ABSTRACT
Educational designbuild programs are often tied to academic calendars further complicated by building departments and multi-headed constituents. Colorado Building Workshop, the designbuild program at the University of Colorado Denver, has embraced the challenges and allowed them to craft how design solutions are engaged. Limited skillsets from students in the earliest stages of their design education facilitate unique interdisciplinary professional collaborations and university partnerships, such as teaching students the importance of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). These ideas become the foundational constructs for the design, leading students away from their preconceptions and towards greater innovation. Colorado Building Workshop focuses on IPD, which carries with it the advantage of distributed authorship. The motivation of architecture students to see their design ideas realized is powerful capital. The studio collaborated with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and engineering students from the University of Southern Utah to design the home.
