After a week of brainstorming, students individually present their design proposals for review, and at that point divide into nine teams of four to five members for a typical class of around 40 to 45 students. Learning to work in teams is yet another bonus for students who are used to tackling projects independently. A few weeks of creative strategizing later, the nine teams meet for another competitive review, and four teams are chosen for the last round. That budget is exclusive of most labor, supplied free by the students themselves, and many of the building materials, which are donated by manufacturers. At the final review, before the faculty members, visiting architects and representatives of Neighborhood Housing Services who make up the jury, as well as neighborhood residents who are invited to voice their concerns, the four teams defend their proposals.
Excavation begins shortly after the design of the winning team is chosen.
Also in the plus column, he noted, is a distant view of Long Island Sound. All the students of the first year class will take up hammer and nails, chisel and saw to work on the house until the middle of June. Eight students, working as paid interns, will take the project from then through the summer to the dedication of the finished house in September.