My Sister Susan's House, a community project directed by Robert Michel Charest in the Department of Environmental Studies, won a Housing North Carolina Award for 2011.
Completed in the Spring of 2010, My Sister Susan’s House was Urban Studio’s second community-oriented design-build effort at UNCG’s School of Human Environmental Sciences. Charest, an associate professor, created and directed Urban Studio while at UNC Greensboro. The now-occupied, 4,500-square-foot home for five teenage mothers and their children was externally funded and design-built by Interior Architecture students with the participation of students and instructors from the carpentry program at Guilford Technical Community College.
For this multi-disciplinary venture, Urban Studio partnered with Youth Focus, a United Way agency, as owner/operator, the City of Greensboro and private entities. The $550,000 home was funded by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency through its Supportive Housing Development Program. The YWCA and the departments of Social Work, Human Development and Family Studies and Nutrition at UNCG jointly developed the program for the home.
From footings to ridge, over approximately 12 months [January 2009 to 2010] and by the hands of students, My Sister Susan’s House rose from the ground. The project is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council for LEED certification and all building inspections were passed on the first call. Not so anecdotally, Urban Studio students are predominantly undergraduate women. Urban Studio is curriculum driven and has been operating since 2006 in Greensboro’s inner-city.
Youth Focus and YWCA Greensboro will also be recognized for this significant achievement. The award in the supportive housing category will be presented at the North Carolina Affordable Housing Conference at the Raleigh Convention Center on Tuesday, November 1, 2011.