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University of Utah Students DesignBuildBluff Program

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“DesignBuildBLUFF is a graduate architecture program at the University of Utah focused on immersing students in hands-on cross-cultural experiences. We work in partnership with the Navajo community of San Juan County in the Utah Four Corners.” – DesignBuildBLUFF.org

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(via Daily Utah Chronicle)

The University of Utah’s school of architecture graduate program has launched another year of DesignBuildBLUFF.  The program gives students the opportunity to be involved in hands-on cross-cultural experiences.  They work in partnership with San Juan County’s Navajo community.

“We offer students an opportunity to design and build a full-scale work of architecture in collaboration with the Navajo people,” said program director Jose Galarza. “We emphasize sustainability and a respect for the unique social, cultural and environmental needs of the region.”

The program’s focus on sustainability can be seen in a recent project called Cedar Hall.  The building is an 850-square-foot structure and has white walls. Features of the building include rain water collection and a soon-to-be-installed solar energy system.  The framework is comprised of approximately 70 percent recycled material taken from a demolished house in Park City.

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In the past, projects have been small, single-family homes that were assigned by tribal chapters.  Recently, however, projects have been designed to develop the community.  The last 12 years have been spent renovating historic buildings and now the group is working on constructing modern community buildings.

One of the residencies that architecture students constructed, affectionately named ‘Badger Springs’ after a nearby water source, is made primarily from recycled materials. It relies on natural cooling and ventilation and uses a wood-burning stove for heat in the winter. The home is outfitted with solar panels for maximum energy efficiency. The students cooperated with the family living in the home throughout the process to ensure their needs were met.

The goal of the program is to tie community building with better living conditions in order to enhance the health of the community.

“Our hope is for this space to be a teaching tool and a gathering center for the community,” said architecture student Max Wood in reference to Cedar Hall.  “While we were there, the local elementary students came to tour the property each month to learn about the materials we were using and how we recycled old lumber.”

Wood noted that the vision is for the community to use the space as a dynamic, multi-purpose center with activities ranging from elementary school art galleries to voting poll locations in the future.

Visit University of Utah’s Architecture Program Profile! 

Outside the Studio | Representation and Spatial Design at Parsons

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When you think about architecture school, the “studio” course is likely the first thing to come to mind. Within architecture school, there are so many other courses that help develop the unique skills that an architect needs. Recently, we have come across quite a few courses that are redefining the role of “elective” in architectural education and over the next two months, our blog will take a deeper look in a series called OUTSIDE THE STUDIO.

Today, we chat with Angela DeGeorge, a graduate student at the Parsons School of Design, about her Spring semester course, “Representation and Spatial Design II,” fondly referred to as “helmet class,” which explored the intersection of “material attributes and modeling techniques, and the spatial aspirations for built form.” The work from the studio was widely published on IMADETHAT’s Instagram, an account that captures the work of architecture students and faculty from all over the world. Check out two other final projects from @iam_meredith and @nicktafel!

iam_meredith's Helmet

iam_meredith’s Helmet

Nick Tafel's Helmet

Nick Tafel’s Helmet

The first assignment called “Make a Helmet: Analog” prompted the students to explore techniques using sheet materials, fabrics, sticks, tape, glue, foam, wood, plastic, etc. In week four of the class, the students were asked to transform their helmet and explore 3D printing and casting techniques. Assignment 6 asked students to explore laser cutting/tessellations and unfolding. Each week, the students were asked to test out a new representation and modeling techniques.

Angela approached the challenge of designing a “helmet” by examining the correlation between “helmet” and “shelter.” A helmet protects you in the same way a structure can. Enter “The Meditation Pavilion.” She describes it as “a folding structure that can be deployed to increase mindfulness and dissolve distractions. From within the pavilion, the sharp folds of material are inherently distracting, but the materiality and graphic qualities are meant to equalize those distractions. As the light interacts with the iridescent film which wraps the pavilion, the geometry seems to disappear at certain moments. The form is inspired by a basic origami folding pattern, and the final scale model is made of 32 acrylic triangles assembled into a rigid, self-supporting structure.”

Conceptual Rendering

The Meditation Pavilion

Final_Collage

The Meditation Pavilion _ Conceptual

Describe your process. 

The course encouraged us to use a diversity of representational techniques to both document and facilitate the evolution of our concepts. Throughout the semester, I used both digital and analog fabrication methods to test out my ideas. It was interesting to take a very analog process (folding a piece of paper) and then manipulate it with digital modeling and fabrication tools. I tend to be more of an analog-maker, so it was a great lesson in the opportunities and constraints of the tools at my disposal.

