This project was part of an ongoing design-build program called Urban Build, where, each year, students design and build a low income house for a family in Central City, New Orleans. Working with New Orleans Housing services, we first designed a single family home with a rentable efficiency unit in the front and then built the house from the ground up. Everything from the foundation to the framing, sheathing, cladding, painting, etc., was built by the students. In addition, we continued to refine the design throughout the building process. 

We started by developing different schemes in groups until the ultimate design for the house was chosen. We then worked together to create all of the construction documents to be submitted to the city for building permits. Once the drawings were approved, the building process was set in motion. After finalizing the design, certain students, including myself, went on to design multi-family schemes in Pheonix, Arizona, which were based on the New Orleans design. The Urban Build program hopes to soon broaden its scope of work towards multi-family complexes.