March 14, 2018
Seniors and graduate students participating in the Parallel Construction Program through UTA’s College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs are really sweating the homework this semester. That’s because it involves hours of manual labor at the site of the single-family home the students are building for Housing Channel, a Fort Worth-based nonprofit that works to revitalize neighborhoods and provide affordable housing solutions.
Though most of the 19 students in the program headed by Josh Nason and Brad McCorkle will land office gigs once they receive bachelor’s or master’s degrees, Parallel Construction is helping them understand how construction crews create liveable structures from paper-drawn plans. In the process, the students are performing a good deed.
The learning experience takes place under watchful eyes. In addition to the supervision provided by Nason and McCorkle, professionals at Wall Homes are on hand as well. Wall, whose corporate headquarters is in Arlington, is Housing Channel’s “builder of record,” according to the nonprofit’s president, Donna VanNess.
Brad Bell, interim director of the School of Architecture, said the class provides “active learning in a real-world setting.” In addition to giving students experience at “swinging a hammer,” the program hones teamwork skills and teaches students how to cope with such things as budgets and rain-outs, he said.