providing this opportunity to the students studying in at UMass Amherst and Mount Holyoke College. Last but not least, thank you to the fifteen other members of the DesignBuild 2025 team who sacrificed sleep and comfort, shed sweat and…hopefully not too many tears for this awesome development.
To anyone who missed it, we presented our building plans for Casita de Vida to a diverse audience who were given an opportunity to comment and ask questions. I’ll quickly recap what was presented that day.
The home will be located at the close left corner of the site as you view it from Chestnut St. in Holyoke, with a welcoming front porch and deck on its right side. This home will feature a walk-out basement for extra storage space and possible future living space if converted by the homeowners. Thus, we had to prepare extra plans for its foundation and a stairway down to the basement; reducing the building’s useable square footage even more. Of course, thanks to Jacob, Bianca, and Brody finalizing the floor plans and making the living spaces as comfortable and efficient as possible in 600 square feet.
The team tasked with drawing our section views provided a thoughtful process on how the house’s structure would work despite the design challenges of the home needing to be able to withstand different loads and forces when disassembled and transported to its final foundation in Holyoke (the roof is wholly detachable for transport).
Omer gave a wonderful narration on what the interiors of the home would look and feel like to make our future homeowners feel welcomed in their new home. They proposed a custom-built shelf/entertainment to best utilize the interior wall space, ensuring there will still be comfortable space in the living room. The main living room is spacious enough to accommodate an eating area, a medium-sized couch and coffee table with its entertainment center, and an open kitchen where it will receive plenty of daylight throughout New England’s seasons!
Our elevation team guided us through the exterior appearance of the home, deciding on a look where it could both blend in with the surrounding homes of Chestnut Street while still asserting its own identity and style: a 45-degree gable roof and a light, neutral-colored siding.
As the presentation concluded, Lily gave the rundown of Casita de Vida’s carbon impact as calculated using BEAM software. Not much of an improvement from last year’s basement-less 8th Sister, but everything comes with trade-offs! Finally, a shoutout to Eren’s mesmerizing video walkthrough of the home for Pedro and Damaris to experience before it is even built!
For What Is to Come…
Now is the fun part…for the entire design team to get out of our studio and get some fresh air whilst touching grass! Half of the team will be working as soon as finals conclude, framing and sheathing the house. While the rest of us will show up later in the summer to finish off what was started. Hopefully nobody gets any splinters. Stay safe everybody!