Study_Model

Study Model

Process_Materials

Process Materials

Process_Stencil

Stencil for Faceted Structure

Final_Triangulation

Triangulation

I began using Rhino as a 3D modeling tool. I got to a point where I realized that I didn’t quite know how to make the folding-geometry I wanted in Rhino, so I switched to folding paper by hand. Then, when I jumped up in scale, I chose to use the laser-cutter to achieve precise folds in larger pieces of material.Final_7_BWFinal_6_BWFinal_5_BWFinal_4_BWFinal_3_BWFinal_1_BWFinal_Folding Blur

Resources you would like to share:

“Folding for Techniques for Designers: From Sheet to Form” by Paul Jackson. And lots of Pinterest.

Describe Parsons School of Design.

Parsons is focused on addressing social and environmental challenges with architectural solutions. The school is deeply connected to New York City – all of our projects are sited within the city. And, at Parsons, there is a lot of enthusiasm for making beautiful things. We are encouraged to experiment with our representation and process of making. 

What do you intend to do upon graduation? 

I’d like to continue to build a variety of experiences and skills. I’m interested in pursuing work that prioritizes energy efficiency and healthy spaces because I think my generation of architects and designers will play a big role in preparing our cities for growing populations. If all else fails, the back-up plan is to become an oyster farmer. I have no experience, I just respect the profession and love the ocean.

Follow Angela on Instagram to see more of her work! @ba_nangela

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Angela DeGeorge, Graduate Student at Parsons School of Design

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If you are interested in learning more about Parsons The New School of Design, visit their StudyArchitecture Profile Page! 

Kansas State Students Design+Make with El Dorado

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Are you looking for hands-on building experience while you are studying architecture? These 5th year Kansas State University Students partnered with local architecture firm (El Dorado) as part of the Design+Make Studio! Read more about the partnership below!

(via el dorado blog)

Since el dorado opened it’s doors in 1996, we have been exploring the relationship between designing and making as a design studio. For us, the shop continues to play an important role in the creation of well-crafted architectural spaces—but it also is critical as a tool to prototype ideas and explore materials and connections. Designing and making are truly linked.

This is the fifth year of the Design+Make studio at K-State. The studio is an academic partnership between Kansas State University’s 5th year capstone architecture design studios and el dorado. Students follow a four step process, experiencing the challenges of seeing their projects come to fruition in a real-world setting: understanding, envisioning, documenting and making. As a studio, Design+Make provides students with a lens into the entire process of a project becoming a reality, from concept to construction to finished product.

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The studio intentionally takes on a manageably scaled project to allow the students to complete defined tasks within two semesters. During this time, students learn valuable communication skills by having to present iterative design developments to actual clients, consultants and craftspeople. They also learn to navigate complex authorship issues with a project and process that intentionally deflates the notion of a single creator. Perhaps the most significant contribution to the students’ learning experience is connecting the abstraction of drawing, physical and virtual modeling with the constructive processes required to translate ideas into tangible form — moving students from thinking about abstract ideas to creating actual constructed forms.

In early January, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture awarded Kansas State University’s Design+Make Studio project Camp Daisy Hindman an award in the Design Build category. Each year, ACSA honors architectural educators for exemplary work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship, and service. According to the ACSA, award winners “inspire and challenge students, contribute to the profession’s knowledge base, and extend their work beyond the borders of academy into practice and the public sector.”

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Camp Daisy Hindman shower facilities

The studio also was recently awarded the Kremer Prize, an award that recognizes excellence in collaborative design for students in their final year at Kansas State University, for their work this year on the Preston Outdoor Education Center. For the past nine months, the Design+Make studio has been working on the Preston Outdoor Education Station at YMCA’s Camp Wood in the Flint Hills in Kansas.

The project was originally proposed as a single shade pavilion that would serve as a gathering space to educate visitors and campers about the surrounding grasslands. The students took the original program and ambitiously expanded its scope to include multiple education stations that each tell a story about the prairie by incorporating materials that highlight different features of the surrounding landscape. The stations are connected by a pathway featuring a 300 linear foot dry stack limestone wall.

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The Preston Outdoor Education Center thoughtfully integrates the natural layout of the landscape into the overall design intent by building into and around an existing ridge, maintaining a low visual profile, and sourcing materials from on site. “As architects, we are taught throughout our schooling to conduct in-depth site analyses that dig deep into the essence of place and can reveal aspects and opportunities for a design,” said Phil Macaluso, one of 13 students that were part of the project. “Through the process of designing with a conscious awareness of a place, an architectural work can also benefit sustainability practices, conservation efforts, and create beautiful, spiritual places.”

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Sky station

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Rock station

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Grass station

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Not only did the students thoughtfully design their project, but the ambition of scope and dedication of time and effort in the hands-on “making” process were truly impressive. Students involved in this years Design+Make studio included: Torrence Campbell, Tamra Collins, Luke Custer, AJ Henry, Brent Higgins, Daniel Johnson, Phil Macaluso, Alex Martinez, Kelsey Middelkamp, Jake Rose, Brianna Reece, Sevrin Scarcelli and Blake Toews.

