BauBau, a company founded by School of Architecture student Claire Coletti, was recently named a finalist in an international start-up accelerator (hosted by Leading Cities) designed for smart cities and urban solutions. Out of more than 550 international companies, BauBau placed in the top 12, earning a place in the final stage of the AcceliCITY program.

According to Leading Cities, “these companies have demonstrated a clear vision for an impactful solution to 21st-century cities. They have demonstrated their commitment to success and the quality of their leadership.”

With this recognition, Claire was invited to participate in a program in Boston where she was able to meet industry professionals and pitch her work at City Hall. Now, she is taking full advantage of this incredible opportunity to network and build relationships – and has received $25,000 of marketing services courtesy of international smart city initiatives.

“I’m so lucky to be able to leverage the experience I’ve gained in both architecture and entrepreneurship to be able to work towards something I’m so passionate about, and which is becoming an increasingly important issue in our cities: access to high-quality housing, and building personal and community economic and social resilience in the process,” Claire said. “I believe all people have a right to beautiful communities, and deserve the opportunity to have a stake of ownership in the place they call home, and I’m so excited to work towards bringing these models to life in a city like Boston.”

Last year, BauBau (a reference to the Bauhaus movement) won second place and $1,250 in seed funding through the Northeastern Husky Startup Challenge. The start-up is a web-platform for collaborative building, specifically housing, which allows a group of people to split the costs of building a shared home and share in the design process. Users launch their own housing cooperative, or find one that already exists, and use the tools and services BauBau provides to make the financing and design processes easier. Kristian Kloeckl, CAMD Associate Professor in Art + Design and Architecture, is an Advisor for BauBau.

Congratulations, Claire! We are so excited to see what happens next for BauBau.