Students analyzed the site by way of a video called Capitol Hill // Time. Our class’s first year of architecture school is wrapping up with a studio led by Alex Anderson and Brian McLaren.  The class revolves around the design of a joined culinary school and daily market on the corner of...

My grandfather was hospitalized last week.  It turns out, at 98, he is very resilient and went home within a few days.  I am always amazed by his ability to understand the ever changing world – he has lived through two world wars, a deep depression, and now into the increasingly digital...

Design proposal of the new shed/greenhouse/teaching area for the UW Farm. At only our third week on site so far, the Neighborhood Design Build Studio is well on its way to building a piece of UW history, quite literally, in fact, with a little over six more weeks to completion.  Through a...

As part of the continuing series of studios, the Vashon Storefront studio takes the level of community involvement to the next level. Over a series of weekends and day trips, students have met with locals to investigate projects that are truly beneficial for Vashon Island. The studio works...

The Collab/Fab Studio, founded by Rob Corser, AIA and sponsored by the UW Department of Architecture, brings undergraduate design students together with community members to explore mutually enriching opportunities for collaborative interventions in the built and social environment. CollabFab...

Light and lighting are often considered technology driven building systems, engineered to solve basic problems related to visual tasks.  The engineered solutions are primarily focused on providing a specified quantity of light onto a horizontal 30” high “work plane”.  Whether the light...

Students from our graduate and undergraduate furniture studios have been sending their work to the Chair Affair in Boise, Idaho for many years. Sponsored by the Interior Decorators of Idaho, the event offers prizes for work entered by both professionals and students. I volunteered to deliver...

Thin-shell construction was a signature of the late modernist movement in architecture.  Light and efficient, this construction type was embraced by architects and engineers alike, as a means to minimize construction materials and increase structural performance while obtaining a dramatic...

Now that the first of two eight-day charrettes is over, those of us in the Mandrup Master Studio have had time to catch up on sleep and reflect further on how to tackle the design of a culturehouse on one of two sites located along Madison Street in the Capitol Hill area.  In conjunction with...

Is it likely or even possible for a modern building to last for 250 years? Part of the Bullitt Center’s claim to the “greenest office building in the world” rests on the intention to make a building that will last much longer than the 73 year median for an office building in the...