FACT – (Fabrication And Construction Team)

A student design\build program at the University of Nebraska working in partnership with Actual Architecture Co.

Bemis LOW END

FACT is winner of the first ever ACSA Design-Build Award in 2013.

Bemis LOW END

Omaha Mobile Stage and the Art Chapel win AIA Central States Design Awards

OurStory featured again on "Consider This" on Nebraska Public Media

OurStory wins funding for Architectural Internship

Save the date! You’re invited to the OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale Exhibition and Lecture.

Location
@joslyncastle
Carriage House
3902 Davenport Street
Omaha, NE 68131

Exhibition Opening
-December 12, 2025
-Reception: 5 - 8 pm
-Lecture: 6 pm

Ongoing Gallery Hours
-December 13 - 30
-During tours, special events, open houses, and by appointment

The “OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale” exhibition features work created by the Fall 2025 FACTcollaborate! Studio at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture. @unlarchitecture OurStory is a project of @livableomaha

Thank you to our exhibition sponsors and advisors:
@actual.ac @aarp @aianebraska @spanels_idaho, @aoicorp @sparkcdiomaha @holynamehousing @loziercorporation City of Omaha Planning Department, @pella_omahalincoln @sherwinwilliams Joslyn Castle & Gardens, Castle & Cathedral District, and @dundeebank
.
#makefact

Save the date! You’re invited to the OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale Exhibition and Lecture.

Location
@joslyncastle
Carriage House
3902 Davenport Street
Omaha, NE 68131

Exhibition Opening
-December 12, 2025
-Reception: 5 - 8 pm
-Lecture: 6 pm

Ongoing Gallery Hours
-December 13 - 30
-During tours, special events, open houses, and by appointment

The “OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale” exhibition features work created by the Fall 2025 FACTcollaborate! Studio at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture. @unlarchitecture OurStory is a project of @livableomaha

Thank you to our exhibition sponsors and advisors:
@actual.ac @aarp @aianebraska @spanels_idaho, @aoicorp @sparkcdiomaha @holynamehousing @loziercorporation City of Omaha Planning Department, @pella_omahalincoln @sherwinwilliams Joslyn Castle & Gardens, Castle & Cathedral District, and @dundeebank
.
#makefact

The model is already architecture. Architectural models are a central feature of our design process, but unlike a rendering or diagram, the model can be inhabited. Models are experienced from a variety of view points, and in different conditions of light and atmosphere. The scale model enacts architecture before architecture enacts social life. As Olafur Eliasson wrote, “We no longer progress from model to reality, but from model to model while acknowledging that both models are, in fact real…Models are co-producers of reality.”
.
This is a 1”=1’-0” construction model of the #ourstory “Corby House” prototype. The model was built by @makefact to study prefabricated construction methods for the evolving @ourstoryhouses system.
OurStory is a prototype aging-ready small home for Omaha that seeks affordability at the intersection of design, finance, and policy. Designed by the UNL College of Architecture’s FACT studio and led by Partners for Livable Omaha, OurStory fills a gap in the market for small house designs that are constructible, financeable, environmentally sustainable, and empowering.
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Photographs by #larrygawel
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#makefact @livableomaha @unlarchitecture

#makefact #factwork @actual.ac

Bemis Center

Bemis Center

Collapsing sites of production and sites of consumption of art.

#makefact #factwork

Thrilled to see #boxhouseone shown along side Evicted and Nebraska Housing Stories at the @nebraskahistorymuseum , sadly not yet open to the public. #evicted is a powerful exhibition - see it if you can! #NebraskaHousingStories conceptualizing the eviction and housing crisis for #Nebraska an includes suggestions for action.

After Evicted leaves, our larger #NEwAttainableHouse exhibition takes its place. This project brings together students in Architecture @makefact and Community and Regional Planning with 6 non-profit community development organizations to design affordable houses for different communities in Eastern Nebraska.

