Beyond the Valley Blog
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semester program
A Reflection on the Last Day of the 2016 Semester in Sustainable Design Build
As the last day dawned on the 2016 Design Build Semester program, we prepared to show to the world the culmination of our efforts. It has been a long time since we were eight strangers canoeing around Kettle Pond and annoying Jacob with word games, but in that time we have grown together not only as a team but as individuals.
Claire Adams: On the right path
Growing up in Manhattan, Claire Adams has always had a fascination with buildings and urban spaces. The juxtaposition of old versus new, of density versus public space. Her high school sat on the artificial landscape of Battery Park City, literally reclaimed from the Hudson River; yet the historic neighborhoods of Soho and Chinatown were a short walk away. This interest led her to formal academic studies in landscape history, urban studies, and landscape architecture at Smith College, which has proved fulfilling to a point. But she was nagged by an intrigue in how those buildings and spaces were created – a desire to participate in the actual experience of ‘making.’ She tracked down and enrolled in Yestermorrow’s Semester in Sustainable Design/Build during her junior year. It offered the opportunity to get the hard skills she sought, while still allowing her to earn academic credit toward her degree.