This 4 credit studio Introduces students to fundamentals of Architectural Design through the design of a semester-long project; a Bakery and Miller’s Residence at a site adjacent to the Dahmen Artisan Barn in Uniontown, WA. I served as the primary faculty member and course designer, and led a group of 4 graduate level teaching assistants.

The Bake:House project is broken into 3 overlapping and integrated phases: Research and Analysis, Abstract formal-spatial explorations, and Design Development.

Beginning with in-depth critical analysis of the associated typologies and relevant precedents encourages architecture students to contextualize their designs within a larger field of architectural practice and build work. They are required to develop positions about the project that are informed by, but not unduly tied to what has come before. More importantly, they learn to see the the act of design as intentional and informed as opposed to incidental and arbitrary.

As ideas about the program its potential arrangements and relationships, both internal and externally between facility and context are developing, they are guided through a series of short formal/ spatial exercises that expand their understanding of formal ordering systems, spatial perception, etc. Of equal importance, they are asked to make connections between their design intentions and the spaces they create.

The Bake:House design proposals unfold from this process of research, analysis and testing of increasingly complex intentions as they move from the more abstract and un-programmed to the detailed realization of the the fully formed project. Along the way, they continue development of the skills and conventions for communication they learned in first year, while being introduced new ones they will explore more fully in the coming 2-3 studios.