@unlarchitecture

Winner! FACT’s project for #4h and the Sheridan County Fairgrounds won an Honor Award 2020 AIA Nebraska Design Awards. The project was initiated in fall 2019 and is continuing with @actual.ac and @makefact . This scheme led by @ashleyglesinger @jphilbin95 @paigehaskett and Andres Villegas. Congrats to this team and all of our other friends who won awards this year. See more at www.factlab.org
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#wip
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@unlarchitecture @aianebraska @nebraska4h @sandhillsinstitute

Winner! FACT’s #bemislowend and won an Honor Award 2020 AIA Nebraska Design Awards. This award celebrates phase one of the project designed by FACT with @seanrobertward and @actualac for long time partner @bemiscenter. Many sound artists, musicians, sound engineers, and builders contributed; architect of record: @ao_omaha Work on phase two continues. Congrats to this team and all of our other friends who won awards this year. See more at www.factlab.org
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#factwork
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@unlarchitecture @aianebraskaka

Art Farm Red Barn Gallery

Art Farm Red Barn Gallery

A juxtaposition of vernacular, place-bound physically and the abstraction of the "white cube."

#makefact #factwork

Save the date! You’re invited to the OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale Exhibition and Lecture.

Location
@joslyncastle
Carriage House
3902 Davenport Street
Omaha, NE 68131

Exhibition Opening
-December 12, 2025
-Reception: 5 - 8 pm
-Lecture: 6 pm

Ongoing Gallery Hours
-December 13 - 30
-During tours, special events, open houses, and by appointment

The “OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale” exhibition features work created by the Fall 2025 FACTcollaborate! Studio at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture. @unlarchitecture OurStory is a project of @livableomaha

Thank you to our exhibition sponsors and advisors:
@actual.ac @aarp @aianebraska @spanels_idaho, @aoicorp @sparkcdiomaha @holynamehousing @loziercorporation City of Omaha Planning Department, @pella_omahalincoln @sherwinwilliams Joslyn Castle & Gardens, Castle & Cathedral District, and @dundeebank
.
#makefact

The model is already architecture. Architectural models are a central feature of our design process, but unlike a rendering or diagram, the model can be inhabited. Models are experienced from a variety of view points, and in different conditions of light and atmosphere. The scale model enacts architecture before architecture enacts social life. As Olafur Eliasson wrote, “We no longer progress from model to reality, but from model to model while acknowledging that both models are, in fact real…Models are co-producers of reality.”
.
This is a 1”=1’-0” construction model of the #ourstory “Corby House” prototype. The model was built by @makefact to study prefabricated construction methods for the evolving @ourstoryhouses system.
OurStory is a prototype aging-ready small home for Omaha that seeks affordability at the intersection of design, finance, and policy. Designed by the UNL College of Architecture’s FACT studio and led by Partners for Livable Omaha, OurStory fills a gap in the market for small house designs that are constructible, financeable, environmentally sustainable, and empowering.
.
Photographs by #larrygawel
.
#makefact @livableomaha @unlarchitecture

OurStory received 2 grants in support of the new OurStory Architectural Internship: we are grateful for generous gifts from the AIA Small Project Design Grant and the AARP Community Challenge Flagship Grant.
.
Launched in summer 2025, the OurStory Architectural Internship provides young, Nebraska-based emerging architects with advanced training, mentorship, and opportunities to work on real-world, aging-ready, and innovative housing design and construction projects. This program is made possible by the generous support of AARP and AIA.
.
Together with our partners, we’re launching an OurStory housing catalog to catalyze small, aging-ready housing construction projects, and will be offering design services as a means to producing more affordable housing across the state, and beyond.
.
@aarp #AARPCommunityChallenge @aianebraska @aianational #makefact

The Art Chapel is complete and we just got wonderful photos from the talented @walkerpickering See more at www.factlab.org
.
The historic 1873 building (Lincoln, Nebraska’s first church structure) is now a community art studio providing art programs for adults in the south of downtown neighborhood, an economically depressed area in Lincoln with few cultural outlets. The architectural project explores architecture’s ability to disarm the viewer through apparent simplicity.
.
Art Chapel is a #plainfact a collaborative project with teams from @makefact and @plain_design_build with @fstreetchurch @actual.ac the @nis_makers Crounse Construction @drewjohnson1981 and others.
.
#factwork @unlarchitecture @aianebraska

The Grocery

The Grocery

Artistic inquiries & agricultural communities: social Engagement in rural America.

#makefact #factwork

Save the date! You’re invited to the OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale Exhibition and Lecture.

