Virginia Tech's Big Build Home Project Starts Monday

The Big Build will kick off construction of a house on March 1 on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, and six weeks from now a family in nearby Pulaski will have a brand new, environmentally friendly home.

The student-designed house will be constructed in a campus parking lot. The Big Build invites all Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff, and the people of the community to participate in the project. Register here.

The project was initiated and is coordinated and advised by Virginia Tech faculty members Kimberly Mitchell, an assistant professor in the Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resources Management and Leon McClinton, director of Residence Life.

“The Big Build at Virginia Tech recognizes the critical issues of housing affordability, green housing, and sustainability,” says Mitchell. “By volunteering to work on this project, all participants -- students, faculty, staff and the local community -- will join together in a common goal of building a house for a Pulaski family.”

The student president of the Big Build is Maximus DiSesa, an undergraduate in the Pamplin College of Business (finance major). “We have students collaborating with faculty, not only to design and promote the build, but on the actual construction, as well,” DiSesa says. “We hope this six-week adventure we can bring the best parts of giving to a family in need, while reminding us of one of the most important values in life: service.”

The house will then be moved in mid-April to its final site in Pulaski.