(Read more via el dorado blog)

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Interested in the Kansas State University Program? Check out their profile page on StudyArchitecture.com!

Tulane's URBANbuild Rebuilding New Orleans One House at a Time

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(via new wave)

Founded in 2005, the goal of URBANbuild is to address New Orleans’ deteriorating neighborhoods and to provide students the chance to work together on the design, development and construction of affordable housing. The program is run by Tulane’s School of Architecture and by senior professor of practice Byron Mouton and adjunct lecturer Sam Richards.

Students spend the fall semester in the classroom designing a home and drafting construction documents. The spring semester is spent onsite, where students work in a fast-paced, 15-week timeframe to construct the home. They are active in the entire construction process, from clearing the site to laying the foundation to hanging the sheathing and siding to installing the roof.

“URBANbuild has been one of the most important moments in my architecture education,” says fourth-year architecture student Chesley McCarty. “It is so rewarding to look back and see a real-life finished product that someone will eventually live in, not just some model made of chipboard and pretty pictures hanging on the wall.”

This spring, URBANbuild celebrates its 10th house, located at 2117 Toledano.

(via new wave)

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Check out Tulane University’s Architecture Program on StudyArchitecture.com!

7 Architecture Schools With Stellar Design-Build Programs

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(adapted from Curbed by Patrick Sisson @freqresponse)

RuralStudio_LionsPark

Auburn University

Lions Park Scout Hut designed by Rural Studio participants.
Rural Studio
The granddaddy of design-build programs, Rural Studio, founded by Samuel Mockbee and D. K. Ruth at Auburn in 1993, recruits architecture students to help a long-standing mission to develop affordable housing and community structures for rural western Alabama. The signature project, the $20K House, has been augmented with a series of modernist community structures, including band shells and a Boys & Girls club. Third and fifth year students at Auburn participate, as well as a select number of outreach fellows.

UofKansas_Studio804

University of Kansas

1301 New York
Studio 804

Talk about designing your own learning environment: students in this program actually designed an addition to their own architecture school, complete with a plant wall overflowing with ferns and begonias. Studio 804, a non-profit that works with masters students in their final year at the University of Kansas, focuses on realizing a single, sustainable design each year, and has built up a very green portfolio, including seven LEED Platinum projects and two Passive House certified projects.

UofUtah_DesignBuildBluff

University of Utah

Whitehorse Home
DesignBuildBLUFF

Named after the town of Bluff where it’s based, this immersive program engages students to design and build a project for a member of the Navajo nation. Hank Louis, who founded the program in 2000, drew inspiration from Rural Studio when he came up with the lesson plan. A team of up to 16 students collaborate on a design in the fall, and then in the spring, move 300 miles from Utah’s main campus and relocate to the remote town of 320 in the southeast corner of the state to work in the expansive reservation (which explains the focus on easy-to-maintain, often off-grid homes).

VirginiaTech_DesignBuildLab

Virginia Tech

Sharon Fieldhouse in Clifton Forge, Virginia.
design/buildLAB

Rural Studio’s impact looms large on other design schools. But in the case of the design/buildLAB, it’s also the placed co-founders, directors and significant others Keith and Marie Zawistowski met. They pair applied the lessons of the storied program to their own, which started in 2008 and focuses on prefab construction methods.

YaleU_VlockProject

Yale University

Last year’s Vlock project at Yale, a student-built structure in New Haven.
The Jim Vlock First Year Building Project

Considered one of the oldest such programs in the country, Yale’s design-build class for first-years requires each graduate student to collaborate to conceive of and finish a home. While the program, which started in the late ’60s, has built as far afield as Appalachia, now, most projects comprise of affordable housing prototypes near New Haven.

ParsonsSchoolofDesign_sunsetpark

Parsons School of Design

Sunset Park Recreation Center and Pool in Brooklyn, New York, the 2014 design-build project completed by Parsons students.
The Design Workshop

The design-build program at this New York-based institution has evolved over time to become a partner with the New York Department of Parks and Recreation, offering students a unique chance to create public infrastructure and facilities in the nation’s biggest city. Last year’s group of graduate students redesigned an under-utilized pool facility for a Brooklyn neighborhood.

UTK_BeardsleyFarm

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Beardsley Farm
Design Build + Evaluate Initiative

The Design, Build, Evaluate Initiative at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville applies the intellectual resources of the university to challenges in the built environment to achieve the highest levels of design excellence, environmental performance, and social responsibility while developing new knowledge and disseminating lessons learned to academic and professional peers.

As the construction, operation, and maintenance of the built environment accounts for a huge proportion of global energy and resource use, such investigations have the potential to generate tremendous research value while positively affecting the lives of those who inhabit our projects.

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Note: This list is not comprehensive. Check out our Search Feature on StudyArchitecture.com!

(adapted from Curbed article)