Spring Break Operations Manual

About

Design of a spring break program for 24 participants. \

Staff

• 4 hour staff training required beforehand for site staff.
• Admin - admissions and questions, coordination. Handles registration process and onboarding emails.
• Hospitality and Logistics - admissions admin, cooking and living space, signage, waste, garden, store runs. Prepares site for arrival.
• Co-teachers - 2 assistants required for teaching build process. 1 teacher allocated to PV on Hangar, and 2 allocated to cabin builds.
• Logistics - materials moving and handling with skid steer.

24 Unit Program

• Prototypes

Program

Narrative

Join an intensive, skill-building experience. In this one week session, we will learn to design and build an eco-friendly cabin with photovoltaics on the roof. We Will spend about 2-4 hours learning, and 4-6 hours building each day. In the class session, we will go over design basics for structure, PV, electrical, plumbing, finishing, and heat pump - such that anybody who wants to learn how to build can use our modular, human-sized build system to design and build a structure for themselves easily using modules, part libraries, and AI-assisted CAD workflows. During the week, we will also learn how to install a large array (100kw) of photovoltaics on the roof of a large workshop, so that anyone interested in solar power can see how the whole system works.

We will work on teaching everyone a human-language based process where we instruct AI to produce technically correct design using FreeCAD, the open source CAD tool. Anyone will thus be able to design code-compliant buildings - using our system - to build their own cabin, home, an ADU, or even start a business.

Schedule

Each day, breakfast goes from 8-9, program starts at 9, lunch is 1-2 - and goes to 6 pm each day. Dinner is served 6-7 PM.

• Prep webinar - watch at your leisure. 1 hour describing the week.
• Day 1 - Welcome presentation, half hour, and half hour intros. 2 Hour Construction Boot Camp + practice wall module build - total 4 hours morning.
  • Afternoon: 2 hour production - Cabin 1. Then a 2 hour AI Assisted FreeCAD design intro: how to design just about anything. Part Library work - process overview, sample part generation.
• Day 2 - 2 Hour House Design Boot Camp. Starting Cabin 1 interior.
  • Afternoon - PV installation - Hangar. 2 hr CAD design - Part library work - designing plumbing.

• Day 3 - 2 Hour PV System + Roofless Roof Design Bootcamp and Design Session. Finishing Cabin 1.
  • Afternoon - PV installation - Hangar. 2 hr CAD design -Part library work - designing electrical.

• Day 4 - 2 Hour Heat Pump and Thermal Battery Design Boot Campand Design Session. Starting Cabin 2.
  • Afternoon - PV installation - Hangar. 2 hr CAD design - Part library work - designing power center.

• Day 5 - House Design Finalization Session Starting interior of Cabin 2.
  • Afternoon - PV installation - Hangar. 2 hr CAD design - Part library work - designing heat pump module.

• Day 6 - Village Design Boot camp and Design Session. Building Cabin 5.
  • Afternoon - PV installation - Hangar. 2 hr CAD design - Part library work - designing PV system in detail.

• Day 7 - project day: we build a new cabin model that we designed collaboratively in the last 5 days. Depending on the number and ambition of team - we will buils something from 120 to 240 square feet in size - either 1 or 2 modules. We will debrief and review progress at the end.

Cost

About 50/50

• Admin - $1450 - coordinates with Hospitality
• Hospitality - food, dorm prep, trash - $1450. Comes in 2 days early to prepare site for arrival.
• Food Budget for 24 - $2688
• Support Staff - 3 instructors at $1450 each, $4350 total. Come in 1 day early for training and airport pickups.
• Materials - 2 cabins - $6k. Cabin Cost

Total cost - $7250 people, $2688 food, $6000 materials

• Tuition - $415 to $664 per student for 7 days. 4 scholarships available based on need.
• Marketing - $650 early bird, $750 regular (2 weeks)

Application

To keep the cohort productive in a fast-paced build + design environment, we ask for one quick example of something you’ve made, built, or shipped. This can be CAD, code, a physical build, documentation, or any small project that shows follow-through and agency.

No prior construction or CAD experience is required. Beginners are welcome. This is a class setting with hands-on work, and participants should be prepared to learn by doing and operate in a full-day, real-world build environment.

To keep the cohort productive, we ask for one quick example of something you’ve completed (any domain) that shows follow-through. This is a full-day, hands-on build + design class.

State in 1–2 sentences on what they want to learn by producing during the 1 week. This is a full-day, physically demanding build sprint. Are you able to participate for full days for all 7 days?

Future Infrastructure Upgrades

• Production aquaponic greenhouse
• Pervious paver driveways, with 3D printed block