On a hillside in New Haven's Fair Haven Heights neighborhood, a new two-family home built under a canopy of sugar maples and white oaks will offer residents shaded terraces, bright, comfortable living spaces, and the peace of mind that accompanies enhanced financial stability.
The house, called "The Nest" and designed and built by first-year students at the Yale School of Architecture (YSoA), will provide two local educators - from Friends Center for Children in New Haven - and their families with a cozy, attractive, and rent-free home.
The project is part of an initiative by the center that aims to address the dual challenges of childcare and housing affordability by providing 20% of its educators with rent-free homes, and thereby significantly increasing their take-home pay. And it is the latest home built through the Jim Vlock First Year Building Project, a core element of the curriculum in YSoA's professional architecture degree program, which offers students the opportunity to design and build with their own hands a new home in Yale's host city.
The new structure completes a five-house "village" on a 2-acre parcel in Fair Haven Heights composed of four homes designed and built by the Building Project and one that already stood on the property. The latest home sits at the back of the site, closing off a common outdoor space shared by the village's residents. Overall, The Nest is the 60th structure designed and built by Yale students since the Building Project was created in 1967 to address students' desire to pursue architecture projects that support the greater good of the community.
