Empowering People, Enhancing Our World

From its humble beginnings in 1980, Yestermorrow has come a long way, and now serves more than 900 students, seven days a week, in more than 130 courses annually at the School’s 38-acre residential campus in Vermont. Nationally, Yestermorrow is a recognized leader in architectural design/build education, and respected by its peers and students for the quality of its programs and the sheer delight of the “Yestermorrow experience.”

While much has changed about Yestermorrow since 1980, the core ideals and beliefs upon which the School was founded have not. Over the past 32 years, Yestermorrow has maintained an abiding commitment to the methodology of the integrated design/build process as a tool to empower people to create their own fulfilling places and promote a more sustainable world.

Yestermorrow’s commitment to empowering people and cultivating sustainability through the design/build process began with the School’s first Home Design/Build course (now a Yestermorrow mainstay), which focused on the homeowner. Yestermorrow understands that people who “invest” in their homes with their head, heart, and hands through the design/build process are powerful agents of positive change. They have an enhanced sense of place, belonging, and commitment—a sense that transcends the home to benefit the community and beyond. This quality is at the heart of today’s “sustainable communities movement,” whereby people are seeking ways to strengthen the fabric of society and feel more fulfilled within a world increasingly influenced by transiency, cultural homogenization, and a decline in social communion. Yestermorrow has clearly been ahead of its time in promoting the reconnection of people to places.

In the years since its inception, Yestermorrow has remained focused on serving the homeowner, while expanding the School’s reach to practicing professionals and students in the fields of architecture, environmental design, engineering, construction and planning, and to communities and their citizens from far and wide through landmark design/build projects.

Since 1984, Yestermorrow has offered a professional curriculum with a sustainable design/build approach as an alternative to conventional practice, believing professionals will have a greater impact on the built environment and health of communities as they apply their expertise to a wide range of projects and venues throughout their careers. Yestermorrow is committed to providing educational opportunities for practicing professionals and students in the fields of architecture, environmental design, fine arts, landscape design, engineering, and planning. Our goal is to expand the horizons of those already in the design and construction field, and to deepen their understanding of the interrelationships between the design process and the construction process. We offer Continuing Education credits through the American Institute of Architects for a wide variety of courses at all scales of design/build.

In addition, by teaching design/build courses that incorporate green technologies, natural building, and responsible land use practices Yestermorrow has continued to meet the needs of a changing society and its citizens who seek to live a more sustainable lifestyle. The School has also spearheaded special design/build projects throughout the years that serve real community needs and promote the greater good, and has created a wide variety of courses that fulfill students’ passion for ongoing experiential learning. Indeed, Yestermorrow has been in the forefront of today’s growing “green movement” as well as the popular “do-it-yourself phenomenon.” Its longstanding commitment to personal empowerment and environmental sustainability have become part of our mainstream culture.