My Sister's House

These photos represent many months of hard work for IARC's community oriented design build program appropriately titled "Urban Studio". This summer's course offered a full plate of varied build activities ranging from electrical wiring to custom carpentry to roofing. If I had to tag this experience with one word, I think I would choose "humbling". Taking part in a design build project connected to a strong social agenda in an impoverished fringe community is still to this day, difficult to get my head around. Thankfully, support and guidance from my intrepid professor and peers kept me asking questions and learning by doing. The build is scheduled to be move in ready by January 2010, when it will officially become "My Sister's House", a home for teenage mothers and their children. I am interested to see just how the community takes in these young mothers who will no doubt undergo some serious changes as they leave their relative communities and transition towards a more stable life. For more information on the Urban Studio Program and My Sister's House, check out http://www.uncg.edu/iar/us/.