Location
@joslyncastle
Carriage House
3902 Davenport Street
Omaha, NE 68131

Exhibition Opening
-December 12, 2025
-Reception: 5 - 8 pm
-Lecture: 6 pm

Ongoing Gallery Hours
-December 13 - 30
-During tours, special events, open houses, and by appointment

The “OurStory: Building Aging-Ready Housing at Scale” exhibition features work created by the Fall 2025 FACTcollaborate! Studio at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture. @unlarchitecture OurStory is a project of @livableomaha

Thank you to our exhibition sponsors and advisors:
@actual.ac @aarp @aianebraska @spanels_idaho, @aoicorp @sparkcdiomaha @holynamehousing @loziercorporation City of Omaha Planning Department, @pella_omahalincoln @sherwinwilliams Joslyn Castle & Gardens, Castle & Cathedral District, and @dundeebank
.
#makefact

The model is already architecture. Architectural models are a central feature of our design process, but unlike a rendering or diagram, the model can be inhabited. Models are experienced from a variety of view points, and in different conditions of light and atmosphere. The scale model enacts architecture before architecture enacts social life. As Olafur Eliasson wrote, “We no longer progress from model to reality, but from model to model while acknowledging that both models are, in fact real…Models are co-producers of reality.”
.
This is a 1”=1’-0” construction model of the #ourstory “Corby House” prototype. The model was built by @makefact to study prefabricated construction methods for the evolving @ourstoryhouses system.
OurStory is a prototype aging-ready small home for Omaha that seeks affordability at the intersection of design, finance, and policy. Designed by the UNL College of Architecture’s FACT studio and led by Partners for Livable Omaha, OurStory fills a gap in the market for small house designs that are constructible, financeable, environmentally sustainable, and empowering.
.
Photographs by #larrygawel
.
#makefact @livableomaha @unlarchitecture

OurStory received 2 grants in support of the new OurStory Architectural Internship: we are grateful for generous gifts from the AIA Small Project Design Grant and the AARP Community Challenge Flagship Grant.
.
Launched in summer 2025, the OurStory Architectural Internship provides young, Nebraska-based emerging architects with advanced training, mentorship, and opportunities to work on real-world, aging-ready, and innovative housing design and construction projects. This program is made possible by the generous support of AARP and AIA.
.
Together with our partners, we’re launching an OurStory housing catalog to catalyze small, aging-ready housing construction projects, and will be offering design services as a means to producing more affordable housing across the state, and beyond.
.
@aarp #AARPCommunityChallenge @aianebraska @aianational #makefact

The Art Chapel is complete and we just got wonderful photos from the talented @walkerpickering See more at www.factlab.org
.
The historic 1873 building (Lincoln, Nebraska’s first church structure) is now a community art studio providing art programs for adults in the south of downtown neighborhood, an economically depressed area in Lincoln with few cultural outlets. The architectural project explores architecture’s ability to disarm the viewer through apparent simplicity.
.
Art Chapel is a #plainfact a collaborative project with teams from @makefact and @plain_design_build with @fstreetchurch @actual.ac the @nis_makers Crounse Construction @drewjohnson1981 and others.
.
#factwork @unlarchitecture @aianebraska

Join FACT and others at 5804 Corby St. on Monday, June 2, at 10 a.m. for the groundbreaking of Benson House and Corby House — new #ourstory homes that are designed to meet the needs of an aging population, while also appealing to the tastes of younger, first-time buyers.

Speakers:
-Mayor Elect John Ewing - City of Omaha
-Pete Festersen - Omaha City Councilman
-K.C. Belitz - Director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development
-Jeffrey L. Day, FAIA - Professor of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and founding partner of Actual Architecture Company.

For more information, visit www.livable.org/ourstory

The OurStory build is made possible with a construction loan from Spark Capital’s Middle-Income Workforce Housing fund, with additional support from Lozier Foundation, Pella Windows and Doors of Omaha and Lincoln, and Buildertrend.

Developer: Partners for Livable Omaha @livableomaha
Designer: UNL College of Architecture FACT studio @unlarchitecture @makefact
Architect of Record: Actual Architecture Company @actual.ac
General Contractor: Holy Name Housing Corporation @holynamehousing

Omaha Mobile Stage

Omaha Mobile Stage

Mobile architecture as post-pandemic creative placemaking

Working together with creative non-profits and communities to realize diverse projects that span design and construction.